Renaissance Period 1500-1600 /English Literature History

 Prepared by Hajat Hussain
 Reg No. 2016-kiu-2242
Hajat Hussain 2016-Kiu-2242

 Introduction
 Characteristics
 Renaissance Drama
 Famous Dramatists
 Renaissance poetry
 Famous poets
 Renaissance prose
 Famous prose writers

 This period is also called the Elizabethan Period or
Age of Shakespeare.
 Renaissance means rebirth.
 The Renaissance began in Italy, especially in arts and
architecture

 With the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D by
invasion of Turks, the Greek scholars who were
residing there, spread all over Europe and Revival of
Learning of Greek in 14th and 15th century.
 The essence of this movement was that ‘man
discovered himself and the universe.

 Discoveries took place in other fields e.g Columbus
discovered America, Copernicus discovered Solar
System, Books were printed.
 In England change in religion and politics when Henry
VIII made himself Church of England. He cut all
contact with Catholic Church and Protestantism
became more popular.

 The chief characteristic of Renaissance was its
emphasis on Humanism.
 Renaissance was started in Italy and became popular in
England in Elizabethan period. This movement focused
on ‘the proper study of mankind’. The first Englishman
who wrote under influence of Greek was Sir Thomas
written Utopia in Latin.

 The second characteristic was discovery of external
universe. Writers directed their gaze inward, became
deeply interested in the problems of human personality.
Writers prefer individuality.
 Another characteristic was that men came to be
regarded as responsible for their own action.

 In this period the most memorable achievement in
literature was in the field of drama.
 A great development was made in the study of Latin
drama and growth of practice of acting plays in English
and Latin.
 These plays brought educated classes into touch with a
drama.

 At mid of 16th century writers attempts to write plays in
English on Latin model.
e.g John Still wrote Grummar Gurton’s Needle
 Elizabethan drama was dominated by ‘University Wits’
a group of literary men. Marlowe was central and Lyly,
Greene, Peele were minor stars.
 Shakespeare was greatest of all Elizabethan dramatists.

 Shakespeare (1564-1616)
 Shakespeare was greatest of all Elizabethan
dramatists.
 He didn’t have proper training and education.
He had marvelous imaginative and creative
mind
 Beside non-dramatic poetry consisting of two narrating
poems, 154 sonnets. He wrote 37 dramas.

 His work is divided into 4 periods
 1st Period (1577-1593)
This was early period. In this period he wrote three parts of
Henry VI and Titus Andronicus.
His first comedies were Love’s Labour’s Lost, The comedy of
errors etc.
 His first tragedy was Romeo and Juliet

 In this period he wrote great comedies and chronicle
plays like Richard II, King John, Henry IV, I, II,V, As
you Like It etc
 3rd Period (1601-1608)
In this period he wrote great tragedies and bitter comedies.
The tone is grave and emphasis on evil. He wrote Julius
Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, All is Well that Ends Well, Othello,
King Lear and Timon of Athens.

 In this period he wrote comedies and dramatic romances.
 There is a decline in the power of expression and thought. He
wrote Cymberline, The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale.
 His plays and poetry are like a great river of life and beauty.

 In 1587 his first play Tamburlaine
was produced and took public interest.
 The greater and best play was
The Doctor Faustus, a tragic comedy.
The story was about a scholar who
sells his soul to the Devil for power.
Died at the end.
 The Jew of Malta, the third tragedy was about a clever Jew
named Barabas, who became a governor of Malta and at the
end of play Barabas was killed.

 Edward II was his last play.
 His plays were different from Shakespeare’s plays. He
introduced heroes with superpowers, great strength and
vitality.
 He is known as The Father of English Dramatic
Poetry.

 He wrote a number of plays. The most famous was
Euphues and best known are Compaspe, Endymion,
Midas and Sapho and Phao.

 Poetry took a new trend. Under the influence of
Renaissance the people of England were infused with
freshness, enthusiasm and vigour.
 The poetry of this period opens with the publication of
a volume known as Tottel’s Miscellany by Sir Thomas
More and Earl of Surrey.
 Both attempted the blank verse and experimented a
great variety of metres.

 The rhyme scheme of most sonnets in English,
including Shakespeare is generally
ABABBCDCDEFEFGG this is called Elizabethan
scheme.
 The words rhyme in every other line, except the final
line called a couplet.

 Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
 The greatest of these early Elizabethan poets
was Sir Philip Sidney. He was a many sided
person, a soldier, courtier and a poet.
Queen Elizabeth called him one of the jewels of her crown and
he was considered one of the ripest statesmen of the age.
 As a literary figure, he made his mark in prose as well as in
poetry.

 His prose works are Arcadia and the Apologie for
Poetrie.
 His great work in poetry was the sequence of sonnets
called Astrophel and Stella.
 His Defence of Poetry was also very famous.

 The greatest name in the Elizabethan Poetry was Spenser,
who may be called the poet of chivalry and Medieval
allegory.
 The Faerie Queene written in the form of an allegory deals
with petty intrigues, corrupt dealings and clever
manipulations of politicians in the court of Queen
Elizabeth.
 Shepherd’s Calendar is pastoral poem written in an
artificial classical style. Consisting of 12 parts and each
devoted to the month of the year.

 Astrophel, an elegy which he wrote on the death of Sir
Sidney.
 Hymns which are characterized by melodious verse
were written in honor of love and beauty.
 His Amoretti consisting of 88 sonnets.
 His poetry is surcharged with noble ideas and lofty
ideas.

 There is no harsh note in all his poetry. He was poet of
imagination. His greatest contribution to English Poetry
is the Spenserian stanza. It is used by many poets.
 Charles Lamb called him ‘Spenser is the poets’

 This period was the period of origin of modern English
prose. Prose was used as a vehicle of various forms of
amusement and information. Books on history, travel,
adventure and translation of Italian stories appeared in
a large number.
 There were large number of prose writers, only Sidney
and Lyly made a solid contributions to the English
Prose style.

 People of England took delight in the flowery words
and graceful.
 The Elizabethans loved decorative modes of expression
and flowery style.

 John Lyly (1554-1606)
 The first author who wrote prose in the manner that
Elizabethans wanted, his Euphues was popular on
highly artificial and decorative style. It was read and
copied by everyone.
 The word Euphuism became common description of an
artificial style.

 Arcadia is the first English example of
prose pastoral romance, which was
imitated by various English authors.
 The main attraction lies in its style which is highly
poetical and exhaustive. One word is used again and
again in different senses.

 A Critical History of English Literature by B.R Mullik
 History of English Literature By David Daiches
Hajat Hussain
2016-Kiu-2242

Renaissance Period 1500-1600 /English Literature History

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