  Changes in people’s values, beliefs, & behaviors occurred gradually  Renaissance is French word for rebirth  Refers to a renewed interest in classical learning  Writings of ancient Greece & Rome  People became more curious about themselves  Rebirth/renewal of the human spirit  Creation of beautiful things & new thoughts The Renaissance

  The Italian Renaissance  New energy & creativity 1 st observable in Italy  Boccaccio, Petrarch, Raphael, da Vinci, Galileo, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Columbus  Humanism  Attempted to derive from Latin & Greek classics answers to questions  What is a human being?  What is a good life?  How does one lead a good life? The Renaissance

  The English Renaissance  English humanists – Sir Thomas More, William Grocyn, & Thomas Linacre  Establishment of the English Church  Renaissance occurred at same time as Reformation  Repudiation of authority of Pope & Church  Conflict between Church & England came to climax when Henry VIII demanded an annulment and was not granted one by Pope Clement  Henry VIII declared himself head of the Church of England The Renaissance

  Three major types of literature  Renaissance Poetry  Renaissance Drama  Renaissance Prose  Other advances  Exploring the world  Exploring the sky  Exploring the body The Renaissance

  A fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in iambic pentameter, that has one of several rhyme schemes  Two major types  Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet  English (Shakespearean) Sonnet  Third type is the Spenserian Sonnet Sonnets

  Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet  Divided into two parts – an eight-line octave with the rhyme scheme abbaabba and a six-line sestet with the rhyme scheme cdecde or cdcdcd  Octave usually points out a problem, poses a question, or expresses an idea, which the sestet then resolves, answers, or drives home Sonnets

  English (Shakespearean) Sonnet  Three four-line units, or quatrains, followed by a two- line unit, or couplet. The three quatrains often express related ideas or examples, while the couplet sums up the poet’s conclusion or message  Most common rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg Sonnets

  Regarded himself as a poet  “The poet’s poet” because young writers learned the art and craft of poetry by studying him  Buried in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey  “Faerie Queene”  Unfinished (33,00 lines)  Characteristic product of the Renaissance  Language a hybrid of Chaucerian/Elizabethan English Edmund Spenser

  Romantic or Chivalric Epic  Open form, with many characters and many different plots spreading out in all directions  Feature marvels, dragons, giants, dwarfs, & demons  Derived from Medieval Romances of chivalry  Conceit  Fanciful and elaborate figure of speech that makes a surprising connection between two seemingly dissimilar things Edmund Spenser

  Dark Conceit  Includes moral significance, philosophical thought, and political commentary  Characters supposed to embody particular quality  Taken together, all these virtues would embody a truly noble person  First six books have heroes/heroines who exemplify holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice and courtesy Edmund Spenser

  Faerie  Suggests beings who are heroic, grand with superhuman powers bestowed on them by their own virtue and piety  Allegory  Story in which characters, settings, and events stand for abstract or moral concepts Edmund Spenser

  The Faerie Queene  Delight in heroic violence and gusto with which it describes the ugliness of characters  Characters  “Faire Virgin” – Una, or Truth  “Her Deare” – Redcrosse, the Knight  Duessa, or Falsehood – beautiful, but sinister woman  Duessa’s boyfriend – Giant Orgoglio, or Pride The Faerie Queene