English: Renaissance and Eighteenth-Century Literature (Taught)

The Renaissance and Eighteenth-Century Literature MA pathway draws upon the Department's significant research and teaching strengths in these periods. Covering writers such as Shakespeare, Marlowe, Cavendish, Pope, Swift, Behn and Equiano, the pathway offers modules that consider: how literature responded and contributed to major social and political developments such as the rise of international travel, slavery and empire (including the role of Liverpool in that process); the transition from Renaissance alchemy to modern science; the literary contests fought over form and style across both periods; the theory and practice of scholarly editing; and Shakespeare’s dialogue with both contemporaries and later eighteenth-century adapters.

The pathway also offers the opportunity to visit local cultural institutions such as the Walker Gallery and International Slavery Museum.

Conversation with other students and researchers through departmental talks, seminars, conferences, and associated research centres such as the Liverpool Medieval and Renaissance Research Centre and the Eighteenth-Century Worlds Centre will help you situate that reading within a thriving academic context.