Transcript Document

The English Renaissance
(1485-1660)
What was the Renaissance?
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Renaissance is French for “rebirth”.
It began in Italy in the 14th century and
in England extended past the middle of
the 17th century
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 128).
The Renaissance ushered in a new age
of “modern” thinking, and separated
itself from the previous era called the
Middle Ages (or Dark Ages) (Farzaneh).
Society saw a rebirth of the intellectual
and artistic energies that characterized
ancient Greek and Roman civilization.
It awakened a whole range of new
interests in human beings and the
world they lived in (Keach, Richetti, and
Robbins 128).
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The words of Erasmus of
Rotterdam, a great Dutch
thinker who influenced English
thinkers in the 16th century,
reflect this spirit of hopeful
renewal:
“I am led to a confident
hope that not only morality
and Christian piety, but
also a genuine and purer
literature, may come to
renewed life or greater
splendour.”
(qtd. in Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 129)
The Renaissance was an artistic movement:
The Renaissance shaped the works
of great painters, sculptors,
musicians, and architects; the visual
arts flourished (Keach, Richetti, and
Robbins 129).
The Renaissance was an intellectual
movement:
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Before the Renaissance, Medieval
thinking was defined by certain attitudes
and beliefs.
Medieval thought put an emphasis on
God, relied heavily on faith, and saw this
life as preparation for the afterlife.
The world and its pleasures were viewed
as temptations and rejected as sinful.
Society demanded unquestioning
obedience to authority (to God, church,
feudal lord, or king).
Community (under the system called
feudalism) was more important that
individuality.
Tradition was not challenged.
(Kreis)
With the Renaissance came a new
intellectual movement known as Humanism.
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The Basic Beliefs of Humanism:
Saw the potential of life in the here and now, not just the afterlife.
Emphasized the capacities of the human mind and the achievements
of human culture rather than the power of God (Keach, Richetti,
and Robbins 129).
Replaced unquestioning faith with an instinct of curiosity, honest
doubt, and skepticism.
Sought freedom from authority and valued personal independence
(Kreis).
Believed in the dignity and potential of the individual (Abrams 240).
Valued individual expression (Kreis).
Cherished beauty and earthly pleasures, as the ancient Greeks and
Romans did.
Emphasized the importance of education , reason, and intellectual
freedom; moved away from the traditional study of logic, law,
astronomy and philosophy to a study of subjects we now refer to as
the humanities: liberal arts, grammar, rhetoric, poetry, moral
philosophy (Farzaneh).
Overall Impact of Humanism on the
Renaissance
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Although humanism broke away from the
traditions and superstitions of the Medieval
Era, God and Christianity were still
important; however, many Christian
humanists questioned the practices of the
Roman Catholic church (Farzaneh).
Humanism therefore contributed to the
thinking behind the Protestant Reformation
(Kreis).
It provided a crucial step towards later
periods of scientific advancement
(Farzaneh).
It resulted in a more educated, literate
society and prepared people for literature
with more secular (non-religious) ideas
(Kreis).
The Renaissance - An Era of Exploration
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Exploration and discovery of new worlds
(including the Americas) supplied Europe
with goods and trade partners. The English
were not pioneers in the discovery and
exploration of the new world, but they
profited greatly as colonizers and merchant
adventurers, especially during the reign of
Elizabeth I (Abrams 239).
The Renaissance - An Era of Science
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Copernicus (1473-1543) & Galileo
(1564-1642) (physicists,
mathematicians, astronomers)
hypothesized that the Earth was not
the centre of the universe as the
Catholic Church traditionally believed.
Instead, they suggested that the Earth,
as well as other planets, orbited
around the sun.
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Both men were labeled as heretics by the
Catholic Church
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 142)
Gutenberg’s Printing Press
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It was invented in 1440 in Germany by Johannes
Gutenberg and introduced in
England a few decades later
by William Caxton.
At a time when education was
becoming more important, the
printing press made books cheaper
and more widely available to a
rising middle class.
In the early 15th century,
about 30% of the people were
literate compared to 60%
by 1530. (Abrams 240)
The time was right for the flowering of the Renaissance literary
movement.
