Early Modern Literature

English poetry and prose (non-dramatic) of the sixteenth century. Topics may include the consolidation of royal control under the Tudor dynasty, the impact of the Reformation, and English conceptions of nationhood. Authors studied may include Thomas More, Thomas Wyatt, Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare. Literary forms and genres such as courtly and pastoral poetry as well as allegory, romance, and epic may be considered.