Food, Environment, and Literature in Early Modern England
| Module title | Food, Environment, and Literature in Early Modern England |
|---|---|
| Module code | EAS3255 |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Professor Ayesha Mukherjee (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 16 |
|---|
Module description
In early modern England, literary representations of food were linked to discourses of environmental change, global exploration, production, consumption, waste, and luxury, resonating with modern concerns. On this module, you will examine how the early modern English feasted, fasted, rioted, and committed/punished crimes over the issue of scarce food; how they dreamt of plenty and debated ways of gaining it. From the perspectives of English and related disciplines, you will gain new insights on the fundamental human concerns about food and environment in canonical authors from Shakespeare to Milton, as well as pamphlets, satires, recipe books, travelogues, and visual media.
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 advanced appreciation of the relevance of food in specific authors and works of the period 1580-1660
- 2. demonstrate an advanced appreciation of the literary and cultural approaches to understanding food-related issues in the early modern period, and their current relevance
- 3. demonstrate an advanced understanding of how discourses of food in the literature of the English Renaissance engaged with political and economic transformations
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
Topics and Texts will usually include:
Production and Distribution
- Growing Food: Agricultural Discourses: Edmund Spenser, Shepherd’s Calendar, “December Eclogue”; Andrew Marvell, “Mower” poems; Hugh Platt, Garden of Eden.
- Knowing Food: Scientific Discourses: John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV
- Mapping Food: Geographical Discourses: Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, Book 1, Song 1 (Devon and Cornwall); Peter Mundy, Travels (England, Wales, India)
- Buying and Selling Food: Commercial Discourses: Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair
Politics of Consumption
- Feasts: Ben Jonson, Love’s Welcome (masque); Eleanor Davies, “Belshazzar’s Feast”
- Crimes and Riots: William Shakespeare, Coriolanus
- Communality: Gerrard Winstanley et al, True Levellers Standard Advanced; Abiezer Coppe, First Fiery Flying Roll
Imagining Remedies
- Households: Ben Jonson, “To Penshurst”; Robert Herrick, selected poetry
- Moderation: William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1; Merry Wives of Windsor
- Waste and Recycling: John Milton, Paradise Regained, Book 2 (Satan’s banquet)
Selected maps, illustrations, paintings, digital media, political pamphlets, historical documents, and extracts from medical and recipe books related to the weekly topics will also be used across the module (details on ELE page).
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | 267 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 33 | 11 x 2hr Seminars, 6 x 1hr lectures, 5 x 1hr 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 |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical commentary (relating image and text) | 1000 words | 1-6, 8-9 | Online feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
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 opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
| Essay | 60 | 3000 words | 1-6, 8-9 | Online feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
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 (3000 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
The following core texts in the suggested editions mentioned below:
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
All core texts, including those listed below, and all additional extracts and images are accessible as digital editions/images through 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 – Faculty to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages
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
Famine Tales: https://faminetales.exeter.ac.uk
Famine and Dearth Database: https://famineanddearth.exeter.ac.uk/index.html
Food Security Blog: https://foodsecurity.exeter.ac.uk
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
Selected critical reading
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 | 27/01/25 |
