The Renaissance 1490 – 1603

The Renaissance1490 – 1603 The Golden Age of English Literature

Historical Background • Two main events help to shape this period in English Literature; the Reformation and the widespread use of the printing press. • The Reformation: In October 31 1517, Martin Luther, a German priest, publishes his 95 theses against the sale of Papal Indulgences to help building St. Peter’s Basillica. • This led to the subsequent rebellion against the catholic authorities and the birth of Protestantism. • The Catholic church and its hierarchy lost much of its power and influence. • This gave raise to a consciousness about humanity that did not wholly depend on religion and became much more centered around the human being, a movement we identify as Humanism.

Reformation In Britain • The Church of England is the established (i.e. state) church in England and the mother church of the Anglican Communion. It originated in the councils between church and state throughout the Middle Ages, culminating in the Act of Supremacy issued by Henry Vlll in 1534. This repudiated papal supremacy and declared the King to be the supreme head of the Church in England.

The Printing Press • During the beginning of the 16th century the availability of printed works grew explosively. • Printed versions of the old Roman and Greek classics became widely available. • Translations of the Bible also became widely available, thus giving extra force to the reformation ideal of finding in the Holy Book all the answers for the spiritual needs of the common people.

Literature of the period: Poetry Sir Thomas Wyatt: 1503–42, English poet and statesman,. He served in various capacities under Henry VIII and was knighted in 1536. Greatly influenced by the works of the Italian love poets, Wyatt produced the first group of sonnets in English, modeled after Petrarch. Besides sonnets, he wrote lyrics, rondeaus, satires, and a paraphrase of the penitential psalms. None of his poems appeared in his lifetime.

Henry Howard, The Earl of Surrey c. 1517 - 1547 • Courtier and poet, born in Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, SE England, UK. In 1532 he accompanied Henry VIII to France, was knighted in 1542, and served in Scotland, France, and Flanders. On his return in 1546, his enemies at court charged him with treason, and he was found guilty and beheaded. He is remembered for his love poetry, influenced by the Italian tradition, in which he pioneered the use of blank verse and the Elizabethan sonnet form.

Edmund Spencer c.1552 - 1599 • Poet, born in London, England. He studied at Cambridge. • His first original work was a sequence of pastoral poems, The Shepheards Calendar (1579). • In 1586, he began his major work, The Faerie Queene, using a nine-line verse pattern which later came to be called the Spenserian stanza. • The first three books, dedicated to Elizabeth I, were published in 1590, and the second three in 1596, but the poem was left unfinished at his death.

William Shakespeare 1564–1616 • English dramatist and poet, b.Stratford-on-Avon. He is considered the greatest playwright who ever lived. • His poetic output included two narrative poems “Venus & Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece” and 154 sonnets. • The sonnets are by far his most important non-dramatic poetry. • They are marked by the recurring themes of beauty, youthful beauty ravaged by time, and the ability of love and art to transcend time and even death.

Sir Walter Raleigh 1552 - 1618 • English courtier, explorer, soldier and writer. • He made a name for himself fighting the Irish at Munster; later he became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. • He organized expeditions to the new world, popularized tobacco, and found time to write. • Finally after an unfortunate expedition in America James I had him beheaded in 1618. • Raleigh made extensive use of the Italian Sonnet, recently introduced in Britain, • He also wrote a History of the World (incomplete), and the Discovery of Guiana

Literature of the Period: Drama • Without a doubt the major literary achievements of the age can be found in the dramatic works of Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. • The later part of the 16th century saw the rise in popularity of a genre that was born from representations inside churches and cathedrals. • The patronage of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I in favour of companies of actors, secured a steady flow of plays from some of the most talented writers in history.

Cristopher Marlowe1564 - 93 • English dramatist and poet, born in Canterbury. • Probably the greatest English dramatist before Shakespeare, he was educated at Cambridge and he went to London in 1587, where he became an actor and dramatist for the Lord Admiral's Company. • His most important plays are the two parts of Tamburlaine the Great (c. 1587), Dr. Faustus (c. 1588), The Jew of Malta (c. 1589), and Edward II (c. 1592). • Marlowe is noted especially for his establishment of dramatic blank verse.

William Shakespeare, the playwright • Shakespeare is considered the greatest playwright that ever lived. • He is credited with 37 plays, divided into comedies, tragedies, romances, roman plays and historical plays. • He used many sources as inspiration and many of his plays are not original in theme. • The strength of Shakespeare’s plays rests in the masterful use of language, and in the compelling treatment of plot and character.

