Eras in Lit: English Renaissance AP English lit

Renaissance Lit – Big Questions Should religion be tied to politics? Why is love so complicated? What is the ideal society? Why do people seek power?

English Renaissance (1485-1660) Pastoral Poems and Sonnets A pastoral is a poem that portrays shepherds and rustic life, usually in an idealized manner The speakers in the poems are not rustic commoners, but use courtly language The form of the poem is also artificial, with meter and rhyme A sonnet – 14 line poem with rhyme scheme and meter Elizabethan attitude toward nature: Intricate, complex, and beautiful Not a subject for imitation but for improvement Nature provides raw material to be shaped into works of art The greater the intricacy or “artificiality” of the result, the more admired the artistry of the poet

English Renaissance (1485-1660) Drama (esp. Shakespeare) Sources Medieval Morality Plays: plays depicted scenes from Bible or taught moral lessons Interludes: Farcical entertainment for the wealthy spoofed the manners and customs of commoners Latin and Greek Dramas: modeled characteristics of comedy and tragedy Characteristics Products of the Renaissance – they dealt with the complexities of human life on earth, rather than with religious themes Staged at court, in the homes of wealthy, in inn yards until England’s first theaters were built Psychological development, an inner life of characters revealed in soliloquies

PAUSE! Greek Drama Greek playwrights establish the “rules” for both Comedy and Tragedy (see Aristotle) Tragedy: Someone famous/high up (usually king) Falls from power as a result of hamartia (fatal flaw) Play usually ends with the death of the tragic hero (and a lot of other characters) FYI: Comedies aren’t necessarily funny – they just end in marriage rather than death Most famous of Greek Tragedies: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

English Renaissance (1485-1660) Humanists Humanism – worth, importance of the individual; spiritual value of beauty in nature and in art; the power of human reason to decide what is good and right Often devout Christians, they tried to reconcile the new ideas with their religious beliefs Sharply critical of European society, especially the church, for falling short of the high ideals they encountered in classics, the Bible, and other sacred writings Who should you know? Sir Thomas More – author of Utopia (translates as “no where”) George Chapman – translates Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey

English Renaissance (1485-1660) Spiritual and Devotional Writings King James Bible (completed in 1611) John Milton’s Paradise Lost Epic tale of the fall of Lucifer, the battle for power in heaven, his exile to earth, and his revenge in tempting Adam/Eve, and God’s eventual victory through Christ Anti-hero, more compelling than the figure of Christ Easily one of the most important, influential pieces of literature ever written John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress Allegory of Christian who undertakes a dangerous journey from this world to the next. Encounters symbolic obstacles (Slough of Despond) and meets characters to help/hinder him (Mr. Moneylove, etc)

English Renaissance (1485-1660) Cavalier Poets – took the side of Charles I in the English Civil War between Cromwell’s “roundheads” (named after their bowl haircuts) and the long-haired Royalist cavaliers Lighthearted, charming, witty, and sometimes cynical Themes of love, war, chivalry, loyalty Carpe diem philosophy (YOLO) – usually used as a tool to seduce women Metaphysical Poets Broke with convention, employed unusual imagery, elaborate metaphors, irregular meter Poems characterized by themes of death, physical love, and religious devotion Tried to capture vastness of the universe and to explore life’s contradictions/complexities Intellect and passion