The course is designed to familiarise the students with the literature, thought and
culture of the Renaissance period in England, a historical watershed marking the transition from
the medieval to the modern. It is also designed as a theoretical/critical reading of the era and the
texts in the light of recent theoretical interventions like New Historicism and Cultural
Materialism which had a special interest in Renaissance texts.

The course comprising major genres like Drama, Poetry and Prose provides
an introduction to the literature of the English Renaissance studied in a variety of historical
contexts and discusses how the confluence of social, political and economic forces culminated in
conditions conducive to the creation of an impressive volume of literature. It highlights how
literary luminaries like William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe emerged and influenced
each other leaving their mark on their own time and the time to come. The completion of the
course has to enable the students to imbibe the true spirit of Renaissance and Humanism making
them capable of identifying the relationship between Renaissance writings and its socio-political
context.