Renaissance Period

• Some writers call this period “Elizabethan Age”. This view is justified by the great literary developments far exceeding those of previous periods that characterized the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

• Renaissance literature refers to the period in European literature that began in Italy during the 14th century and spread around Europe through the 17th century.

• The single greatest innovation of the Renaissance era was the printing press, put into service around 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg.

• His greatest innovation was a means to rapidly produce movable typesets, meaning that new sheets of text could be set in place and printed with far less effort than had previously been the case.

• The religious upheaval known as the Protestant Reformation would not have been possible without the capacity to make many copies of a document quickly and with minimal effort.

• The effect of having readily available literature was almost inconceivably profound in its democratization of the written word.

• Poetry and drama were written as they were never written before. Indeed, literature and the other arts could not but flourish then because of a movement that by the end of the fifteenth century had taken root in England.

• This movement revived interest in the classic arts of ancient Greece and Rome. Because one aspect of the movement was emphasis on the earthly existence of man and in perfecting human life, its leaders were called Humanists and their part in the Renaissance, humanism.

• The term humanism refers to the attitude, the point of view, or the philosophy of life that laid emphasis on man’s life in this world rather than in the next. It questioned the theological and philosophical system that till then had held absolute sway over the minds and hearts of Europeans.

• The dominant forms of English literature during the Renaissance were poem and the drama. Among the many varieties of poetry one might have found in sixteenth century England were the lyric, the elegy, the tragedy and the pastoral.

• Near the close of the English Renaissance, John Milton composed his epic, Paradise Lost, widely considered the grandest poem in the language.

• Poetry of the era was intended to be accompanied by music. In any case, English poetry of the period was ostentatious, repetitious, and often betrayed a subtle wit.

• In the area of drama, no one matched William Shakespeare in terms of variety, profundity, and exquisite use of language. He is known for his ability to shift between comedy and tragedy, from complex character study to light-hearted farce.

• In particular, Shakespeare’s sonnets display a verbal pyrotechnics seldom seen even today, with images layered one on top of another in a kind of sensory collage.

• By the middle 17th century, the quest for human perfection ha given way to decadence, cynicism and an introversion which would stifle creativity for a long time to come.

• In England, the rise of Puritanism, itself offshoot of Renaissance philosophy, put the brakes on the pursuit of knowledge and aesthetic endeavors.

• Another factor leading to the end of the English Renaissance was the failure of Queen Elizabeth to produce a heir.

Role of Intellectual Movement

• Western Europe is home to some of the worlds greatest thinkers, writers, philosophers and artists. From 1300s through 1900s several major intellectual movements helped shape politics and culture in Western Europe.

• These movements brought great advancement in human rights, technology and political freedom.

The Renaissance Humanists

• In the 14th and 15th century there emerged in Italy and France a group of thinkers known as the Humanists.

• Almost all of them were practicing Catholics. They argued that the proper worship of God involved admiration of his creation, and in particular of that crown of creation: Humanity.

• The goal of Renaissance humanists was to recapture some of the pride, breadth of spirit, and creativity of the ancient Greeks and Romans, to replicate their successes and go beyond them.

• Europeans developed the belief that tradition could and should be used to promote change.

The Reformation• The great religious movement that

divide the Catholic church was a direct result of the questioning spirit engendered by humanism.

• By liberating the mind from what was considered then to be repressive practices of the Church, the Reformation and the Renaissance strengthened one another.

THE GREAT RENAISSANCE WRITERS AND

WORKS

Sir Francis Bacon• Born: January 22, 1561

• Died: April 09, 1626

• He was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author.

• He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England.

• Bacon has been called the creator of empiricism.

• He was also educated at the University of Poitiers.

• His works established and popularized inductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method, or simply the scientific method.

• Bacon was knighted in 1603, and created both the Baron Verulam in 1618 and the Viscount St. Alban in 1621; as he died without heirs, both peerages became extinct upon his death. He famously died by contracting pneumonia while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat.

