ENG32490 Seventeenth-Century Women: Texts, Lives, Documents

Academic Year 2023/2024

This module draws on the wide-ranging and innovative scholarship on early modern women as writers, and as agents in shaping and responding to key events, ideas and ideologies over the course of the seventeenth-century. The module focusses on primary texts and documents (print and manuscript), seeking to understand how material questions impact on circulation and meaning.
What conditions led to the increase in writings by women in this period? How did such texts negotiate the relationship between public and private? In what ways and using what means do women navigate gendered expectations of their writings and actions? How does gender shape expression and choice of form/genre? Our focus will be on Anglophone texts, but will draw on writings from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, as well as some materials from early America and other colonial settings. Students will look at a wide range of types of writing, from poetry and romance, through to a range of other types of writing: letters, diaries, auto/biographies, accounts, recipes, mothers’ advice, legal documents and wills. The module will draw on both print and manuscript sources, availing of the considerable digital resources (EEBO, Wellcome Trust, Folger, Beinecke, Public Record Office, Pulter Project) as well as some hands-on work using documents from the National Library, Marsh’s Library and Trinity College Library.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

• have a good understanding of the key historical events of the seventeenth-century
• have the skills to read, annotate and explicate short extracts of seventeenth-century women’s writing
• Produce comprehensive and relevant individual research
• Critically engage with the process of writing through drafting, feedback, etc.
• Develop confidence in primary and secondary research skills – undertaking research, application of research, transmission of research

Indicative Module Content:

Our focus will be on seventeenth-century Anglophone texts, but will draw on writings from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, as well as some materials from early America and other colonial settings. Students will look at a wide range of types of writing, from poetry and romance, through to a range of other types of writing: letters, diaries, auto/biographies, accounts, recipes, mothers’ advice, legal documents and wills. The module will draw on both print and manuscript sources, availing of the considerable digital resources (EEBO, Wellcome Trust, Folger, Beinecke, Public Record Office, Pulter Project) as well as some hands-on work using documents from the National Library, Marsh’s Library and Trinity College Library. Many resources will be made available digitally using Brightspace.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

120
Autonomous Student Learning

56
Lectures

0
Seminar (or Webinar)

24
Total

200
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module focusses on practical, hands-on work on texts and documents (including manuscripts). Teaching delivery will include standard presentation (including video presentation via Brightspace), class discussion, group work/work in pairs, practical demonstrations, site visits (if practical). Student work will include transcription, annotation, and using blog, video or regular text to present ideas and findings. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Essay: Final essay of 2500-3000 words – this will be an analysis of a single longer text; several very short texts; a comparison of two texts; or a thematic essay on an agreed topic. Week 12 n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

60
Continuous Assessment: Weekly responses to discussion prompts; one transcription and annotation of a short piece of text (10-15 lines), plus presentation and detailed plan on essay topic. Throughout the Trimester n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

40

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

There are two types of assessment for this module: 1. Continuous assessment (a student-led discussion on a text/topic/concept) and a transcription/annotation of a short piece of text. 2. A final essay (2500-3000 words): this will be an analysis of a single longer text; several very short texts; a comparison of two texts; or a thematic essay on an agreed topic This will be a hands-on small group with weekly feedback delivered on the week's concepts and topics. Each week will involve a small activity with instant in-class feedback, and short follow-up feedback via email. Some activities will be shared with comments and guidance via Brightspace. Students will be encouraged to utilise drop-in sessions and individual appointments to discuss progress. Final assessments will be subject to drafting, peer review and 1:1 feedback from me.

Primary texts/anthologies

Her Own Life, ed. Hilary Hinds et al (London, 1989)
Women Poets of the Civil War, ed Sarah Ross & Elizabeth Scott-Baumann (Manchester, 2019)
Early Modern Women Poets: An Anthology(Oxford, 2001)

Online resources (to include)
https://web.warwick.ac.uk/english/perdita/html/
Early English Books Online
Folger (Hamnet) for digitized manuscripts and
Early Modern Letters Online (http://emlo-portal.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections/?page_id=907
Wellcome Institute recipe books https://wellcomelibrary.org/collections/digital-collections/recipe-books/
1641 Depostitions http://1641.tcd.ie/
The Pulter Project http://pulterproject.northwestern.edu/

Background Reading

Marie-Louise Coolahan, Women, Writing & Language in Early Modern Ireland (Oxford, 2011)
Julie Crawford, Mediatrix: Women, Politics, and LIterary Production in Early Modern England (Oxford, 2014)
Julie Eckerle and Naomi McAreavey (eds) Women’s Life Writing and Early Modern Ireland (Lincoln, 2019)
Sara Mendelson and Patricia Crawford, Women in Early Modern England, 1550-1720 (Oxford, 1998)
Patricia Pender and Rosalind Smith (eds) Material Cultures of Early Modern Women’s Writing (Basingstoke, 2014).

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
 
Autumn
      
Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Thurs 15:00 - 16:50