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the Tudor dynasty (1485 – 1603): modern English and a firm sense of England as a nation state emerged
Henry VIII's religious reform temporarily cut England off, politically, artistically, and religiously from the European
mainstream
the literature which sprang from, or was influenced by, the culture of the English court in the 16th and early 17th cts.
reflected the political and religious inclinations of a ruling élite
geographical discoveries
man and the universe were being explored
great flowering of all arts
the authorised version of the Bible: King James's Bible (1611)
new poetic forms and an interest in ancient poetic forms were brought from Italy
the revival of classical learning, the study of ancient literature and thought which was regarded as the essential
inheritance of modern civilization
the function of poetry was to teach and delight simultaneously
TYPES OF SONNETS:
1. the Petrarchan (Italian): the octave – the problem
the sestet – the resolvation
rhyme: abba cde cde
2. the Shakespearean (English): 3 quatrains (appear as one stanza) + the couplet (the solution or the summarized idea);
rhyme abab cdcd efef gg
3. the Spenserian: 3 quatrains + a couplet, same rhyme
THOMAS MORE (1477 – 1535)
• the highest duty of a man was to serve his king
• Utopia: the search for the best possible form of government (an ideal society, communist ideas, personal property
abolished); influenced Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, Brave New World (Huxely), Lord of the Flies (Golding)
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554 – 1586)
• an acute Elizabethan critic of poetry
• a model of a perfect renaissance gentleman and an erudite
• his writings emerged as crucial to the political, literary and sexual discourses of the late 16th century
• Arcadia (1580): a long prose romance about an ideal place without problems, about love and chivalry, about finding the
perfect reunion with the beloved and the perfect love; with absolute happiness and joy there is no progress; ancient,
medieval and modern sources; contrasts between honour and deception, calmness of mind and discordant passion,
cultivated courtesy and rough wooing, gentility and seduction, ordered ceremonial and violence
• “Astrophil and Stella” (1591): a sonnet sequence describing the development of love of a silent and melancholic star-
lover for a distant star; an extended dialogue with the conventions of the Italian sonneteers and a varied Elizabethan
narrative which, by means of a constantly changing viewpoint, considers the developing conflict between private and
public obligation; Stella the inspirer of poetry, her authority seems to parallel that of the Queen
• “The Defence of Poesie” (1595): poetry has to be taken seriously because it releases the earthbound mind by elevating
and inspiring it; ideas about beauty in literature
THOMAS NASHE (1567 – 1601)
• the initiator of the grotesque, satirical style
• played with a style which experiments with the effects of lexical novelty, violence, and disconnection
• The Anatomy of Absurditie (1589): criticism of contemporary style of writing
• Pierce Pennilesse (1592): the complaint of an impoverished professional writer in search of patronage, who supports the
social system, but regrets that it does not work to his benefit; celebrates eating and drinking
• The Unfortunate Traveller (1594): first-person narration; a set of episodes about a travel to Italy; mixture of genres and
styles
• Both Pierce Pennilesse and The Unfortunate Traveller were seen as species of journalism, picaresque novels and
experiments in realism
SIR WALTER RALEGH (1554 – 1618)
• The Discovery of Guiana (1596): described his trip to Guyana, where he went in search for gold; ~ Utopia
• The History of the World (1614): written during his imprisonment; not only historical but also a literary work; an
extended elegiac reflection on disappointment and defeat
• his poetry is supportive of the Queen-centred courtly culture
EDMUND SPENSER (1552 – 1599)
• next to Shakespeare the greatest man of the Renaissance, the New Poet
