The English Renaissance Through Texts & Objects

“This literature – which to us can sometimes seem difficult, exotic, highbrow, remote – is the product of a certain sensibility and a particular context. The idea of these sessions is to find little doors through which to step into that world and find ways to relate to it through the poetry and human artefacts as representations of that time.”

Vivien Kogut

A series of four meetings (which can also be booked individually). In each we will explore the literature of sixteenth and seventeenth century England through some of its texts, placing them in dialogue with iconic images or objects.

With guest appearances from writers including Wyatt, Shakespeare, Herbert, Sidney, Raleigh and Donne, during each session we will read together two unseen texts that engage with a defining theme. We will discuss how writers in Renaissance England expressed their experience of living in a world as precarious as it was exciting and consider how similar or different it is to our own.

Session 1: Appearance x Essence

Sixteenth-century England was a place of spectacle: court pageants, public theatres, the progresses of Elizabeth I, public executions. How can literature speak truth to power in a world where each word might mean promotion or death?

Session 2: Transformation

For Europeans this was a time of extraordinary inventions and discoveries: the printing press, the telescope, the microscope, the mechanical clock, atlases, blood circulation, the New World and heliocentrism, are just some of them. The understanding of oneself and the world was in constant flux. How did writers respond to this in England? Could words fully encompass this metamorphosis?

Session 3: Human Passions

In Renaissance England control was part of existence: laws regulated every aspect of life, from what you wore to what you believed in. Texts for publication or performance had to pass the censor. And yet (and yet!), literature was able to find ingenious ways of channelling violent passions. How, from our place in the 21^st century, can we access Renaissance literature sensitivities?

Session 4: Swift-footed Time

The average lifespan in 1500s England was just thirty-five years: living was a constant dodging of “the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”, as Hamlet describes life’s afflictions. Time was short and life had to be lived to the full. How does this brevity impact on English Renaissance literature?

JOINING DETAILS:

• Four meetings on Zoom led by Vivien Kogut
• Mondays 5:30-7:30 pm (UK), 20, 27 May & 3, 10 June 2024
• £120 for four sessions (or sessions can be booked individually at £35 each, see separate listings) to include opening notes and resources.