The

Renaissance
1500-1660 The Renaissance

1558-1603 Elizabethan Age

1603-1625 Jacobean Age

1625-1649 Caroline Age

1649-1660 Commonwealth Period

 1500-1660
The word Renaissance means rebirth.
It is the name applied to the period of European
history following the Medieval Era.
In this period the arts of painting, sculpture,
architecture, and literature reached an eminence
not exceeded by any civilization in any age.
It is perhaps best known for its artistic
developments and the contributions of artistic
geniuses as Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo.
 Also known in history as the first great
Romantic period in English poetry
because it witnessed the rise of some of
the greatest poets in the language.

It is also called the Golden Age of

English literature, specifically drama.
 The
Elizabethan
Age
Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
 Elizabethan Poetry and Prose
(1558-1603 A.D)
Many imitators of Chaucer appeared after his death,
but few are of great interest.
Before the great literary age in 1579, two poets wrote
works of value: Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of
Surrey.
Sir Thomas Wyatt Earl of Surrey
Imitated Italian Sonnet after 14th century English Sonnet or Shakespearean
Italian poet Petrarch (abbaabba) Sonnet (ababcdcdefefgg)
First brought the sonnet to England Wrote the first blank verse in English
Sonnet: 14 line lyric poem of fixed form and rhyme Blank Verse: verse without rhyme, usually in lines of
pattern written in a single stanza. (Italian and five iambic feet.
Shakespearean)
Humanists
Their language is modern and their
outlook different from that of Medieval
poets like Chaucer.
This movement was marked by a fresh
interest in Greek and Latin classics and
new experiments in both prose and
verse.
This is part of a lovers prayer to his girl by
Wyatt:

And wilt thou leave me thus

That hath loved thee so long
In wealth and woe among;
And is thy heart so strong
As for to leave me thus?
Say nay! Say nay!

Subject: A doting lovers hopes and pains

 Shakespeare wrote sonnets between
1593-1600: Sonnet 17
Who will believe my verse in time to come, (a)
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts? (b)
Though yet, heaven knows, it is but as a tomb (a)
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts. (b)
If I could write the beauty of your eyes (c)
And in fresh numbers number all your graces, (d)
The age to come would say 'This poet lies: (c)
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.' (d)
So should my papers yellow'd with their age (e)
Be scorn'd like old men of less truth than tongue, (f)
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage (e)
And stretched metre of an antique song: (f)
But were some child of yours alive that time, (g)
You should live twice; in it and in my rhyme. (g)
Elizabethan Poetry, Prose, & Drama
(1558-1603 A.D)
Edmund Spencer: first proper Elizabethan
poet who wrote The Shepherds Calendar.
(pastoral poem) Combined Shakespearean and
Italian sonnet forms.
The Faerie Queene (1589-96)
Devised the Spencerian Stanza.

Pastoral: Concerning the life of shepherds.

Spencerian Stanza: The verse has 9 lines,
the last has 6 feet, the others 5.
 Elizabethan Poetry, Prose, & Drama
(1558-1603 A.D)
The Elizabethan age produced a surprising flow of
lyrics. Lyric Poetry: gives expression and more focus
to the poets thoughts and feelings (prominent
towards the end of the Elizabethan age)

Best lyrics in dramatic works are Shakespeares

Twelfth Night (1601):

O mistress mine, where are you roaming?

 Also Christopher Marlowes The
Passionate Shepherd to his Love. (1599):
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields
Woods or steepy mountain yield.
Sir Walter Raleigh wrote another poem as
the girls answer:
If all the world and love were young
And truth in every shepherds tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.
 Christopher Marlowe
The greatest dramatist before
Shakespeare was Christopher Marlowe
(1564-1593).

He wrote five plays:

1- Tamburlaine
2- Doctor Faustus
3- The Jew of Malta
4- Edward II
5- Dido, Queen of Carthage
 Christopher Marlowe
In this handful of plays appears the first
true voice of the Renaissance, of the
period of new learning, new freedom, new
enterprise, of the period of worship of Man
rather than God:

The dawn that Marlowe sang into our skies

With mouth of gold and morning in his eyes.
 Christopher Marlowe
Marlowe sums up the New Age:

The old restrictions of the Church and the

limitations on knowledge have been
destroyed.
The world is opening up and the ships are
sailing to new lands.
Wealth is being amassed.
The great national aggressors are rising.
 Christopher Marlowe
The spirit of human freedom of limitless
human power and enterprise that
Marlows plays convey:

