Food and Literature in Early Modern England
| Module title | Food and Literature in Early Modern England |
|---|---|
| Module code | EAS3246 |
| Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Professor Ayesha Mukherjee (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 15 |
|---|
Module description
In early modern England, food did not only appear as an object of description, or a rhetorical trope. Literary representations of food were linked to discourses of production and consumption, waste and luxury, which resonate with modern concerns. The early modern English feasted, fasted, rioted, and committed or punished crimes over the issue of scarce food. They also dreamt of plenty and debated ways of gaining it. By exploring the theme of food in canonical authors from Shakespeare to Milton, as well as popular pamphlets, satires, recipe books, and visual media, the module aims to open up new perspectives on this fundamental human concern.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module covers the English Renaissance, Civil Wars, and Interregnum (1580-1660) and aims to familiarise you with a range of texts, paintings, maps, and images that represented social, political, and cultural attitudes to food, and imagined remedies for food-related anxieties. Interdisciplinary developments in Food Studies – from anthropological, environmental, historical, and literary perspectives – have demonstrated creative ways of interpreting the pervasive presence of food in literature, which you will be encouraged to explore in an early modern context. You will develop research skills through work on conventional essays as well as distinctive group assignments and blog posts.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of the relevance of food in specific authors and works of the period 1580-1660
- 2. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of the literary and cultural approaches to understanding food-related issues in the early modern period, and their current relevance
- 3. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of the literary and cultural approaches to understanding food-related issues in the early modern period, and their current relevance
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Demonstrate an advanced ability to analyse the literature of an earlier era and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical context;
- 5. Demonstrate an advanced ability to interrelate texts and discourses specific to their own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history
- 6. Demonstrate an advanced ability to understand and analyse relevant theoretical ideas, and to apply these ideas to literary texts
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Through seminar work and presentations, demonstrate advanced communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups;
- 8. Through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, an advanced capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
- 9. Through research for seminars, essays, and presentations, demonstrate advanced proficiency in the analysis of complex material and communication of ideas
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
Section 1: Production and Distribution
Growing Food: Agricultural Discourses
- Core Texts: Edmund Spenser, Shepherd’s Calendar,“December Eclogue”; Andrew Marvell, “Mower” poems.
- Extracts and images: Thomas Tusser’s Husbandry; Hugh Platt’s Garden of Eden
Knowing Food: Scientific Discourses
- Core Texts: John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV
- Extracts and images: Medical and alchemical works (Moffet to Brooke)
Mapping Food: Geographical Discourses
- Core Texts: Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, Book 1, Song 1 (Devon and Cornwall); Peter Mundy, Travels (England, Wales, India)
- Maps, illustrations, digital media: Speed, Drayton, Harriot, Mundy
Buying and Selling Food: Commercial Discourses
- Core Text: Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair
- Extracts: historical documents on food import and markets
Section 2: Politics of Consumption
Feasts
- CoreTexts: Ben Jonson, Love’s Welcome (masque); Eleanor Davies, “Belshazzar’s Feast”
- Paintings and images: Breughel, Battle of Carnival and Lent; from Bartolomeo Scappi, Opera
Focus on Assessment
- Group presentations
Crimes and Riots
- Core Text: William Shakespeare, Coriolanus
- Extracts: Robert Greene (conny catching), John Reynolds, Robert Wilkins (Midlands Rising)
Communality
- Core Texts: Gerrard Winstanley et al, True Levellers Standard Advanced; Abiezer Coppe, First Fiery Flying Roll
- Illustrations: From radical pamphlets and anti-ranter pamphlets
Section 3: Imagining Remedies
Households
- Core Texts: Ben Jonson, “To Penshurst”; Robert Herrick, selected poetry
- Food recipes: Hugh Platt, Delights for Ladies
Moderation
- Core Texts: William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1; Merry Wives of Windsor
