EN201 Renaissance Literature

I studied this unit in first semester 1988. Happily, I was out of the hospital system and had my first job in General Practice. I was working on a Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of the Family Medicine Program. At the time this was an acceptable alternative to a FRACGP. My interview for my first job in general practice was basically, “When can you start, I need a holiday.”

Our second daughter was on the way and was born before the first assignment was due and we were settling into our tumbledown house.

None of that stopped me from illogically pursuing my external studies, and having done two introductory courses in English it was time to step up to the meatier subjects.

This course required reading six plays and large selections from both Lyric and Metaphysical poets. The Shakespearean plays were Othello, The Winter’s Tale, I Henry IV, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We also studied Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Middleton’s The Changeling.

As usual the external studies of the era gave an incredible amount of help. The course coordinator and author of the course materials was Mr D. H. Henderson, of whom I can find no trace. There were Lists of References, Study Guides, course materials on all the major sections of the course with relevant supplementary articles provided and sample essays. There was also considerable guidance for the examination, as the assessment was just one assignment and an exam.