Transcript Slide 1
The Renaissance
The Early Modern Period
Learning Objectives
• To observe the transformative qualities a
monarch can have on the arts and culture of a
time period.
• To understand the basic principles and
influential factors behind Elizabethan
literature.
• To study the major themes and motifs of this
era.
The Renaissance
• Means “rebirth”
• In science, for example, Copernicus (1473-1543) attempted to
prove that the sun rather than the earth was at the center of the
planetary system, thus radically altering the cosmic world view
that had dominated antiquity and the Middle Ages.
• In religion, Martin Luther (1483-1546) challenged and
ultimately caused the division of one of the major institutions
that had united Europe throughout the Middle Ages--the Church.
• Renaissance thinkers often thought of themselves as ushering in
the modern age, as distinct from the ancient and medieval eras.
• Hence the often used title as the “Early Modern” period.
The Renaissance…of Poetry
• A reintroduction and revival of texts and languages
from the classical period.
• Romantic Dialogue – clever/witty/entendre–
Rhetorically savvy/beautiful language POETRY!
• Sonnets fit this perfectly… and they are all the rage in
the 1580s. This is the time the literature of the period
really takes off… why?
• English poets generally imitate sonnets of Petrarch
until Shakespeare makes fun of them all later on.
The Renaissance… of Theater
• During the reign of Henry VIII,
Commedia dell’ arte (traveling
troops of actors with a repertoire)
is popular in Italy… he wants
that for England.
• Earls begin supporting groups of
actors
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–
–
–
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20+ men
Traveling troop
Linked to a great house
Wears the Earl’s colors
Geared towards lower classes
• 1576 James Burbage opens The
Theatre – now not restricted by
church or Earl’s tastes
The Renaissance… of Theater
• The theatre determined the type of play: literary,
trashy, or plays by certain playwrights.
• Actors learned only their own lines
• Performed on a thrust stage – no proscenium arch.
• Plays only performed twice, one week to remember
lines and rehearse.
• Playhouses outside the city walls—not a
“respectable” establishment
• Many playwrights are Cambridge or Oxford
graduates who didn’t want to take religious orders…
over-educated + unemployed = bitter
The Tudors
Henry VII
Elizabeth York
Anne Boleyn
Jane Seymour Anne of Cleves Kathryn Howard Katherine Parr
Arthur
Mary*
Margaret*
Henry VIII
Philip II of Spain
Catherine of Aragon
Mary I
Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots
Tried to claim throne through
Her mother, Margaret*. Her son
James takes over after Elizabeth.
Elizabeth I
Edward VI
Henry VII (1485-1509)
Henry VIII (1509-1547)
Edward VI (1547-1553)
Lady Jane Grey (9 days)
Mary I (1553-1558)
Elizabeth I (1558-1609)
Jane Grey
Tried to claim throne through
Her grandmother, Mary*.
Henry’s Wives
• Henry married his late brother’s (Arthur) wife, Catherine,
when he ascended to the throne.
• When Catherine produced no male heirs, Henry began looking
elsewhere… mainly at her ladies-in-waiting.
• Henry wanted Anne Boleyn, but needed to divorce Catherine,
first.
• When Rome refused to grant him an annulment, he declared
himself head of England’s church and granted himself the
annulment instead.
• Henry remained mostly Catholic in his beliefs and practices,
despite the change in church.
• However, he took out his frustration with the Catholic church
by destroying many of England’s cathedrals and monasteries.
Sir Thomas More (1478-1553)
•Counselor and Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII
•Opponent of Protestant Reformation
•Humanist – creating an educated public,
emancipating the individual, intellectual
freedom.
•Most famous for his fictional satire
Utopia (1516) .
•Perfect world where there is no private
property, no pre-marital sex, and courtship
takes place in the nude!
•Ironic that the non-Christian commonwealth
had attained a greater degree of peace and
order than his own England had .