So the Renaissance meant…
 … a “rebirth” for humanity.
 …that human beings were ready to
demonstrate what they could accomplish
in the realms of philosophy, music,
literature, art, science, and global
exploration.
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It began in Europe in the 1300’s.
So why did it take a century or so for the
movement to catch on in England?
Political Instability Stifles the
Renaissance in England
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England was slow to participate in the European
Renaissance mainly for political reasons.
The Yorks and the Lancasters battled each other for the
throne in the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485).
In 1485 Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, defeated Yorkist
King Richard III and was crowned King Henry VII,
reigning until 1509.
The Tudor dynasty was established and ruled the
country for more than a century (Keach, Richetti, and
Robbins 132-133).
Henry VII’s reign brought the political stability necessary
for Renaissance ideas to take root in England.
It was not until the reign of his son, Henry VIII, that
Renaissance ideas were able to flower (Abrams 240).
The Reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547)
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Henry saw himself mainly as a political leader
but admired what the Renaissance had
achieved in Europe.
He wanted to he thought of as “an
enlightened Renaissance prince”.
In Henry’s court, famous poets such as Sir
Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard were
beginning their work.
Sir Thomas More became the center of a
brilliant circle of English Humanists. His
Utopia was an early Renaissance
masterpiece.
But it was during his reign that religious and
historical forces once again disrupted literary
and artistic development (Keach, Richetti,
and Robbins 133).
The Protestant Reformation
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Was a movement of religious protest
against the authority and “corruption” of
the Roman Catholic Church.
Was already underway in Europe under
the leadership of people such as Martin
Luther and John Calvin, who protested
against the practices of the Roman
Catholic Church for religious reasons.
Henry VIII had political and personal
motives for breaking away from the
Church:
 Catherine of Aragon, his first wife, had
not produced a male heir for the
throne.
 The Pope refused Henry VIII a divorce.
 He defied the Pope, married Anne
Boleyn, and declared himself Supreme
Head of the Church of England (the
Anglican Church)
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 133).
Negative Effects of the Reformation on the
Renaissance
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Sir Thomas More opposed the
king’s divorce and refused to
swear allegiance to him. Henry
imprisoned More and executed
him.
More's death is a reminder of
how the cultural and artistic
spirit of the Renaissance was
prevented from thriving under
Henry's lust for dynastic power
and authority.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 133)
Negative Effects Continued
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It led to a lot of political and religious
instability that hindered the advancement of
the Renaissance, even after Henry’s death in
1547.
Catholic was pitted against Protestant.
Edward VI (reigned 1547-1553) –
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son of Henry and Jane Seymour
continued Protestant reforms
Queen Mary (reigned1553-1558) –
(Known as “Bloody Mary”)
 Daughter of Catherine of Aragon
 Was a devout Catholic and married
Phillip II of Spain.
 Instituted a reign of terror against
English Protestants in an attempt to
return England to Catholic authority.
 Her time on the throne threatened
England's growing national identity
and allowed Spain to emerge as the
dominant, most imperialistic power in
sixteenth-century Europe.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 134)
Elizabeth I and the Renaissance Renewed
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Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603)
She ascended to the throne at age 25.
She was very intelligent and had an excellent
Renaissance education. Her tutor was Roger
Ascham, a famous English Humanist.
She was an accomplished linguist and poet .
She encouraged literary and artistic
developments which allowed the Renaissance
in England to grow.
She was a clever diplomat and ruthless politician.
She used her unmarried status as a way to
manipulate her traditional enemies, France and
Spain, who sought alliances with England through marriage to its
Queen.
She promoted peace by navigating a reasonable religious track
between the Protestants and the Catholics.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 134)
I have already joined myself in
marriage to a husband, namely
the kingdom of England.
(Elizabeth to Parliament)
I have no desire to make windows
into men’s souls.
(a reference to the Catholic/Protestant issue)
I know I have the body of a
weak and feeble woman, but I
have the heart and stomach of
a king.
(Tilbury Speech, 1588)
(“Elizabeth I Quotes”)
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In 1588, England’s navy defeated
the Spanish Armada (the strongest
naval force of the age) when Spain
attempted to invade.
