Even though England was considered “marginal” in the age of Shakespeare, which covered the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century, it nevertheless projected its imperial aspirations through various literary genres, including drama and poetry. Travel writing, religious tracts, scientific treatises, and rhetorical guides also shaped the English response to the prospects of global trade, empire, and colonialism. Focusing on the intertexts for and impacts of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest (composed in 1610–11), this course will examine these proto-imperial discourses and their counter-discourses in the sources on which Shakespeare drew and the revisions of his play in subsequent centuries. Assignments will consist of weekly forum posts, in-class presentations, and a final paper or project.