ENGL3032W

Have you ever wondered where a great artist like Shakespeare got his inspiration? What if you could follow in Shakespeare’s footsteps and nurture your creative and innovative side by immersing yourself in the places and spaces of Shakespeare’s life? And what if you could do this while at the same time earning Writing Intensive (WI) and Liberal Education (LE) credit. This learning abroad course is your chance to do just that! Shakespeare in London and Stratford meets during the regular semester and includes a study abroad component during spring break. The course is geared to students of all levels from across the University, from science majors to business majors, from premed students to studio art majors. We will begin our course in cold, snowy Minnesota in January and February, covering an introduction to Shakespeare’s life and his world, and then studying several of his plays, based in part on what plays are performed in London and Stratford. Then, we will travel to London over spring break for a hands-on, in-depth whirlwind experience, taking in as much of Shakespeare’s world, both from the early modern period, and from what Shakespeare means today, in London and Stratford. To get a feel for the spaces that Shakespeare drew on for inspiration when writing his plays, we will walk through his London neighborhoods, visit his parish church, tour the reconstructed Globe Theatre where most of his plays were performed, eat a meal in the 12th-century Borough Market nearby, and tour Southwark Cathedral where his brother Edmund is buried and where he likely worshiped. In Shakespeare’s London, we will also visit the archaeological sites of several early modern theatres that have been recently excavated, including The Rose, The Theatre, and The Curtain, as well as the monument to the two people who preserved Shakespeare’s works for posterity, John Heminges and Henry Condell, and the Cathedral (St. Paul’s) that overlooked his world and housed the neighborhood booksellers who sold his plays. We will continue to trace the material items that survive related to Shakespeare and his world, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, and the Wallace Collection, thinking about how and why particular items are preserved and used for commemoration. London also offers many examples of Shakespeare’s long-standing influence on other writers and artists, and we will examine many of these works in the National Gallery, and analyze how Shakespeare is commemorated and remembered in modern Britain, in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey, the Shakespeare Monument in Leicester Square, and the Globe Theatre Complex. In London, we will attend performances of Shakespeare’s plays, and consider how this early modern writer’s works are made to speak to our contemporary moment. We will then travel to Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, journeying to Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare and his family worshiped and where they are buried. As tourists have for over 200 years, we will seek out inspiration by visiting Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Stratford, and the home of his wife Anne Hathaway in the nearby village of Shottery. While in Stratford, we will tour the Royal Shakespeare Company theatres and analyze how Shakespeare is presented to a twenty-first century audience. When we return to Minnesota after Spring Break, we will continue our study of Shakespeare’s plays, and will end the course with some of Shakespeare’s most popular works—his Sonnets—recently “translated” into rap by The Sonnet Man; into a novel by Akala, the founder of the British Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company; and immortalized by writers from Maya Angelou to Amanda Gorman.

Literature

Every Spring