Program Description

At the University of Missouri-Columbia, the study of English Renaissance literature is grounded in the study of early modern history. The field, traditionally so central to the study of British literature, also offers representative examples of the whole range of critical methods within literary studies today. The department here at Missouri respects and participates in that diversity of critical approaches. Each of the three primary faculty members works with both a literary and an historical field: seventeenth-century poetry and religious discourse; sixteenth-century literature, especially Spenser, and colonial writing; and drama, especially Shakespeare, and medical narratives. Graduate students here have an exceptional opportunity for close work with faculty as they explore the rich literary and critical traditions in the period.

Opportunities and Facilities

Students at MU have a wide range of opportunities in teaching and research. Advanced students here can teach a variety of literature courses and may team-teach with a professor. We have membership in The Newberry Library in Chicago, a resource that allows students to attend workshops, lectures and performances. A graduate minor is available in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, an interdisciplinary program that involves faculty in Art History and Archaeology, Classics, English, German and Slavic Studies, History, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Romance Languages, and Women's and Gender Studies. The MU Ellis Library has within its many holdings the microform collection of the Short Title Catalogue, a rich resource for historical work. Our graduate students have been active at conferences, presenting papers at a national Milton meeting and the national Sixteenth-Century Studies Conference.

Course Offerings