PHILOSOPHYFrancis Bacon's Philosophy is displayed in the vast and varied writings he left, which might be divided in three great branches:

• Scientifical works - in which his ideas for an universal reform of knowledge, scientific method and the improvement of mankind's state are presented.

• Religious/literary works - in which he presents his moral philosophy and theological meditations.

• Juridical works - in which his reforms in Law are proposed.

WORKS• New Atlantis (1627)

• Sylva Sylvarum, or Natural History (1627)

• Certain Miscellany Works (1629)

• Use of the Law (1629)

• Elements of the Common Laws (1629)

• Operum Moralium et Civilium (1638)

• Dialogum de Bello Sacro (1638)

• Cases of Treason (1641)

• Confession of Faith (1641)

• Speech concerning Naturalisation (1641)

Christopher Marlowe

• Baptised on February 26, 1564

• Died on May 30, 1593

• an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.

• He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe's mysterious early death.

• Marlowe's plays are known for the use of blank verse, and their overreaching protagonists.

• Marlowe's first play performed on the regular stage in London, in 1587, was Tamburlaine the Great, about the conqueror Timur, who rises from shepherd to warrior.

• A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May 1593.

WORKS• Dido, Queen of Carthage (c.1586)

(possibly co-written with Thomas Nashe)

• Tamburlaine, part 1 (c.1587)

• Tamburlaine, part 2 (c.1587–1588)

• The Jew of Malta (c.1589)

• Doctor Faustus (c.1589, or, c.1593)

• Edward II (c.1592)

• The Massacre at Paris (c.1593)

Sir Walter Raleigh

• Born on January 22, 1552

• Died on October 29, 1618

• Raleigh was born to a Protestant family in Devon

• The son of Walter Raleigh and Catherine Champernowne.

• . Later he became a landlord of property confiscated from the native Irish. He rose rapidly in the favour of Queen Elizabeth I, and was knighted in 1585.

• In December 1581, Raleigh returned to England from Ireland to dispatches as his company had been disbanded. He took part in Court life and became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.

• In 1592, Raleigh was given many rewards by the Queen, including Durham House in the Strand and the estate of Sherborne, Dorset.

• In 1591, Raleigh was secretly married to Elizabeth "Bess" Throckmorton (or Throgmorton). She was one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, eleven years his junior, and was pregnant at the time.

WORKS• What is Our Life

• The Lie

• The Ocean to Cynthia"

• The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

William Shakespeare

• Baptised on April 26, 1564

• Died on April 23, 1616

• an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist

• is often called England's national poet and the Bard of Avon

• All's Well That Ends Well

• As You Like It

• The Comedy of Errors

• King John

• Richard II

• Romeo and Juliet

• Coriolanus

• Shakespeare's sonnets

• Venus and Adonis

• The Rape of Lucrece

• The Passionate Pilgrim

Works

John Donne• He was born between January 24 to June

19 1572.

• Died on March 31, 1631

• an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England.

• He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets.

• His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems

Works• Biathanatos (1608)

• Pseudo-Martyr (1610)

• Ignatius His Conclave (1611)

• Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624)

• Songs and Sonnets (1633)

Benjamin “Ben “Johnson

• Born on June 11, 1572

• Died on August 16, 1637

• An English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor

• By summer 1597, Jonson had a fixed engagement in the Admiral's Men, then performing under Philip Henslowe's management at The Rose.  John Aubrey reports, on uncertain authority, that Jonson was not successful as an actor; whatever his skills as an actor, he was evidently more valuable to the company as a writer.

• In 1597, a play which he co-wrote with Thomas Nashe, The Isle of Dogs, was suppressed after causing great offence. Arrest warrants for Jonson and Nashe were issued by Queen Elizabeth I's so-called interrogator, Richard Topcliffe.

