RENAISSANCE

LITERATURE
(1500-1660)
Humanism and Reformation
Elizabethan Literature
Jacobean Literature
 IMPORTANT!!!!

The information in this presentation should be complemented with:

• Your class notes

• The information in the PDF ‘Unit 3 – Notes’, available on the course page
[folder ‘Notes and Documents’, under the section Unit 3]
HENRY VIII (1491-1547) ELIZABETH I (1533-1603) JAMES I (1566-1625)
Elizabethan Literature Jacobean Literature
What is the Renaissance?

Michelangelo: The Creation of Adam

• Renaissance means ‘rebirth’ in French and derives from the Latin
‘renascentia’ → the period witnessed a cultural, artistic, political and
economic rebirth following the Middle Ages.
• Transition period between the Middle Ages & modern-day societies
• In England, the Renaissance is associated with the Tudor dynasty (identity /
nation-state)
• Major changes:
• Global exploration & new discoveries
• Scientific advances: Copernicus heliocentrism, Galileo Galilei
• Humanism
• The Reformation
• The invention of the printing press
• Art finds inspiration in classical Greece and Rome

See file ‘Unit 3-Notes’ on the Course Page

Cristobal Colón (Columbus)
Sir Francis Drake
 Copernican Heliocentrism

Galileo Galilei

Copernicus
• Humanism → cultural movement that started in the 14th century in Italy.

• Humanism promoted the idea that the human individual was the
centre of the universe, and people should therefore belief in the
perfectibility of humanity – that is, they should embrace human
achievements in education, classical arts, literature and science. As a result,
God was displaced from the centre. Reason started to gain central stage.

• ‘The Renaissance Man’ → humans should embrace all knowledge and

develop themselves as fully as possible. Example: Leonardo da Vinci.

• Humanism turned away from medieval scholasticism and revived interest

in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, art and thought more generally.

• In 1450, Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press allowed for a

greater circulation of texts throughout Europe. So, ideas spread more
quickly.
 HUMANISM & KNOWLEDGE
• Erasmus, The Praise of Folly (1511): The Dutch philosopher and
religious reformer Erasmus published his views on humanism –stressing the
importance and supreme value of mankind in daily life and in relationships
with God. For the first time in Europe, the power and even the existence of
God could be questioned. Contempt for the narrowness of Catholic
Monasticism and a challenge to the corruption of the Catholic Church (the
sale of pardons and religious relics, etc.)

• Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (1513): The philosophy of this

Florentine philosopher acknowledged the use of questionable political
expediency –a ‘reign of terror even’- to achieve just results, and he was
considered ‘evil’ in England.

• Martin Luther, 95 Theses against the Sale of Papal Indulgences

(Wittenberg, 1517): Luther refused to submit to the Pope’s authority.
Excommunicated in 1521 → Reformation

• Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605); Novum Organum

Scientiarum (1620). Bacon defended the pursuit of knowledge from the
suspicions of the Church.
 REFORMATION
Martin Luther, 95 Theses against the Sale of Papal Indulgences
(Wittenberg, 1517): Luther refused to submit to the Pope’s authority.
Excommunicated in 1521 → Reformation
• Individuals should be less dependent on the Catholic Church – its pope
and priests – for spiritual guidance
• People should cultivate a direct relationship with God, taking personal
responsibility for their faith and accessing the Bible directly

People spent their entire lives heaping up one ceremony after another in hopes
of salvation, not knowing it was theirs for the asking. Simple, uneducated people
who had no knowledge of scripture were content to know only what their
pastors told them, and these pastors took care to only teach what came from
Rome ... most of which was for the profit of their own orders, not for the glory of
Christ.” (Foxe's Book of Martyrs pp. 47-48)

*Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history by

Protestant English historian John Foxe, first published in
1563.
 REFORMATION

• Martin Luther (Germany)→ he translated the Old and New

Testament into German. Luther Bible (1534)
• John Wycliffe (theologian at Oxford University) → Wycliffe’s
Bible (1382-1395) → earliest literal translation of the entire Bible
into English (Middle English)
• Great Bible (1539) → first authorized edition of the Bible in
English. It was commissioned by Henry VIII to be used in church
services of the newly found Church of England.
• King James Bible (1611) → standard English Bible from the
mid-17th to the early 20th century.

Frontispiece of the Great Bible (1539).