•Executed by Henry VIII for treason: he refused to proclaim Henry as head of
England’s church. Beatified in the 1800s.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
•The Baconian or Scientific
method
•A set of procedures for
examining the natural world.
•The “father” of empiricism.
•One of the dimly possible
“Shakespeare” writers.
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
•Lyric poet who introduced the sonnet
form to England by translating some of
Petrarch’s sonnets into English.
•Unlike Petrarch, who idealizes love as
transforming, Wyatt stresses the
anguish and disillusionment of love.
•The speaker in some of the poems is
bitter, cynical, angry, longing and
pained.
•Briefly enamored of Anne Boleyn, but
Henry VIII distanced Wyatt from her
by sending him to Italy.
Mary I (Bloody Mary)
•Snatched the crown from Lady Jane
Grey and had both her and her
husband executed, despite the fact
that Edward VI had named Grey as
his heir.
•A strict Catholic, she marries King
Philip II of Spain. A very unpopular
choice.
•Mary was notoriously intolerant of
Protestants and had over 300 them
burned at the stake for heresy.
•Died at age 42 – possibly of a tumor
which may have produced signs of
pregnancy.
Princess Elizabeth
• Elizabeth was classically trained
and highly educated along with her
brother, Edward:
six languages, grammar, theology,
history, rhetoric, logic, philosophy,
arithmetic, logic, literature,
geometry, religious studies, and
music.
•She also learned the skills of a noble
lady of her rank:
sewing, embroidery, dancing,
music, archery, riding and
hunting
•Mary locked her in the Tower during
her reign because she feared
Elizabeth might rise against her.
Queen Elizabeth I
• Ascended to the throne in 1558 after
the death of her sister, Mary. She
ruled until her death in 1603.
•A moderate ruler (more so than her
father or sister had been). “Video et
taceo”: I see, and say nothing.
•Protestant, but she was famous for
her tolerance of Catholicism (as long
as people weren’t too blatant about it
and attended Anglican church on
Sundays).
•Rome hated her anyway and
excommunicated her and any who
followed her rule.
Elizabeth the Lover…
• After Mary’s court of fear, Elizabeth
implements a court of love. Courtly
love… politicians must court her,
not petition her. Poetry, music,
chivalry, etc.
• She put herself into the role of the
unattainable lover
• Her poetry is a weapon, deliberately
“leaked” in order to make her
appear human and emotional after
unpopular political decisions.
• Elizabeth entertains several heads of
state with the possibility of
marriage… the closest she gets is
the Duke of Anjou of France in
1581. “On Monsieur’s Departure”
Elizabeth , Virgin Queen
• After a shaky recovery from small
pox in 1562, the Queen’s former
beauty is ruined. Parliament and her
privy counsel begin to make their
strongest arguments for her to marry
and produce and heir.
• It is at this point that Elizabeth
begins to wear the heavy white
makeup, elaborate wigs, and highly
stylized costumes she’s known for in
most of her portraits.
• Artists and playwrights begin to
follow along with her fashioning of
herself as a virgin goddess.
Mary Queen of Scots
• In 1571 the Ridolfi Plot is
uncovered.
• Mary Queen of Scots has been
trying to take Elizabeth’s throne
on the grounds that she is Henry
VIII’s niece (and a Catholic).
• Elizabeth delays taking action,
though Mary has been proven
guilty. Advisors urge action.
• Highly controversial since Mary
is a queen in her own right
(Scotland and France).
Elizabeth the Warrior Goddess…
• Spanish Armada 1588 –Philip II of
Spain amassed 151 ships to sail against
England and depose Elizabeth, whom he
Her victory dress… felt was ruling illegitimately (and who
was helping the Protestant Dutch revolt
against their Catholic Spanish enemies)
• Elizabeth addresses the troops amassed
at Tilbury who are to meet the fleet
when it hit shore – they had little chance
of success.
• Luckily a storm knocks out most of the
fleet and England is saved!
