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The English Renaissance (1485-1660)

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Title: The English Renaissance (1485-1660)


1
The English Renaissance(1485-1660)
2
What was the Renaissance?
  • Renaissance is French for rebirth.
  • It began in Italy in the 14th century and in
    England extended past the middle of the 17th
    century
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 128).
  • The Renaissance ushered in a new age of modern
    thinking, and separated itself from the previous
    era called the Middle Ages (or Dark Ages)
    (Farzaneh).
  • Society saw a rebirth of the intellectual and
    artistic energies that characterized ancient
    Greek and Roman civilization.
  • It awakened a whole range of new interests in
    human beings and the world they lived in (Keach,
    Richetti, and Robbins 128).

3
  • The words of Erasmus of Rotterdam, a great Dutch
    thinker who influenced English thinkers in the
    16th century, reflect this spirit of hopeful
    renewal
  • I am led to a confident hope that not only
    morality and Christian piety, but also a genuine
    and purer literature, may come to renewed life or
    greater splendour.


(qtd. in Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 129)
4
The Renaissance was an artistic movement
The Renaissance shaped the works of great
painters, sculptors, musicians, and architects
the visual arts flourished (Keach, Richetti, and
Robbins 129).
5
The Renaissance was an intellectual movement
  • Before the Renaissance, Medieval thinking was
    defined by certain attitudes and beliefs.
  • Medieval thought put an emphasis on God, relied
    heavily on faith, and saw this life as
    preparation for the afterlife.
  • The world and its pleasures were viewed as
    temptations and rejected as sinful.
  • Society demanded unquestioning obedience to
    authority (to God, church, feudal lord, or king).
  • Community (under the system called feudalism) was
    more important that individuality.
  • Tradition was not challenged.
  • (Kreis)

6
With the Renaissance came a new intellectual
movement known as Humanism.
  • The Basic Beliefs of Humanism
  • Saw the potential of life in the here and now,
    not just the afterlife.
  • Emphasized the capacities of the human mind and
    the achievements of human culture rather than the
    power of God (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 129).
  • Replaced unquestioning faith with an instinct of
    curiosity, honest doubt, and skepticism.
  • Sought freedom from authority and valued personal
    independence (Kreis).
  • Believed in the dignity and potential of the
    individual (Abrams 240).
  • Valued individual expression (Kreis).
  • Cherished beauty and earthly pleasures, as the
    ancient Greeks and Romans did.
  • Emphasized the importance of education , reason,
    and intellectual freedom moved away from the
    traditional study of logic, law, astronomy and
    philosophy to a study of subjects we now refer to
    as the humanities liberal arts, grammar,
    rhetoric, poetry, moral philosophy (Farzaneh).

7
Overall Impact of Humanism on the Renaissance
  • Although humanism broke away from the traditions
    and superstitions of the Medieval Era, God and
    Christianity were still important however, many
    Christian humanists questioned the practices of
    the Roman Catholic church (Farzaneh).
  • Humanism therefore contributed to the thinking
    behind the Protestant Reformation (Kreis).
  • It provided a crucial step towards later periods
    of scientific advancement (Farzaneh).
  • It resulted in a more educated, literate society
    and prepared people for literature with more
    secular (non-religious) ideas (Kreis).

8
The Renaissance - An Era of Exploration
  • Exploration and discovery of new worlds
    (including the Americas) supplied Europe with
    goods and trade partners. The English were not
    pioneers in the discovery and exploration of the
    new world, but they profited greatly as
    colonizers and merchant adventurers, especially
    during the reign of Elizabeth I (Abrams 239).

9
The Renaissance - An Era of Science
  • Copernicus (1473-1543) Galileo (1564-1642)
    (physicists, mathematicians, astronomers)
    hypothesized that the Earth was not the centre of
    the universe as the Catholic Church traditionally
    believed. Instead, they suggested that the
    Earth, as well as other planets, orbited around
    the sun.
  • Both men were labeled as heretics by the Catholic
    Church
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 142)

10
Gutenbergs Printing Press
  • It was invented in 1440 in Germany by Johannes
  • Gutenberg and introduced in
  • England a few decades later
  • by William Caxton.
  • At a time when education was
  • becoming more important, the
  • printing press made books cheaper
  • and more widely available to a
  • rising middle class.
  • In the early 15th century,
  • about 30 of the people were
  • literate compared to 60
  • by 1530. (Abrams 240)
  • The time was right for the flowering of the
    Renaissance literary movement.

11
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12
  • So the Renaissance meant
  • a rebirth for humanity.
  • that human beings were ready to demonstrate what
    they could accomplish in the realms of
    philosophy, music, literature, art, science, and
    global exploration.
  • It began in Europe in the 1300s.
  • So why did it take a century or so for the
    movement to catch on in England?

