Transcript Literary Achievements of the Renaissance

Literary Achievements of the
Renaissance
Literary Impact
• The Renaissance is known
for creativity in a number of
different artistic endeavors.
Literature was no exception.
The historical impact of
writers like Dante Alighieri,
Miguel de Cervantes, and
William Shakespeare was
HUGE.
• Dante was an Italian writer
famous for his epic poem
The Divine Comedy. It tells
the story of an imaginary
journey through Heaven
and Hell.
• Cervantes was a Spanish
writer famous for his novel
Don Quixote. It tells the
story of a mildly insane man
who believes he is a knight
who must right every
wrong. Many consider this
novel to be the greatest
ever published.
William Shakespeare
• William Shakespeare was
born in Stratford-on-Avon
England in 1564. He is
known as the world’s
greatest playwright and
one of its finest poets. He
was a major figure in the
English Renaissance.
Known for famous plays
like Romeo and Juliet,
Hamlet, Taming of the
Shrew, and Macbeth.
• Shakespeare wrote
many sonnets (154) and
plays (37), both
tragedies (sad) and
comedies (funny). His
plays are considered the
greatest in the English
language. Many of his
plays are still performed
today, all over the
world.
Romeo and Juliet
• In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet two
teenagers whose family’s hate each other, fall
in love at first sight. In the famous balcony
scene (that takes place on a balcony ) Juliet
speaks of how Romeo is more than just his
family name – that his looks, his personality,
and everything that makes him special has
nothing to do with his name, but with who he
is inside.
Balcony scene – Romeo and Juliet
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JULIET O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore
art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my
love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
ROMEO [Aside] Shall I hear more, or
shall I speak at this?
JULIET 'Tis but thy name that is my
enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a
Montague.
What's Montague? it is not hand, nor
foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some
other name!
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What's in a name? that which we call
a rose
By any other name would smell as
sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo
call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he
owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy
name,
And for that name which is no part of
thee
Take all myself.
ROMEO I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new
baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
• Now let’s see some professionals do this.
• Shakespeare also wrote
many sonnets (14 line
poems, usually about
love). Here are two of
his most famous
sonnets.
Sonnet 18
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Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnet 130
• 1. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
2. Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
3. If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
4. If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
5. I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
6. But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
7. And in some perfumes is there more delight
8. Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
9. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
10. That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
11. I grant I never saw a goddess go,
12. My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
13. And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
14. As any she belied with false compare.
• Tonight for homework you will write a sonnet
about yourself. It should be 14 lines and it
doesn’t have to rhyme (although it can). Use
descriptive language. You may choose to
idealize yourself (like sonnet 18), or describe
yourself realistically (like sonnet 130).
• Be sure to decorate your poem with color and
pictures!