• England becomes a world power,
becomes fascinated with itself – many
history plays are written to glorify its
past.
Sir Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
•As an aspiring poet, Spenser penned
The Faerie Queene in honor of Queen
Elizabeth, but he fell out of favor with
her when he severely criticized one of
her trusted advisors.
•Wrote Amoretti (1595) for his future
wife, Elizabeth Boyle. It is a sonnet
sequence of 89 sonnets that tell the
story of a love relationship in which the
couple move toward marriage.
•Wrote Epithalamion for his wife after
their marriage. 365 line poem, one line
for each day of the year.
The Faerie Queene (1596)
• A LONG narrative
poem/allegorical epic in six
books. (one of the longest in
English)
• Spenser planned to write 24
books, one for each of the
"twelve private moral virtues“
and 12 “public virtues” which
King Arthur represents.
• In each book, a different hero
represents one of these moral
virtues. Book 1 is Redcrosse
Knight: Holiness.
• Gloriana = Queen Elizabeth.
Arthur is always searching for her
– what better consort for Queen
Elizabeth but King Arthur?
The Faerie Queene (1596)
• Spenser deliberately uses
archaic language as he
attempts to create a mythology
surrounding Queen Elizabeth
and the ideals of her court.
• Each book contains Lines 1-8
in each stanza are iambic
pentameter, and 9 is iambic
hexameter (alexandrine);
ababbcbcc.
• This form is called a
Spenserian stanza.
Book One Characters
• Redcross = Holiness… a knight trying to do the right thing. Is
actually the character of St. George, patron saint of England.
• Una = the True Church (Protestantism). Accompanies Redcrosse on
his quest to save her kingdom from a dragon.
• Errour = a book vomiting monster/snake woman
• Duessa/Fidessa = the False Church (Catholicism) Tries to seduce
and destroy Redcrosse.
• Gloriana = the Faerie Queene… really a representation of Queen
Elizabeth
• Arthur = of Arthurian legend. Has fallen in love with the Faerie
Queene and seeks her out.
• Sansfoy, Sansjoy, Sansloy = three evil knights (faithless, Joyless,
Lawless)
Sir Philip Sydney 1554-1586
•Poet, courtier, soldier, Protestant
•Works to know: his Astrophil
and Stella sonnets written to
Penelope Devereux
•Defense of Prosey
Defense of Prosey
• "The lawyer saith what men have determined; the historian what men have
done. The grammarian speaketh only of the rules of speech; and the rhetorician and
logician, considering what in nature will soonest persuade, thereon give artificial
rules. . . Only the poet, disdaining to be tied to any such subjection, lifted up
with the vigor of his own invention, doth grow in effect another nature, in
making things either better than nature bringeth forth, or, quite anew, forms
such as never were in nature, as the Heroes, Demigods, Cyclops, Chimeras,
Furies, and such like: so as he goeth hand in hand with nature, not enclosed within
the narrow warrant of her gifts, but freely ranging only within the zodiac of his own
wit. Nature never set forth the earth in so rich tapestry as divers poets have
done. . . Her world is brazen, the poets only deliver a golden" (956-7).
• "The poet he nothing affirms, and therefore never lieth. For, as I take it, to lie is
to affirm that to be true which is false. So as the other artists, and especially the
historian, affirming many things, can, in the cloudy knowledge of mankind, hardly
escape from many lies. But the poet (as I said before) never affirmeth. [ . . . so wise
readers of poetry] will never give the lie to things not affirmatively but
allegorically and figuratively written" (968).
William Shakespeare
You’ve got this already, right?
But maybe you should read his
longer poems, like The Rape of
Lucrece or a history play, like
Richard II.
Vocabulary to Know…
• Difference between the Italian (Petrarchan),
English (Spensarian), and Shakespearean
sonnet types.
• Octave, sestet, turn (volta), problem, solution
• Blazon
• Allegory
• Pastoral
• Body Politic vs. natural body