- Images: Picturing Falstaff - performance images
Waste and Recycling
- Core Text: John Milton, Paradise Regained, Book 2 (Satan’s banquet)
- Extract: from Thomas Nashe, Lenten Stuffe
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | 267 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 22 | 11 x 2 hour seminars |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 6 | 6 x 1 hour lectures |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 5 | 5 x 1 hour workshops |
| Guided Independent Study | 33 | Study groups and presentation preparation |
| Guided Independent Study | 70 | Seminar preparation (individual) |
| Guided Independent Study | 164 | Reading, research and essay preparation |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 80 | 0 | 20 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group presentation | 20 | 15 minutes, | 1-7, 9 | Oral feedback from tutor and peers in seminar, supplemented by feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. |
| Blog post | 20 | 1000 words | 1-6, 8-9 | Online Feedback sheet with tutorial follow-up |
| Essay | 60 | 3500 words | 1-6, 8-9 | Online Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group presentation | Presentation materials OR 1500 words essay | 1-7, 9 | Referral/deferral period |
| Blog post | Blog post (1000 words) | 1-6, 8-9 | Referral/deferral period |
| Essay | Essay (3500 words) | 1-6, 8-9 | Referral/deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Primary texts:
You must buy the following core texts in the editions mentioned below. Note that this list is indicative only, and the current year’s reading list can be found on ELE.
- Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ed. Suzanne Gossett, Revels Student Edition (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000)
- John Milton, The Major Works, ed. Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg (Oxford: OUP, 2008)
- William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, ed. Peter Holland, Arden Shakespeare Third Series (Arden, 2013)
- William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, ed. David Scott Kastan, Arden Shakespeare Third Series (Arden, 2002)
- William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, ed. Giorgio Melchiori, Arden Shakespeare Third Series (Arden, 1999)
The following core texts are in the Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9th edition, ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al (W.W. Norton and Company, 2012):
- Robert Herrick, selected poetry
- Ben Jonson, “To Penshurst”
- Andrew Marvell, “Mower” poems
The following core texts and all additional extracts and images are provided on ELE:
- Abiezer Coppe, First Fiery Flying Roll
- Eleanor Davies, “Belshazzar’s Feast”
- Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion , Book 1, Song 1
- Robert Greene, selected conny catching pamphlet
- Ben Jonson, Love’s Welcome (masque)
- Edmund Spenser, Shepherd’s Calendar , “December Eclogue”
- Peter Mundy, Travels (England, Wales, India)
- Satires by Joseph Hall, Ben Jonson
- Gerrard Winstanley et al, True Levellers Standard Advanced
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=6925
- Early English Books Online: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/home
- Jonson’s Works (Cambridge Edition): http://universitypublishingonline.org/cambridge/benjonson/
- Spenser’s Works (Luminarium): http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/shepheard.html
- Milton’s Works (resource page): https://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/iemls/postprint/CCM2Biblio.html#335
- Oxford Scholarship Online: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/
- JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/
- Early Modern Literary Studies: https://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/journal/index.php/emls
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
- Appelbaum, Robert. Aguecheek’s Beef, Belch’s Hiccup, and Other Gastronomic Interjections: Literature, Culture, and Food Among the Early Moderns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
- Goldstein, David B. Eating and Ethics in Shakespeare’s England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
- Laroque, Francois. Shakespeare’s Festive World: Elizabethan Seasonal Entertainment and the Professional Stage. Trans. Janet Lloyd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
- McRae, Andrew. God Speed the Plough: The Representation of Agrarian England, 1500-1660. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
- Mukherjee, Ayesha. Penury into Plenty: Dearth and the Making of Knowledge in Early Modern England. London and New York: Routledge, 2015.
- Thirsk, Joan. Food in Early Modern England: Phases, Fads, Fashions, 1500-1760. London: Hambledon Continuum, 2006.
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 09/02/2017 |
| Last revision date | 05/03/2020 |