13
Political Instability Stifles the Renaissance in
England
  • England was slow to participate in the European
    Renaissance mainly for political reasons.
  • The Yorks and the Lancasters battled each other
    for the throne in the Wars of the Roses
    (1455-1485).
  • In 1485 Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, defeated
    Yorkist King Richard III and was crowned King
    Henry VII, reigning until 1509.
  • The Tudor dynasty was established and ruled the
    country for more than a century (Keach, Richetti,
    and Robbins 132-133).
  • Henry VIIs reign brought the political stability
    necessary for Renaissance ideas to take root in
    England.
  • It was not until the reign of his son, Henry
    VIII, that Renaissance ideas were able to flower
    (Abrams 240).

14
The Reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547)
  • Henry saw himself mainly as a political leader
    but admired what the Renaissance had achieved in
    Europe.
  • He wanted to he thought of as an enlightened
    Renaissance prince.
  • In Henrys court, famous poets such as Sir Thomas
    Wyatt and Henry Howard were beginning their work.
  • Sir Thomas More became the center of a brilliant
    circle of English Humanists. His Utopia was an
    early Renaissance masterpiece.
  • But it was during his reign that religious and
    historical forces once again disrupted literary
    and artistic development (Keach, Richetti, and
    Robbins 133).

15
The Protestant Reformation
  • Was a movement of religious protest against the
    authority and corruption of the Roman Catholic
    Church.
  • Was already underway in Europe under the
    leadership of people such as Martin Luther and
    John Calvin, who protested against the practices
    of the Roman Catholic Church for religious
    reasons.
  • Henry VIII had political and personal motives for
    breaking away from the Church
  • Catherine of Aragon, his first wife, had not
    produced a male heir for the throne.
  • The Pope refused Henry VIII a divorce.
  • He defied the Pope, married Anne Boleyn, and
    declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of
    England (the Anglican Church)
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 133).

16
Negative Effects of the Reformation on the
Renaissance
  • Sir Thomas More opposed the kings divorce and
    refused to swear allegiance to him. Henry
    imprisoned More and executed him.
  • More's death is a reminder of how the cultural
    and artistic spirit of the Renaissance was
    prevented from thriving under Henry's lust for
    dynastic power and authority.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 133)

17
Negative Effects Continued
  • It led to a lot of political and religious
    instability that hindered the advancement of the
    Renaissance, even after Henrys death in 1547.
  • Catholic was pitted against Protestant.
  • Edward VI (reigned 1547-1553)
  • son of Henry and Jane Seymour
  • continued Protestant reforms
  • Queen Mary (reigned1553-1558) (Known as
    Bloody Mary)
  • Daughter of Catherine of Aragon
  • Was a devout Catholic and married Phillip II of
    Spain.
  • Instituted a reign of terror against English
    Protestants in an attempt to return England to
    Catholic authority.
  • Her time on the throne threatened England's
    growing national identity and allowed Spain to
    emerge as the dominant, most imperialistic power
    in sixteenth-century Europe.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 134)

18
Elizabeth I and the Renaissance Renewed
  • Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603)
  • She ascended to the throne at age 25.
  • She was very intelligent and had an excellent
  • Renaissance education. Her tutor was Roger
  • Ascham, a famous English Humanist.
  • She was an accomplished linguist and poet .
  • She encouraged literary and artistic
  • developments which allowed the Renaissance
  • in England to grow.
  • She was a clever diplomat and ruthless
    politician.
  • She used her unmarried status as a way to
  • manipulate her traditional enemies, France and
  • Spain, who sought alliances with England through
    marriage to its Queen.
  • She promoted peace by navigating a reasonable
    religious track between the Protestants and the
    Catholics.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 134)

19
  • I have already joined myself in marriage to a
    husband, namely the kingdom of England.
    (Elizabeth to Parliament)  

I have no desire to make windows into
mens souls. (a reference to the
Catholic/Protestant issue)
I know I have the body of a weak and feeble
woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a
king. (Tilbury Speech, 1588) (Elizabeth I
Quotes)
20
  • In 1588, Englands navy defeated the Spanish
    Armada (the strongest naval force of the age)
    when Spain attempted to invade.
  • The victory marked Elizabeth's authority in a
    country that had become one of the most powerful
    in the world in less than a century.
  • With swelling national pride and new economic
    prosperity due to commercial trade in the
    Americas, England was ready for a period of great
    artistic and cultural achievements.
  • Many individuals of talent came to Elizabeths
    court to distinguish themselves artistically.