The victory marked Elizabeth's
authority in a country that had
become one of the most powerful
in the world in less than a century.
With swelling national pride and
new economic prosperity due to
commercial trade in the Americas,
England was ready for a period of
great artistic and cultural
achievements.
Many individuals of talent came to
Elizabeth’s court to distinguish
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 135)
themselves artistically.
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Artistic Tastes of Elizabethans
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Elizabethan attitudes toward art, literature,
and life in general was a strange combination
of old and new; attachment to the medieval
past and a modern outlook.
Artistic tastes veered toward elaborate pattern
and complicated ornament controlled through
order and symmetry.
Elizabethans admired artifice, and considered
that which was artificial" to be an extension
of the art itself. They believed that
which was made by human skill added
to and improved on the order found
in the natural world.
These tastes appeared in all
aspects of Elizabethan life from
gowns, to buildings, gardens,
music, dance and poetry.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 138-139)
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See YouTube – Dance from Shakespeare in Love for an example of highly
patterned dance.
See YouTube for example of an English madrigal. A favorite is Fair Phyllis,
composed by John Farmer and sung by the King’s Singers. Lots of
independent vocal parts that intertwine.
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In literature, they enjoyed a verbal pattern for the eyes and the ears much
like a repeated tune or rhythmic beat found in music.
Intricate verbal patterning and arrangement were seen as an essential
means of expressing the true order of the mental and material universe.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 139)
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 often 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 ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
The Elizabethan World Picture
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Elizabethans saw the
world as a vast, unified,
hierarchical order, or
"Great Chain of Being,"
created by God.
Every existing being, or
thing, was ranked within
a category on the chain.
Categories were ranked
by the attributes of their
members, from the
lowest group – all matter
and no spirit – the
highest group – all spirit
and no matter.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 139)
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Inanimate things were at
the bottom.
Above were plants and
animal kingdoms.
Human beings were at the
midpoint of the chain.
Having souls and free will,
they could choose to strive
for the holiness of the spirit
world or fall into depravity
(animallike).
The realm of God and the
angels was the dwelling of
purely spiritual beings.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 139)
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Each group had its own place in the chain and each
member a place in that group.
 The lion was the highest ranking member of the
animal kingdom, the oyster was the lowest.
 Metals ranged from gold to lead.
 The plant kingdom was headed by the rose.
Each member of a group corresponded with the sameranking members of other groups: gold (most valuable
mineral) was equal to an oak (first among trees) which
was like the sun (first among stars). The lion (first
among animals) could represent a king or queen (head
of a nation) who could embody a rose (first among
flowers) and that rose could symbolize God.
Elizabethan writers chose from a wealth of symbolic
relationships, references, and allusions.
The Elizabethan World Picture provided a language full
of images, metaphors, and analogies.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 139)
The Jacobean Era (1603-1625)
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When Elizabeth I died in 1603, the Tudor
dynasty came to an end.
James Stuart, already King of Scotland, ruled
England and Scotland together until 1625.
His reign is known as the Jacobean Era (the
Latin form of the name James).
His reign was one of deep religious and political
unrest in England.
In the early part of the seventeenth century,
philosophical and intellectual changes were
starting to undermine faith in the older
Elizabethan world view.
Copernicus (1473-1543) and Galileo (15641642) had argued that the sun, and not the
earth, was at the centre of the universe and
that there may be many more worlds than
earth.
This and other scientific investigations called
into question the basis of the hierarchical
universe. Most people rejected the new
discoveries but a new age of scientific thought
was dawning (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 141142).
Civil War in England
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James I's son, Charles, ascended the throne in 1625
when the Puritan movement was growing.
Puritans were strict Protestants who wished to “purify”
the Church of England.
Soon Charles, the head of the Church of England,
found himself in conflict with a House of Commons
that was strongly Puritan.
Charles I tried to put a stop to organized religious
protest but was opposed.
In Parliament, the House of Commons with-held
funds needed for the functions of government.
Parliament grew too strong and voted on reforms of
church and state.
Charles I left London to establish his own army and
regain power.
In August of 1642, civil war broke out.