Tamburlaine is the great conqueror, the

embodiment of tyrannical power;
Barabas, the Jew of Malta, stands for
monetary power;
Faustus represents the most deadly hunger
of all, for the power which supreme
knowledge can give.
 The Age of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was
an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as
the greatest writer in the English language. He is often
called England's national poet. His surviving works,
including some collaborations, consist of about
38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and
several other poems. His plays have been translated
into every major living language and are performed
more often than those of any other playwright.
 The
Jacobean
Age
James I (1603-1625)
Jacobean Era (1603-1625 A.D)
Jacobean era: Lyrical works lost their force
and metaphysical poetry began.
Metaphysical Poetry: poems that are less
beautiful and musical, containing more
tricks of style and images to attract
attention.

Metaphysical (as applied to poetry): showing

clever tricks of style and unlikely
comparisons.
 Jacobean Era (1603-1625
A.D)
John Donne: greatest metaphysical poet but it
is difficult to find a complete poem by him
which is faultless. Best works were Songs and
Sonnets.

Here lies a she sun and a he moon there

She gives the best light to his sphere
Or each is both, and all, and so
They unto one another nothing owe.
Edmund Spencer vs. John Donne

Spencer Donne
Verse is musical Contained tricks of style
Sound is beautiful and unusual images to
attract attention.
Sweet Sour
Gentle and smooth Fiery, rough, harshness,
and toughness
More interested in heart More interested in mind
or eye
 Jacobean Era (1603-1625 A.D)
Dramatist Ben Jonson: known as Rare Ben
Jonson wrote poetry, prose, and drama
To Celia: one of Jonsons best lyrics.
Known as Shakespeares contemporary
Best known for his satirical (showing foolishness)
plays: Volpone (1606) and The Alchemist (1610).
Jonson influenced later younger
Jacobean and Caroline playwrights
and poets.
 Jacobean Era
(1603-1625 A.D)
Known as father of English Literary Criticism.
(Poetic abilities) Judges work as whole.
Criticized Shakespeare, Spenser, and Donne.
A kind of Novel produced: John Lylys Euphues
(1578-80)
Euphues: known for its style alliteration and
similes.
Simile: A method of describing something by
comparing it to something else using like or as.
E.g. She looks like a red rose.
 John Lylys Eupheus: impact on style. The term
'euphuism' was added to the language referring to
Lylys style.

They are commonly soonest believed that are best

beloved, and they liked best whom we have known
longest
 Jacobean Novelists: Robert Greene and
Thomas Nash.
Thomas Nash: Picaresque novels
(Spain): novels based on adventures (in
different places) of men who are wicked
but lovable
Jacobean novels: little value started
false beginning, and died out.
Caroline Age
Charles I (1625-1649)
 Caroline Era
Caroline Era (1625-1649): In Drama, the
Caroline period has often been regarded
as a diminished continuation of the
trends of the previous two reigns.
In poetry, however, the Caroline period
saw the flourishing of the Cavalier poets.
 Caroline Era
If the Elizabethan era was the golden
age of English drama, the Caroline age
was nearly as rich in the realm of non-
dramatic poetry, bringing as it did the
beginnings of the career of John Milton,
in addition to the poets of the
movements already mentioned.
 Caroline Era
Cavalier Poets: 17th century poets who supported
King Charles I and his supporters (Royalists)
during the English Civil War. Some poets are:
- Robert Herrick: Considered by people of his time
to be the best living lyric poet - writes about
English country and its flowers.
- Richard Lovelace: To Althea, from Prison
- Sir John Suckling: wrote poetry using wit.
Poetry of Cavalier poets were light in style and
secular (worldly) in subject.
 John Milton and his time
John Milton (1608-1674): Second poet after
Shakespeare.
Influenced the Victorian Age (1837-1901) and
Romantic Movement (1820-1900)
Works divided into three categories:
1. Shorter Poems
2. Prose (mainly concerned with church affairs,
divorce, and freedom)
3. Greater Poems.
1652: famous sonnet (Sonnet 18 On His
Blindness)
 John Milton and his time
Greatestlyrical epic poem: Paradise Lost
(1667) - written in 12 books (blank verse) about
a scene of the whole universe including
Heaven and Hell. Hell is described like this:
A dungeon horrible, on all sides round
As one great furnace flamed- yet from those flames
No light, but rather visible
Served only to discover sights of woe
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all.
 John Milton and his time
Paradise Lost contains hundreds of
remarkable thoughts put into musical verse.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. (Book 1, 254)

Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. (Book I, 263)

Paradise Regained (1671):

is more severe.