(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 135)
21
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
22
Artistic Tastes of Elizabethans
  • Elizabethan attitudes toward art, literature,
  • and life in general was a strange combination
  • of old and new attachment to the medieval
  • past and a modern outlook.
  • Artistic tastes veered toward elaborate pattern
  • and complicated ornament controlled through
  • order and symmetry.
  • Elizabethans admired artifice, and considered
  • that which was artificial" to be an extension
  • of the art itself. They believed that
  • which was made by human skill added
  • to and improved on the order found
  • in the natural world.
  • These tastes appeared in all
  • aspects of Elizabethan life from
  • gowns, to buildings, gardens,
  • music, dance and poetry.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 138-139)

23
  • See YouTube Dance from Shakespeare in Love for
    an example of highly patterned dance.
  • See YouTube for example of an English madrigal.
    A favorite is Fair Phyllis, composed by John
    Farmer and sung by the Kings Singers. Lots of
    independent vocal parts that intertwine.

24
  • In literature, they enjoyed a verbal pattern for
    the eyes and the ears much like a repeated tune
    or rhythmic beat found in music.
  • Intricate verbal patterning and arrangement were
    seen as an essential means of expressing the true
    order of the mental and material
    universe.(Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 139)

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art
more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do
shake the darling buds of May, And summer's
lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too
hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his
gold complexion dimm'd And every fair from fair
sometime declines, By chance or nature's
changing course untrimm'd But thy eternal
summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of
that fair thou ow'st Nor shall Death brag thou
wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to
time thou grow'st So long as men can breathe or
eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives
life to thee. 
25
The Elizabethan World Picture
  • Elizabethans saw the world as a vast, unified,
    hierarchical order, or "Great Chain of Being,"
    created by God.
  • Every existing being, or thing, was ranked within
    a category on the chain.
  • Categories were ranked by the attributes of their
    members, from the lowest group all matter and
    no spirit the highest group all spirit and no
    matter.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 139)

26
  • Inanimate things were at the bottom.
  • Above were plants and animal kingdoms.
  • Human beings were at the midpoint of the chain.
    Having souls and free will, they could choose to
    strive for the holiness of the spirit world or
    fall into depravity (animallike).
  • The realm of God and the angels was the dwelling
    of purely spiritual beings.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 139)

27
  • Each group had its own place in the chain and
    each member a place in that group.
  • The lion was the highest ranking member of the
    animal kingdom, the oyster was the lowest.
  • Metals ranged from gold to lead.
  • The plant kingdom was headed by the rose.
  • Each member of a group corresponded with the
    same-ranking members of other groups gold (most
    valuable mineral) was equal to an oak (first
    among trees) which was like the sun (first among
    stars). The lion (first among animals) could
    represent a king or queen (head of a nation) who
    could embody a rose (first among flowers) and
    that rose could symbolize God.
  • Elizabethan writers chose from a wealth of
    symbolic relationships, references, and
    allusions.
  • The Elizabethan World Picture provided a language
    full of images, metaphors, and analogies.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 139)

28
The Jacobean Era (1603-1625)
  • When Elizabeth I died in 1603, the Tudor dynasty
    came to an end.
  • James Stuart, already King of Scotland, ruled
    England and Scotland together until 1625.
  • His reign is known as the Jacobean Era (the Latin
    form of the name James).
  • His reign was one of deep religious and political
    unrest in England.
  • In the early part of the seventeenth century,
    philosophical and intellectual changes were
    starting to undermine faith in the older
    Elizabethan world view.
  • Copernicus (1473-1543) and Galileo (1564-1642)
    had argued that the sun, and not the earth, was
    at the centre of the universe and that there may
    be many more worlds than earth.
  • This and other scientific investigations called
    into question the basis of the hierarchical
    universe. Most people rejected the new
    discoveries but a new age of scientific thought
    was dawning (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins
    141-142).

29
Civil War in England
  • James I's son, Charles, ascended the throne in
    1625 when the Puritan movement was growing.
  • Puritans were strict Protestants who wished to
    purify the Church of England.
  • Soon Charles, the head of the Church of England,
    found himself in conflict with a House of Commons
    that was strongly Puritan.
  • Charles I tried to put a stop to organized
    religious protest but was opposed.
  • In Parliament, the House of Commons with-held
  • funds needed for the functions of government.
  • Parliament grew too strong and voted on reforms
    of church and state.
  • Charles I left London to establish his own army
    and regain power.
  • In August of 1642, civil war broke out.
  • The King's supporters were no match for the
    military of the Parliament made up primarily of
    Puritans and headed by Oliver Cromwell.
  • King Charles' army was defeated he was
    imprisoned and executed in 1649. (Keach,
    Richetti, and Robbins 142-144).