The Great Chain of Being God
Angels
Kings/Queens
Archbishops
Dukes/Duchesses
Bishops
Marquises/Marchionesses
Earls/Countesses
Viscounts/Viscountesses
Barons/Baronesses
Abbots/Deacons
Knights/Local Officials
Ladies-in-Waiting
Priests/Monks
Squires
Pages
Messengers
Merchants/Shopkeepers
Tradesmen
Yeomen Farmers
Soldiers/Town Watch
Household Servants
Tennant Farmers
Shephards/Herders
Beggars
Actors
Thieves/Pirates
Gypsies
Animals
Birds
Worms
Plants
Rocks
RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
 POETRY THEATRE

Elizabethan Poetry Elizabethan Drama

• Romance in verse: Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590) • Pre-Shakespearean:
• The University Wits: Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, Thomas
• The Sonnet and Sonnet Sequence Lodge, George Peele
• Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella (1591) 1 • Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy (1586)
• Edmund Spenser’s Amoretti (1595), Epithalamion (1595), • Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (c. 1588)
Prothalamion (1596)
• William Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609) • William Shakespeare
• History plays: Richard III (1589-1593)
• Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99)
Jacobean Poetry • Tragedy: Hamlet (1600-1601)
• Ben Jonson & the Cavalier Poets
• Other: The Tempest (1611-12)
• John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets

Jacobean Drama
• Ben Jonson, Volpone (1606)
PROSE • John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (1623)

Elizabethan Prose:
• Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (1594)

Jacobean Prose:
• Francis Bacon, Essays (1599)
• The Authorised Version of the Bible (King James Bible, 1611)
ELIZABETHAN POETRY – THE SONNET
‘Sonnet’ → derived from the Italian term sonetto (‘little song’). Originating in
Italy, by the 13th century, the sonnet was an established form, consisting of
14 lines with a rigid rhyme scheme and structure. Exploration of romantic
love.
Variants:
• Petrarchan: an octave rhyming abbaabba + a sestet rhyming cdecde or
cdcdcd, or any combination but for a rhyming couplet. In sum: octave
(abbaabba) + sestet (cdecde or cdcdcd)

• Spenserian: three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee.
In sum: 3 quatrains (abab, bcbc, cdcd) + couplet (ee)

• Shakespearean: three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab, cdcd, efef,

gg. In sum: 3 quatrains (abab, cdcd, efef) + couplet (gg)

• Sonnet Sequences: group of sonnets thematically connected

• Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella (1591)
• Edmund Spenser’s Amoretti (1595)
• Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)

• Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542) was an English poet, diplomat, and

courtier during the reign of Henry VIII.

• He was imprisoned twice and witnessed the execution of Anne Boleyn,

his former mistress and Henry VIII’s wife → he had to ‘navigate’ the
treacherous waters of the Tudor court.

• He is considered one of the pioneers of the English Renaissance and the

sonnet form in England.

• Wyatt introduced the Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet form to England after

being influenced by the works of Petrarch during his stay in Italy.

• Wyatt’s poetry was published posthumously in Tottel’s Miscellany (1557), an

influential anthology of English verse.
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
▪ Source: Petrarch’s sonnet
‘My Galley, Charged with Forgetfulness’
Passa la nave mia colma d' oblio
My galley, chargèd with forgetfulness, a Per aspro mare, a mezza notte, il verno
Thorough sharp seas in winter nights doth pass b E 'nfra Scilla e Cariddi; ed al governo
'Tween rock and rock; and eke mine en'my, alas, b Siede 'l signore, anzi 'l nimico mio:
That is my lord, steereth with cruelness; a A ciascun remo un penser pronto e rio,
Che la tempesta e 'l fin par ch' abbi a'
octave scherno:
And every owre a thought in readiness, a La vela rompe un vento, umido, eterno,
As though that death were light in such a case. c Di sospir, di speranze e di desio:
An endless wind doth tear the sail apace c Pioggia li lagrimar, nebbia di sdegni
Of forced sighs and trusty fearfulness. a Bagna e rallenta le già stanche sarte,
Che son d' error con ignoranzia attorto:
Celansi i duo mei dolci usati segni;
A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain, d Morta fra l' onde è la ragion e l' arte:
Hath done the weared cords great hinderance; e Tal ch' i' 'ncomincio a desperar del
Wreathèd with error and eke with ignorance. e porto.
sestet
The stars be hid that led me to this pain; d
Drownèd is Reason that should me comfort, f
And I remain despairing of the port. f

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl4J8A8YU4E
Edmund Spenser (1552/53-1599)

• Edmund Spenser (1552–1599) was an English poet, born in London and educated
at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

• Spenser worked as a government official in Ireland, where much of his poetry was
written. There, he also met Elizabeth Boyle, to whom he married and who features
as the addressee of his sonnets in Amoretti.

• He is considered the poet that refined English verse. Spenser created the
Spenserian stanza, a nine-line stanza with a rhyme scheme of ABABBCBCC, used
prominently in The Faerie Queene, an epic poem celebrating the Tudor dynasty and
the figure of Queen Elizabeth I.

