1. 1500-1660

2.  THE RENAISSANCE WAS AN AGE OF INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITIES, LIBERATED FROM THE POLITICAL CONSTRAINTS OF HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR AND POPE, FREE TO UNDERSTAND AND EXPRESS THEMSELVES FOR GOOD OR EVIL.  MOTTO: “MAN IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS.”  Renaissance - rebirth (L. root “nas / nat” – birth; prefix “re” – again)

3.  Revival of scholarship based on works of Aristotle and Plato  Queen Elizabeth established some free schools  Belief that 400 A. D. – 1500 A.D. had been a “dark night” of ignorance

4.  VIEW OF WORLD WITH HUMAN KIND AT CENTER ;CONCERNED WITH HUMAN INTERESTS / VALUES  GOALS: PERFECTION OF INDIVIDUAL HUMAN CHARACTER AND REFORM OF PUBLIC EVILS IN CHURCH AND STATE

5.  SCIENCE  *COPERNICUS (POLAND) -heliocentric  *GALILEO (ITALY)  GEOGRAPHY  SIR FRANCIS DRAKE (ENGLAND)  HERNANDO CORTES (SPAIN)  BALBOA (SPAIN)  FOUNDING OF NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES

6.  RELIGIOUS REFORM  *MARTIN LUTHER’S NINETY-FIVE THESES  *HENRY VIII’S BREAK WITH CHURCH  *THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER WIDELY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH  *THE KING JAMES BIBLE WRITTEN IN ENGLISH (IAMBIC PENTAMETER)

7.  CULTURE  *END OF FEUDALISM  *EMERGENCE OF URBAN CULTURE  AND CAPITALIST ECONOMY  *EMERGENCE OF PROSPEROUS MIDDLE CLASS  * GROWTH OF LAY, NOT CLERICAL, CULTURE

8.  PRIZED MORAL / INTELLECTUAL NOBILITY OVER BIRTHRIGHT  SOCIAL CLASSES LESS RIGID; A MAN OF NATURAL TALENT COULD RISE TO THE TOP OF SOCIAL LADDER

9.  LIFE NO LONGER SEEN AS A “JOURNEY THROUGH A VALE OF TEARS,” BUT AS A BEAUTIFUL, EXCITING END-IN- ITSELF RENAISSANCE ART REFLECTS THIS NEW OPTIMISM ABOUT HUMAN LIFE

10.  TUDORS AND STUARTS RULED  ELIZABETH, A TUDOR, RULED 45 YEARS. SINCE SHE NEVER MARRIED, ELIZABETH WAS SOMETIMES CALLED “THE VIRGIN QUEEN.” SHE CAME TO THE THRONE AT AGE 18.  THE RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND IS KNOWN AS THE ELIZABETHAN AGE.

11.  LITERATURE SHOULD BE STUDIED FOR ITS OWN SAKE AS WELL AS IN INTEREST OF  HUMAN VIRTUE  *THE SONNET - a fourteen line poem with a fixed pattern of rhyme and meter (Shakespearean, Petrarchan, and Spenserian)  * THE ESSAY, LOVE POETRY, DRAMA  *ONE FORM: BLANK VERSE (UNRHYMED  IAMBIC PENTAMETER)

12.  CAVALIER POETS--LOYAL TO CHARLES I; wrote about love and patriotism  *METAPHYSICAL POETS (JOHN DONNE)  POETRY CHARACTERIZED BY HIGH INTELLECTUALISM, EVEN IN LOVE POETRY; AND CONCEITS  *REDISCOVERY OF ARISTOTLE’S POETICS INFLUENCED DRAMA.

13. COURTIER PATRIOT, SOLDIER, SCHOLAR,POET  EDUCATED IN CLASSICAL / MODERN LANG.  SIGNS OF “MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL NOBILITY:” RHETORICAL ELOQUENCE, REFINED DICTION, URBANE WIT, RECTITUDE OF CONDUCT STILL DEVOUTLY RELIGIOUS BUT ENGAGED IN WORLDLY PURSUITS IN LOVE WITH LIFE -- CARPE DIEM MOTIF

14.  HUMANS FIND EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENTS NECESSARY.  A HIGHER BEING OFTEN AIDS MAN IN HIS RIGHTEOUS BATTLES.  NOTHING IS AS PAINFUL TO THE HUMAN HEART AS INSENSITIVITY OR BETRAYAL ON THE PART OF A LOVED AND TRUSTED PERSON.  LIFE IS FULL OF OBLIGATIONS AND TRIALS.  HONOR CAN HELP ONE TO DO GOOD.

15.  PAIN IS ASSOCIATED WITH UNREQUITED LOVE.  LIFE AND BEAUTY ARE TRANSITORY.  TIME INEXORABLY ERODES ALL THINGS MORTAL AND MATERIAL, BUT ART AND LOVE ARE ETERNAL.  IN PERIODS OF DESPAIR AND SORROW, THE THOUGHTS OF THOSE ONE LOVES ARE A SOURCE OF STRENGTH AND SUSTENANCE.  HONOR CAN HELP ONE TO DO GOOD

16.  RECOGNITION OF A LOVED ONE’S MORTALITY STRENGTHENS LOVE FOR THAT PERSON.  LOVE CAN BE STRONG, STEADFAST, AND CONSTANT.  MANKIND NEEDS A HUMAN LISTENER. DEATH IS OFTEN SEEN AS GIVING REST.  LIFE IS FULL OF OBLIGATIONS AND TRIALS.