30
The Protectorate and the Restoration
  • Oliver Cromwell took over power of the government
    in was he called the Protectorate (1653-1658)
    which was a military dictatorship and did not
    last long.
  • Cromwell died in 1658 and by 1660 the English
    people had had enough of harsh Puritan rule, so
    they set up contacts with Charles II who had set
    up a government while in exile in Paris
    (1660-1685).
  • Charles II returned in what is called the
    "Restoration" of the monarchy. A new Parliament
    was elected and England returned to its former
    style of government.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins
  • 144)

31

Literature in a Century of Change and Uncertainty
  • Seventeenth century writers built on and extended
    the developments of Elizabethan literature but
    were confronted with conflicting values and
    expressions.
  • The poetry of the 17th century had two main
    styles
  • "Metaphysical Poets" was a term used to refer to
    writers who used extended, intellectualized
    images drawn from philosophy or metaphysics.
  • Metaphysical poetry extended the Elizabethan love
    of intricate verbal artifice and feeling for
    dramatic voice and situation.
  • It is more argumentative in tone its language is
    more colloquial its meter is varied, irregular,
    and harsh.
  • Overall, its content and form reflects the strain
    and disruption of the 17th century.
  • A famous metaphysical poet is John Donne.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 145-146)

32
  • The second main style of poetry in the 17th
    century is known as
  • Classical and Conservative Poetry.
  • This poetry was based on discipline and restraint
    of reason, on classical form, and on fine
    craftsmanship. Ben Jonson wrote in the style.
  • A group of poets known as the Cavalier poets
    composed light, witty, and elegant verse that
    still retained an emphasis on fineness and
    precision of form. Among these poets are Robert
    Herrick, John Suckling, and Richard Lovelace.
  • (Keach, Richetti, and Robbins 145-146)

33
Poetic Conventions, Modes, and Genresof the
Renaissance
  • Literary conventions are patterns of writing that
    have become habitual. Renaissance poets used
    well-known patterns or modes of writing to convey
    their ideas and to arouse certain expectations in
    the reader.
  • The Pastoral Mode
  • The conventions of the pastoral mode present a
    simple and idealized world of shepherds and
    shepherdesses who are interested in tending their
    flocks, falling in love, and poetry. The values
    of this mode are leisure and contentment with the
    simple country life.
  • The Satirical Mode
  • This mode of writing ridicules the flaws of
    society such as greed and corruption.
  • The Lyric Mode
  • Concerned with praise, love, celebration of
    nature and the good life. Specific genres within
    this mode include hymns, odes, ballads, and
    sonnets.
  • Sonnets were among the most popular lyric poems
    and often explored loves beauty and cruelty, the
    eternity of the written word, and religious
    devotion.
  • (Abrams 251-253)

34
  • The Tragic Mode
  • Often written in a genre known as a complaint.
    The chief convention of the complaint is that of
    a ghost of someone who has fallen from a high
    place, bemoans his fate, and warns others the
    warning carries a moral lesson.
  • The Erotic Mode
  • Includes lush and elaborate descriptions of
    physical beauty, delight in the pleasures of the
    senses, and frank eroticism.
  • The Heroic Mode
  • Values honour, courage in battle, loyalty,
    leadership, and endurance. Often involves the
    glorification of a nation or people. The chief
    genre was the epic, a long exalted poem written
    in a high style based on a heroic story from a
    nations distant history.
  • (Abrams 253)

35
Works Cited
  • Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English
    Literature. New York W.W. Norton Company,
    1987.Print.
  • "Elizabeth I Quotes." Elizabeth R. Heather
    Thomas, 30 Jan 2010. Web. 18 Mar 2010.
    lthttp//www.elizabethi.org/us/gt.
  • Farzaneh, Arash. "Renaissance Humanism and the
    Human Perspective." suite101.com. N.p., 4 Jan
    2009. Web. 17 Mar 2010. lthttp//weuropeanhistory.s
    uite101.com/article.cfm/renaissance_humanism_and_t
    he_human_perspectivegt.
  • Keach, William, John Richetti, and Bruce Robbins,
    eds. Adventures in English Literature. Pegasus
    Edition. Orlando, FL Harcourt Brace Javanovich,
    Inc., 1989. Print.
  • Kreis, Steven. "Lectures on Modern European
    Intellectual History Renaissance Humanism." The
    History Guide. N.p., 7 Nov 2008. Web. 17 Mar
    2010. lthttp//www.historyguide.org/intellect/human
    ism.htmlgt.
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