In this presentation, I have talked about historical or literature of 16th century poetry and English Renaissance that you can get the information about it. Thanks

1. 16th century poetry
Prepared by: Banwan Ali

2. 16th century poetry
• Sixteenth Century witness a movement, that is generally known as
the Renaissance, involved a rebirth of letters and arts stimulated by
the recovery of texts and artifacts from classical antiquity, the
development of techniques such as linear perspective, and the
creation of powerful new aesthetic practices based on classical
models.

3. English Renaissance
• The Renaissance 1485-1625 meaning rebirth, was a period in
European history taking place between 14th century and
17th century. Although started in Italy with its root and beginning
in 13th century, it soon spread through Europe.
• Renaissance starts in Italy14th century, in the visual arts and
architecture. English Renaissance always associates with human
existence thus it is known as Renaissance Humanism. The struggle
revolves around the superb human figure, the purposes of
education and the focus on the formal language of writing.

4. English Renaissance
• The Renaissance was a time when the ideas of “art” and
“artist” underwent fundamental changes. In the preceding
centuries, known as the medieval times or the Middle Ages,
creators of poems and paintings were considered to
be craftsmen or artisans. Starting in the Renaissance they
began to be recognized as something more, as artists. An
artist is someone with a special talent which sets him or her
apart from ordinary people. A special talent is something
more than an advanced skill.

5. Key characteristics of the Renaissance
• Religious devotion of the Middle Ages gave way to interest
in the human being’s place on this earth (humanism) to
harmonize Bible and classics to teach how to live and rule
• Universities introduced a new curriculum, the humanities,
including history, geography, poetry, and languages
• Invention of printing made books more available
• More writers began using the vernacular (common
language) – English, Italian, French

6. Poetry as Rhetoric
• In the Renaissance, the world was universally believed to have been
created and ordered by God. The best imitation of nature must
therefore reflect and reveal this order. But while nature often seems
disordered, the orderliness of a poem is always visible. Poetry
therefore raises to the mind the true order of nature. If we can’t see
that order when we look at the storm-shaken, disease-ridden, civil-
warring world around us, we can’t help but see it in the carefully
wrought poem.
• poetry at the time had a moral purpose. Although poetry was moving
from the realm of craft to that of the newly conceptualized realm of
art, it was still classified in the 1500s and 1600s as a branch
of rhetoric.

7. Figures of the Renaissance
• Mostly Italians
• Petrarch wrote lyric poetry in the form of sonnets
• Leonardo Da Vinci, a painter, sculptor, architect, and
scientist
• Da Vinci typifies a Renaissance man—a person of broad
education and interests whose curiosity knew no bounds.

8. Some Poems in 16th century
• Thomas Wyatt, “Mine Own John Poins”
• Henry Howard, “Wyatt Resteth Here”
• Queen Elizabeth I, “The Doubt of Future
Foes”
• Sir Walter Ralegh, “The Passionate
Man’s Pilgrimage” and “Fortune Hath
Taken Thee Away, My Love”
• Anne Askew “The Ballad Which Anne
Askewe made and Sang When She Was
in Newgate,”
• Thomas Campion, “There Is a
Garden in Her Face”
• John Donne, “The Flea”
• Robert Herrick, “To the Virgins,
to Make Much of Time”
• George Herbert, “The Altar”
• John Milton, “ Sonnet 19”
• Anne Bradstreet, “Upon the
Burning of our House July 10th,
1666”
• Edward Taylor, “Huswifery”