The King's supporters were no match for the military
of the Parliament made up primarily of Puritans and
headed by Oliver Cromwell.
King Charles' army was defeated; he was imprisoned
and executed in 1649. (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 142-144).
The Protectorate and the Restoration
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Oliver Cromwell took over power
of the government in was he
called the Protectorate (16531658) which was a military
dictatorship and did not last long.
Cromwell died in 1658 and by
1660 the English people had had
enough of harsh Puritan rule, so
they set up contacts with Charles
II who had set up a government
while in exile in Paris (16601685).
Charles II returned in what is
called the "Restoration" of the
monarchy. A new Parliament was
elected and England returned to
its former style of government.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins
144)
Literature in a Century of Change and Uncertainty
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Seventeenth century writers built on and
extended the developments of Elizabethan
literature but were confronted with
conflicting values and expressions.
The poetry of the 17th century had two main
styles:
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"Metaphysical Poets" was a term used
to refer to writers who used extended,
intellectualized images drawn from
philosophy or metaphysics.
Metaphysical poetry extended the
Elizabethan love of intricate verbal
artifice and feeling for dramatic voice
and situation.
It is more argumentative in tone; its
language is more colloquial; its meter is
varied, irregular, and harsh.
Overall, its content and form reflects
the strain and disruption of the 17th
century.
A famous metaphysical poet is John
Donne.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 145-146)
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The second main style of poetry in
the 17th century is known as
“Classical and Conservative” Poetry.
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This poetry was based on discipline
and restraint of reason, on classical
form, and on fine craftsmanship.
Ben Jonson wrote in the style.
A group of poets known as the
“Cavalier” poets composed light,
witty, and elegant verse that still
retained an emphasis on fineness
and precision of form. Among
these poets are Robert Herrick,
John Suckling, and Richard
Lovelace.
(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 145146)
Poetic Conventions, Modes, and Genres
of the Renaissance
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Literary conventions are patterns of writing that have become
habitual. Renaissance poets used well-known patterns or modes of
writing to convey their ideas and to arouse certain expectations in
the reader.
The Pastoral Mode
 The conventions of the pastoral mode present a simple and idealized
world of shepherds and shepherdesses who are interested in tending
their flocks, falling in love, and poetry. The values of this mode are
leisure and contentment with the simple country life.
The Satirical Mode
 This mode of writing ridicules the flaws of society such as greed and
corruption.
The Lyric Mode
 Concerned with praise, love, celebration of nature and the good life.
Specific genres within this mode include hymns, odes, ballads, and
sonnets.
 Sonnets were among the most popular lyric poems and often explored
love’s beauty and cruelty, the eternity of the written word, and religious
devotion.
(Abrams 251-253)
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The Tragic Mode
 Often written in a genre known as a “complaint”. The chief
convention of the complaint is that of a ghost of someone who
has fallen from a high place, bemoans his fate, and warns
others; the warning carries a moral lesson.
The Erotic Mode
 Includes lush and elaborate descriptions of physical beauty,
delight in the pleasures of the senses, and frank eroticism.
The Heroic Mode
 Values honour, courage in battle, loyalty, leadership, and
endurance. Often involves the glorification of a nation or
people. The chief genre was the epic, a long exalted poem
written in a high style based on a heroic story from a nation’s
distant history.
(Abrams 253)
Works Cited
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York:
W.W. Norton & Company, 1987.Print.
"Elizabeth I Quotes." Elizabeth R. Heather Thomas, 30 Jan 2010. Web. 18 Mar
2010. <http://www.elizabethi.org/us/>.
Farzaneh, Arash. "Renaissance Humanism and the Human Perspective."
suite101.com. N.p., 4 Jan 2009. Web. 17 Mar 2010.
<http://weuropeanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/renaissance_humanism
_and_the_human_perspective>.
Keach, William, John Richetti, and Bruce Robbins, eds. Adventures in English
Literature. Pegasus Edition. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, Inc.,
1989. Print.
Kreis, Steven. "Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: Renaissance
Humanism." The History Guide. N.p., 7 Nov 2008. Web. 17 Mar 2010.
<http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/humanism.html>.