LETTERATURA INGLESE
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
SHAKESPEARE 1564-1616
Shakespeare's life takes place during two reigns, Elizabeth I dies in 1603 and on her death, having had
no children, she is succeeded by her sister's son, James I, first king of the Stuart dynasty, king of
Scotland and England. Scotland loses its political independence.
Shakespeare's production, especially the tragedies, were written in the period when James I reigned.
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Sonetti (1593-1603)
Elizabeth I is the daughter of Henry VIII Tudor and Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII is remembered politically
because in 1534 (Act of supremacy) he founded the Anglican Church (English Reformation); the
Church of England breaks away from the Roman Catholic Church because the Pope did not agree to
annul the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The monarch also becomes head of
the church.
Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I: sovrani Tudor ‘mecenati’
- Power alliance and culture: Renaissance --> Early Modern
While in the rest of Europe we talk about the Renaissance, in England we can talk about Early Modern,
precisely because it is a period of innovation. The most important invention was that of printing by
William Canton in 1476 (first editions of The Canterbury Tales).
- Fioritura delle arti, del teatro e della letteratura.
Court poets: Sir Thomas Wyatt, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, the one who brought the tradition
of the sonnet to England.
Thomas More --> UTOPIA, the founding text of the utopian and dystopian tradition.
Tradizione classica e dei classici.
Apertura al continente: diffusione delle idee di Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Pico
della Mirandola, Petrarca diventa il modello del sonetto, ma il suo modello viene ben presto assimilato
e modificato.
CULTO DELLA REGINA ELISABETTA I
Una donna forte che mise al primo posto il suo ruolo e le sue responsabilità nei confronti del regno.
- 1588 -> Victory against the invincible army of the Catholic king Philip of Spain. At this moment
the explorations to the new world begin, for example mentioned in the work ''The Tempest''.
First colonial enterprises (imprese coloniali) towards the new world.
TILBURY SPEECH, 1588
“I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a King, and a King
of England too. I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every
one of your virtues in the field. »”