• Jonson was jailed in Marshalsea Prisonand charged with "Leude and mutynous behavior", while Nashe managed to escape to Great Yarmouth.

• In 1598 Jonson produced his first great success, Every Man in His Humour, capitalizing on the vogue for humorous plays which George Chapman had begun with An Humorous Day's Mirth.

Works• A Tale of a Tub, comedy (ca. 1596? revised?

performed 1633; printed 1640)

• The Isle of Dogs, comedy (1597, with Thomas Nashe; lost)

• The Case is Altered, comedy (ca. 1597–98; printed 1609), with Henry Porter and Anthony Munday?

• Every Man in His Humour, comedy (performed 1598; printed 1601)

• Every Man out of His Humour, comedy ( performed 1599; printed 1600)

• Cynthia's Revels (performed 1600; printed 1601)

• The Poetaster, comedy (performed 1601; printed 1602)

• Sejanus His Fall, tragedy (performed 1603; printed 1605)

• Eastward Ho, comedy (performed and printed 1605), a collaboration with John Marston and George Chapman

• Volpone, comedy (ca. 1605–06; printed 1607)

• Epicoene, or the Silent Woman, comedy (performed 1609; printed 1616)

• The Alchemist, comedy (performed 1610; printed 1612)

John Milton• Born on December 09, 1608

• Died on November 08, 1674

• English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell

• Milton's poetry and prose reflect deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day

• Writing in English, Latin, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica.

• Milton's use of blank verse, in addition to his stylistic innovations influenced later poets.

• At the time poetic blank verse was considered distinct from its use in verse drama, and Paradise Lost was taken as a unique examplar

WorksPOETIC AND DRAMATIC WORKS

• 1631: L'Allegro

• 1631: Il Penseroso

• 1634: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634 commonly known as Comus (a masque)

• 1638: Lycidas

• 1645: Poems of Mr John Milton, Both English and Latin

• 1655: On the Late Massacre in Piedmont

• 1667: Paradise Lost

• 1671: Paradise Regained

• 1671: Samson Agonistes

• 1673: Poems, &c, Upon Several Occasions

Petrarchan Sonnet

• Also called Italian Sonnet which named after the Italian poet, Francisco Petrarch who perfected it. It consists of an octave (first eight lines) which develops the theme, followed by sestet (last six lines) which recapulates the idea.

• The octave has a rhyme scheme of a b b a a b b a and the sestet c d e c d e or c d c d c d or some combination.

Petrarchan Sonnet

• The octave’s purpose is to introduce a problem, express a desire, reflect on reality, or otherwise present a situation that causes doubt or conflict within the speaker.

• The beginning of the sestet is known as the Volta, and it introduces a pronounced change in tone in the sonnet.

• The sestet’s purpose as a whole is to make a comment on the problem, or to apply a solution to it.

Poetic meter• Meter- is the basic rhythmic

structure of a verse or lines in verse.

• Prosody- the study of meters and forms of versification.

• Poetic meter is the measure of the line of poetry.

Scansion• Is the act of making a poem to show the

metrical units of which it is composed.

• Syllable- smallest metrical unit. There two kinds of syllables: the accented/ stressed and unaccented/ unstressed.

• Foot- the next largest metrical unit, which is group of two or more syllables.

Scansion• Six common kinds of feet in English

metrics

• Iambic foot- consists of unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable.

• Trochaic foot- consists of an accented syllable followed by unaccented syllable.

• Dactylic foot- consists of an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllable.

• Anapestic foot- consists of two unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable.

• Spondaic foot- consists of two accented syllables.

• Pyrrhic- consists of two unaccented syllables.

Metaphysical Poetry

• Highly intellectualized poetry written chiefly in 17th century England.

• It is marked by bold and ingenious conceits, complex and subtle thought, frequent paradox and a dramatic directness of language, the rhythm of which derives from living speech.

Metaphysical Poetry

• John donned was the leading Metaphysical poet; others include George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell and Abraham Cowley.