Ben Jonson 1572 - 1637 • BENJAMIN JONSON, English Jacobean dramatist, lyric poet, and literary critic. • He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare. • Among his major plays are the comedies Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone (1606), The Alchemist (1610), and Bartholomew Fair (1614).

Literature of the period: Prose • The prose of this period took several forms. • Translations of major classical works, chronicles, early novels and essays were written by a variety of talented authors among who we can find Francis Bacon, Thomas Nash, Richard Hooker, etc. • The authorized translation of the Bible is another major piece of work written in prose.

North, Sir Thomas 1535 - 1601? • English translator whose version of Plutarch's Bioi paralleloi (Parallel Lives) was the source for many of William Shakespeare's plays. • His work, written in an effective style was not translated form the Greek original, but rather from a French version. • The translation of parallel lives was a major step in the development of English prose. Statue of Julius Caesar

Thomas Nash 1567 - 1601 • English playwright, poet and satirist. • Although his first publications appeared in 1589, it was not until Pierce Penniless His Supplication to the Devil (1592), a bitter satire on contemporary society, that his natural and vigorous style was fully developed . • Although he wrote poetry and plays, he is best known for The Unfortunate Traveller (1594), a story that anticipates the picaresque novel of adventures.

Richard Hooker 1554 - 1600 • He studied at Oxford, was ordained in 1581, and became rector of a parish near Tring. • His most important work was Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1594, 1597, 1648, 1662). • It was an epoch-making discussion of church government, written in an excellent prose style. Its influence on the theory of government as based on rules of reason was widely felt in England.

John Lyly 1554?-1606 • English dramatist and prose writer. • His most important work, Euphues, was an early example of the novel of manners and was one of the most influential works of its time, so much so that it gave birth to a short lived literary movement called Euphuism. • In it Lyly tried to establish an ideal of perfected prose style, which was actually convoluted and artificial.

Francis Bacon 1561-1626 • English philosopher, essayist, and statesman. • He held several offices in the court before falling in disgrace. • His best known philosophical tracts were The Advancement of Learning and the Novum Organum. • His main contribution to literature are his Essays, on many subjects, written in a clear and concise prose. • They are the best early examples of essay writing in English

Women writers of the period • It is from this period that we have the first clear presence of female writers of some note. • Apart form Queen Elizabeth herself we can mention Mary Herbert and Aemilia Lanyer. • It is worthy to mention that in general, women writers of this and earlier periods are all but forgotten in the majority of English literature accounts, the probable reason being that women were not regarded in equal terms with men.

Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, 1561 - 1621 • Patroness of the arts and scholarship and a notable translator. • She was the sister of Sir Philip Sidney, who dedicated to her his Arcadia. • After his death she published it and completed his verse translation of the Psalms. • Apart from several translation works, she authored a number of poems, most notably an elegy to he brother Philip.

Aemilia Lanyer 1569-1645 • A highly educated woman, who from an early age, became acquainted with the court of Queen Elizabeth I. • In 1611 she published a volume of poetry entitled Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum(Hail God, King of the Jews). • All the poems in the volume were written in iambic pentameter. • The poems of the book reflect Lanyer’s ideas about the place of women in society and are quite advanced for the period. • For example in Eve's Apology in Defense of Women she defends Eve saying that it was Adam who should take most of the blame for the Original Sin.

Queen Elizabeth I 1533-1603 • She was queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603. • Elizabeth came to the throne with the Tudor concept of strong rule and the realization that effective rule depended upon popular support. • At her death 45 years later, England had passed through one of the greatest periods of its history—a period that produced some of the most notable figures in literature and exploration; a period that saw England, become a major European power. • She was a patron of the arts especially literature, possessed great knowledge, wrote poetry and translated several texts into English.

Emblematic Literature • The book of emblems was born in the Renaissance and was to become one of the most popular forms of literature for the next 200 years. • The main characteristic of the emblem book is the relationship between image and text. Basically an emblem book consists of an epigrammatic text,accompanied by an image that usually illustrates or clarifies the text. • In 1535 Andrea Alciati published the first book of emblems called Emblematum Liber (Book of Emblems). • Alciato’s book proved extremely popular and was subsequently translated and printed in as many as 150 different editions.

