16th-17th Century Poetry & Prose PDF

16-17^th^ century poetry and prose ================================== Cultural context, reformation, humanism, T. More, sonnet, P. Sidney, E. Spenser, W. Raleigh. 16^th^ century -------------- - Tudor dynasty (1485-1603; Henry VII, Elizabeth I) - relative stability of the foreign image, lite...

16-17^th^ century poetry and prose ================================== Cultural context, reformation, humanism, T. More, sonnet, P. Sidney, E. Spenser, W. Raleigh. 16^th^ century -------------- - Tudor dynasty (1485-1603; Henry VII, Elizabeth I) - relative stability of the foreign image, literary achievement, trade, exploratory and military triumph, arts Defining Renaissance -------------------- - Middle Ages = a sandwich, in the middle between 2 greater ages; sometimes called dark ages - shift in focus on man and earthly existence = rebirth of ancient art and culture in N Italy - why: Greece + Rome = symbols of ideal society, democracy - after [1450s:] discovery of Plato, Aristotle spread over Europe during 15^th^ and 16^th^ centuries (translated, reprinted in local languages) ### Renaissance Expectations and Ideas - idealistic and optimistic view of life + belief that human beings can achieve perfection (absolute knowledge) -- improvement through education - human being living now, not getting ready for afterlife → human = the greatest achievement of God → the beginning of the humanistic tradition ### Renaissance science - Geography -- circumnavigation (F. Drake) - Astronomy -- heliocentrism x geocentrism (G. Bruno, G. Galilei) - Anatomy -- physical universe can be understood and controlled by humans; body -- painters, sculptors Reformation and humanism ------------------------ #### Humanism - cultural and philosophical climate of that time; secular - freedom and reason over dogmatism -- promoted education, freewill, individualism #### Reformation - national spirit + print → translation of bible → national Christianity x Rome (Martin Luther -- people in direct link with God) - Henry VIII (1509-47) -- **** established Church of England ### Renaissance art - ME schematism x renaissance fidelity (telling the truth rather than simplified schematic) Early poetry (1500-1550) ------------------------ Main inspiration = Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), father of ***SONNET:*** - lyrical, 14 lines, 5 iambic feet; cliché theme -- platonic love, women beauty - introduced to England by ***Thomas Wyatt + Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey*** - Italian = 8+6 x E = 4+4+4+2 → rhyme scheme: *abab cdcd efef gg* (E is more limited in rhyming words) Later poetry (1550-1600) ------------------------ - Elizabeth I -- idealised symbol for courtiers, Virgin queen - ***Edmund SPENSER*** (1552-1599) -- ***The Faerie Queene*** (1590, královna víl) - epic stories similar to Arthurian legends - set in a Fairyland (dwarf, dragons and hermits and knights) - Spenserian Stanza: 9 iambic lines with *ababbcbcc* rhyme - ***Sir Philip SIDNEY*** (1554-86) -- ***Astrophel and Stella*** (1591 -- the golden decade of sonnets) - collection of 100 sonnets - triggered a 10-year sonnet fever in 1590s → ***William Shakespeare*** Prose ----- - ***Francis BACON*** (1561-1626) -- ***Advancement of Learning*** (1605) -- new scientific method (experiment) - ***John*** ***LYLY*** (1554-1606) -- ***Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit*** (1578) -- Queen Elizabeth's teacher of rhetoric, lecture on court rhetoric (complex language) - ***King JAMES Bible*** (1604-****) -- complete English translation of the Bible; invited members of different types of Christianity and locked them up for 2 years, they had to prepare a Bible on which all of them could agree → authorised by the King (still used in England today) - ***Thomas MORE*** (1478-1535) -- ***Utopia*** (1516) ***Medieval writers:*** "The metaphor of a butterfly: life here is only a cocoon, and after you die, you become the butterfly in all its beauty." ***Renaissance:*** 'moment culture period', the main focus was on the human being in our life now BUT didn't lose interest in the 'ideals' -- tried to define what it means to be perfect: - sonnets described ideal women and their beauty - John Lyly describes an ideal speech - Bacon describes an ideal scientist - More writes about a perfect community **English Shakespearean sonnet** -- characterizes English Renaissance from both formal and content reasons: hunt for perfection → form: 14 lines (4+4+4+2), rhythm ideally iambic pentameter, rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG (original Italian -- ABBA ABBA CDC CDC), 3 quatrains + 1 couplet at the end (1^st^ stanza introduces an issue, 2^nd^ looks for solution, 3^rd^ solves it, couplet summarizes it); 2 clichés → emotionally injured man suffering from platonic/unrequited love + perfect feminine beauty (textual equivalent of an idealized portrait) x  imperfect language → poets used figurative language, similes (Platonic triangle = connecting realistic objects to create an ideal picture in your imagination) Early 17^th^ century -------------------- #### James I (1603-25) - son of Mary of Scots; opposite of Elizabeth's diplomacy - absolutist politics; underestimated the growing economy and social impact of middle class ### Mannerist pessimism - 17^th^ c. expiration of renaissance optimism -- loss of trust in a man as rational being - mannerist and baroque pessimism -- cult of death, transience, disproportion, nihilism - realistic attitude to life and existence -- temporariness (Hamlet holding a skull), imperfection of ourselves and our society (decadence, corruption,...) Literary situation -- until the 1640s ------------------------------------- - *Globe* burned in 1613, *Shakespeare* died in 1616 - [2 main literary streams:] - continuation of renaissance -- ***Ben JOHNSON*** (more famous than Shakespeare in that time) - departure from renaissance -- x idealism, Petrarchan ornamental language, *Metaphysical poetry* Metaphysical school ------------------- - metaphysical = *rational inquiry into questions beyond human reality* (connection between human physicality and the higher spiritual spheres) #### John DONNE (1572-1631) - 17^th^ c. most original voice - Anglican → student of theology → Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral - [love poetry] -- physical + erotic - [religious poetry] -- metaphysical issues of finite x infinite ### Mid-century crisis #### Charles I (1625-1649) - absolute monarchy (even more strict than his father) - belief: divine rights of kings → conflict with parliament **The Royalists** **Parliamentarians** ------------------------------------- --------------------------- The king + Aristocracy + NXW gentry London and S. bourgeoisie Monarchists Republicans Anglican Church Puritanism ### Civil War 1642-49 INTERREGNUM - Commonwealth of England (1649-53) - Protectorate (1653-59) led by Oliver Cromwell -- Lord Protector ### The Civil War literature #### Cavalier poets - 17^th^ c. equivalent of 16^th^ c. courtier - poets from aristocratic circles = on royal side - last generation of Renaissance hedonistic, courtly life - platonic and unrequited love, ideal lady, etc. - combination of *Johnson's* grandeur and *Donne's* sensuous tone - last generation of writers who idealized the renaissance culture and celebrated body and pleasure: ***Thomas CAREW; John SUCKLING; Robert HERRICK -- Wrinkles***; ***Cherrypit*** #### The Republicans - puritan, didactic, and religious literature ***John MILTON (1608-74)*** - ideal puritan -- great education, serious tone - [early] (until 1638): short poems, everyday topics - [middle] (Republic period, 1640-60): mainly didactic prose (commentaries about political development and the situation, which was heating up, on the side of Republicans) - [late] (after republic, after 1660): ***Paradise Lost*** (1667) -- gave England its own heroic epic - ***Pilgrim's Progress*** (1678) -- Christian allegorical **prose** (NOT a novel because the plot and setting is not realistic!); absolutely crucial for forming new genre = novel (inspired D. Defoe); story about Christian who is unhappy with his current life so he decides to leave home and travel to the City of Light, on his road he goes through different types of places with allegoric names (Vanity Fair, Valley of Despair) which test him on his journey to the City of Light = allegory for the journey for salvation ### Restoration 1660-1680s - 1659 Oliver Cromwell died → Charles II restores to the throne (1660-85) from Versailles - monarchy changes completely -- the king becomes a symbolic figure, the political power now rests in Parliament = parliamentary monarchy