Throughout the middle ages and well into the early modern period, plants were the most essential material components of rural life. But with the rapid socioeconomic changes of the 16th century – urbanisation, industrialisation, expanding market economies, the rise of the nation state and the national church – plants also became a crucial site for both a growing nostalgia over the rural past and the fraught social and moral battle over emerging English identities. Nowhere is this more evident than in the literature and drama of the late-Tudor period, and in the growth of plant arts and cultures around the court of Elizabeth I.
Shakespeare himself was a consummate botanist and his plays, written for an audience of rural-educated Londoners like himself, fuelled the growing passion for plant life that went on in succeeding decades to shape the political struggles of the Civil War period and the rise of English colonialism.
In these five classes, we will explore a range of texts that describe the relationship between humans and plants in surprising ways. From the ‘tree’ of Christ and King to the local and foreign flowers that decorate Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We will spend one of our classes in the rare books collection at the University Library, looking at some early modern printed herbals.
Learning outcomes
- To recognise common botanic tropes in early modern literature and drama;
- To understand the patterns of botanical interest emerging from the Elizabethan period;
- To situate early modern literature and drama more fully in its historical context.