Emblematic Literature in English • Several books of emblems were published in England during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. • Many of them were published either in Latin or French. Later many such books began to appear English Some of the most important were: • Philip Ayres. Emblemata Amatoria • Christopher Harvey. The School of the Heart • Claude Paradin. The Heroicall Devises of M. Claudius Paradin • Geffrey Whitney. A Choice of Emblemes • George Wither. A collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne

The Sonnet • A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme. • The Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet, was introduced into English poetry in the early 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt. Its fourteen lines break into an octave (or octet), which usually rhymes abbaabba, but which may sometimes be abbacddcand a sestet, which may rhyme xyzxyz or xyxyxy, or any of the multiple variations possible using only two or three rhyme-sounds. • The English or Shakespearean sonnet, developed first by The Earl of Surrey, consists of three quatrains and a couplet--that is, it rhymes abab cdcd efef gg. • Examples: • Wyatt’s Farewell Love and all thy laws for ever • Shakespeare’s Sonnet CXXXVIII

Octave Farewell Love and all thy laws for ever, a Thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more; b Senec and Plato call me from thy lore b To perfect wealth my wit for to endeavour. a In blind error when I did persever, a Thy sharp repulse, that pricketh aye so sore, b Hath taught me to set in trifles no store b And scape forth, since liberty is lever. a Therefore farewell; go trouble younger hearts c And in me claim no more authority; d With idle youth go use thy property d And thereon spend thy many brittle darts. c For hitherto though I have lost all my time, e Me lusteth no lenger rotten boughs to climb. e Sestet Concluding Couplet

First Quatrain When my love swears that she is made of truth a I do believe her, though I know she lies, b That she might think me some untutor'd youth, a Unlearned in the world's false subtleties. b Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, c Although she knows my days are past the best, d Simply I credit her false speaking tongue: c On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd. d But wherefore says she not she is unjust? E And wherefore say not I that I am old? f O, love's best habit is in seeming trust, e And age in love loves not to have years told: f Therefore I lie with her and she with me, g And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be. g Second Quatrain Third Quatrain Final Couplet

Blank Verse • Unrhymed iambic pentameter, the most important dramatic and narrative verse form in English. • Blank verse enables a character to express the emotions beautifully and musically and yet retaining the natural rhythm of the language. • William Shakespeare transformed the line and the instrument of blank verse into the vehicle for the greatest English dramatic poetry. His most poignant tragedies, such as Othello, King Lear, Hamlet and Macbeth are mainly written in a carefully crafted blank verse

Sample of blank verse in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus Faustus: Now that the gloomy shadow of the earth, Longing to view Orion's drizzling look, Leaps from th'antarctic world unto the sky,And dims the welkin with her pitchy breath:Faustus, begin thine incantations,And try if devils will obey thy hest,Seeing thou hast prayed and sacrificed to them.Within this circle is Jehovah's name,Forward and backward, anagrammatis'd,The breviated names of holy Saints,Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,And characters of signs and erring stars,By which the spirits are enforced to rise.Then fear not Faustus, but be resolute,And try the uttermost magic can perform.

Sample of blank verse in Shakespeare’s Macbeth • Macbeth: She should have died hereafter;There would have been a time for such a word.To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.

HISTORIESHenry VI, Part 1Henry VI, Part 2Henry VI, Part 3Richard IIIKing JohnRichard IIHenry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 2Henry VHenry VIII TRAGEDIESTitus AndronicusRomeo and JulietJulius CaesarHamletOthelloKing LearMacbethTimon of AthensAntony and CleopatraCoriolanus • COMEDIESThe Comedy of ErrorsLove's Labour's LostThe Two Gentlemen of VeronaThe Taming of the ShrewA Midsummer Night's DreamThe Merchant of VeniceMuch Ado About NothingThe Merry Wives of WindsorAs You Like ItTwelfth NightThe "dark" comediesAll's Well That Ends WellMeasure for MeasureTroilus and Cressida • ROMANCESPericlesThe Winter's TaleCymbelineThe TempestThe Two Noble Kinsmen • THE ROMAN PLAYSJulius CaesarAntony and CleopatraCoriolanus

From Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum: Eve’s Apology But surely Adam can not be excusde, Her fault though great, yet hee was most too blame; What Weaknesse offerd, Strength might have refusde, Being Lord of all, the greater was his shame: Although the Serpents craft had her abusde, Gods holy word ought all his actions frame, For he was Lord and King of all the earth, Before poore Eve had either life or breath.

The Renaissance 1490 – 1603