Unit ENGLISH LITERATURE I - LT
- Course
- Foreign languages and cultures
- Study-unit Code
- A006266
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- Teacher
- Camilla Caporicci
- Teachers
-
- Camilla Caporicci
- Hours
- 54 ore - Camilla Caporicci
- CFU
- 9
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2026
- Offered
- 2026/27
- Learning activities
- Caratterizzante
- Area
- Letterature straniere
- Sector
- ANGL-01/A
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- The course focuses on sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century English literature. The main literary genres of the period will be examined, with particular attention to the sonnet tradition and to Elizabethan drama. With regard to the former, we will read texts by some of the leading poets of the period; with regard to drama, we will discuss William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.
- Reference texts
- W. Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra (Garzanti edition, parallel text)
R. Camerlingo, Il Rinascimento e Shakespeare, in La Letteratura Inglese vol. 1, edited by P. Bertinetti, Einaudi.
To this chapter, students should add the study of the section dedicated to John Donne, in the chapter Il Seicento.
C. Caporicci, Introduction to William Shakespeare, Sonetti, in William Shakespeare, Bompiani, 2019. The text will be available via Unistudium: https://www.unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/login/index.php alla pagina dedicata all’insegnamento Letteratura Inglese I.
Excerpts from the volume Antony and Cleopatra: A Critical Reader, edited by Domenico Lovascio, will be available via Unistudium: https://www.unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/login/index.php in the page dedicated to the course Letteratura Inglese I.
The texts of the poetic works will be available via Unistudium: https://www.unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/login/index.php in the page dedicated to the course Letteratura Inglese I.
Further bibliography will be given during the course, and made available via Unistudium: https://www.unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/login/index.php in the page dedicated to the course Letteratura Inglese I.
Students with disabilities and/or with SLD who, having completed regular accreditation through SOL, have obtained access to University services, can apply for the compensatory tools ensured by law (e.g. textbooks in digital format; teaching materials in accessible formats: presentations, handouts, workbooks, provided if necessary in advance of the lessons), for which consult https://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa.
For the request, students are invited to ask the teacher, who will put them in contact with the Disability and/or DSA Department Coordinator (prof. Alessandra Di Pilla: alessandra.dipilla@unipg.it). - Educational objectives
- The course aims to offer a basic knowledge of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century English literature, as well as the tools and techniques to analyse poetic and dramatic texts. At the end of the course, students should possess:
Knowledge:
1. a good knowledge of the main cultural and literary phenomena of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England;
2. Knowledge of the most influential literary genres of the period, and of the main texts pertaining to them;
3. Knowledge of the sonnet tradition
4. Knowledge of the Elizabethan drama
5. Knowledge of William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra;
Skills:
1. Reading, translating and analysing the primary texts, both through close reading techniques and in relation to their cultural context;
2. communicating the acquired knowledge with argumentative consistency and adequate critical language. - Prerequisites
- To follow the course, both attending and non-attending students should:
1. have a basic knowledge of the history, culture and literature of Renaissance Europe;
2. be able to read and understand the primary texts in the original language (English) and have the ability to critically interpret them, establishing connections and formulating conclusions;
3. be able to communicate their knowledge in an effective way. - Teaching methods
- Frontal teaching, with slides.
Close reading: in-depth reading and analysis of selected passages.
Class discussions: active participation. - Other information
- Students with disabilities and/or SLD: for any information on University services, consult the page https://lettere.unipg.it/home/disabilita-e-dsa and contact the Disability and/or DSA Department Coordinator (prof. Alessandra Di Pilla: alessandra.dipilla@unipg.it).
- Learning verification modality
- The exam will consist of an ORAL test in Italian (or English, if the student prefers) on texts and topics examined during the course and on the assigned bibliography. It will ascertain the level of knowledge acquired by the students, together with their ability to efficaciously communicate this knowledge in a clear and adequate way. The duration of the oral test, approximately 15 minutes, may vary depending on how it proceeds.
The course programme is valid for one year only.
Students with disabilities and/or DSA may request, in consultation with the lecturer, any teaching materials in accessible formats (presentations, handouts, workbooks), provided if necessary in advance of the lectures, as well as the use of other technological tools to facilitate study. For general information, please consult the University Services at https://lettere.unipg.it/home/disabilita-e-dsa and contact the Departmental Contact Person (Prof. A. Di Pilla). - Extended program
- The course focuses on sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century English literature. The main literary genres of the period will be examined, including treatises in defense of poetry, the epic genre, and the mythological and pastoral poem. Particular attention will be devoted to the sonnet tradition and to Elizabethan drama. We will study the evolution of the English sonnet tradition, starting from its Italian and French models, and its main characteristics. This study will be based on a close reading of a series of texts by some of the leading poets of the period, including Thomas Wyatt, Philip Sidney, Richard Barnfield, Samuel Daniel, Edmund Spenser, Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth Melville, William Shakespeare, and John Donne. For what concerns drama, after an exploration of the origins and main features of Elizabethan drama, we will examine a play by William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. This play will be studied with reference to both the general context of the Elizabethan theatre and the specificity of Shakespeare’s work.
The examined literary production will be considered in light of the historical and cultural situation of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England, and of the aesthetic, philosophical and religious paradigms of the time. - Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile
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