• Spenserian Sonnet: three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee.
In sum: 3 quatrains (abab, bcbc, cdcd) + couplet (ee)

• Amoretti (1595) – a sequence of 89 sonnets chronicling Spenser’s courtship of

his future wife, Elizabeth Boyle (not platonic love)

• Epithalamion (1595) – not a sequence; companion piece to Amoretti; it consists of

an ode celebrating Spenser’s wedding to Elizabeth Boyle.
 https://www.youtube.com/w
Edmund Spenser
atch?v=wFP0RrMqw74
‘Sonnet IX’ (Amoretti and Epithalamion)

LONG-WHILE I sought to what I might compare a

those powerful eyes, which lighten my dark spright, b
yet find I nought on earth to which I dare a
resemble th' ymage of their goodly light. b

Not to the Sun: for they do shine by night; b

nor to the Moone: for they are changed never; c
nor to the Starres: for they have purer sight; b 3 quatrains
nor to the fire: for they consume not ever; c

Nor to the lightning: for they still persever; c

nor to the Diamond: for they are more tender; d
nor unto Christall: for nought may them sever; c
nor unto glasse: such basenesse mought offend her; d

Then to the Maker selfe they likest be, e

whose light doth lighten all that here we see. e a couplet

3 quatrains (abab, bcbc, cdcd) + couplet (ee)

¿Dónde cogió el amor...? - PETRARCA

¿Dónde cogió el amor o de que vena

el oro fino de tu trenza hermosa?
¿En qué espinas hallo la tierna rosa
del rostro, o en que prados la azucena?

¿Dónde las blancas perlas con que enfrena

la voz suave honesta y amorosa?
¿Dónde la frente bella y espaciosa,
más que el primer albor pura y serena?

¿De cual esfera en la celeste cumbre

eligió el dulce canto que desfila
al pecho ansioso regalada calma?

Y ¿de qué sol tomo la ardiente lumbre

De aquellos ojos que la paz tranquila
Para siempre arrojaron de mi alma?
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

• Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence is composed of 154 poems:

• First 126 are addressed to the ‘Fair Youth’ (a man)
• Last 28 are addressed to the figure of the ‘Dark Lady’

• In Shakespeare’s sonnets, we might find 3 different characters, apart

from the poetic persona:
• The noble friend to whom most of the poems are addressed and for
whom the poet shows passionate love;
• The lady with dark complexion, dark eyes and dark hair – the so-
called ‘dark lady’, who is the poetic voice’s mistress or beloved.
• A rival poet to whom the speaker compares himself.
William Shakespeare
‘Sonnet 130’
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; a
Coral is far more red than her lips' red. b
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; a
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. b
I have seen roses damasked, red and white, c
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; d
3 quatrains
And in some perfumes is there more delight c
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. d
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know e
That music hath a far more pleasing sound. f
I grant I never saw a goddess go: e
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. f
Addressee: dark lady
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare g
As any she belied with false compare. g a couplet

3 quatrains (abab, cdcd, efef) + couplet (gg)

William Shakespeare
‘Sonnet 2’
When forty winters shall besiege thy brow a
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field, b
Thy youth’s proud livery, so gazed on now, a
Will be a tattered weed, of small worth held. b
Then being asked where all thy beauty lies – c
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days – d
3 quatrains
To say within thine own deep-sunken eyes c
Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise. d
How much more praise deserved thy beauty’s use e
If thou couldst answer ‘This fair child of mine f
Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,’ e
Proving his beauty by succession thine. f
Addressee: young man
This were to be new made when thou art old, g
And see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold.g a couplet
William Shakespeare
‘Sonnet 2’
When forty winters shall besiege thy brow
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,
Thy youth’s proud livery, so gazed on now,
Will be a tattered weed, of small worth held.

Then being asked where all thy beauty lies –

Where all the treasure of thy lusty days –
To say within thine own deep-sunken eyes
Shall sum my count and make my old excuse
Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise. / ʃəl sʌm maɪ kaʊnt ənd meɪk maɪ əʊld ɪkˈskjuːz/
How much more praise deserved thy beauty’s use
If thou couldst answer ‘This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,’
Proving his beauty by succession thine.
IAMBIC PENTAMETER: five feet , each including an
This were to be new made when thou art old, unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable.
And see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold.

Notice, however, that Shakespeare varies the feet in several lines (trochaic, spondaic feet).
This alters the rhythm and brings contrast.
 JACOBEAN POETRY –
CAVALIER & METAPHYSICAL POETS
 POETRY THEATRE

Elizabethan Poetry Elizabethan Drama

• Romance in verse: Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590) • Pre-Shakespearean:
• The University Wits: Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, Thomas
• The Sonnet and Sonnet Sequence Lodge, George Peele
• Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella (1591) • Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy (1586)
• Edmund Spenser’s Amoretti (1595), Epithalamion (1595), • Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (c. 1588)
Prothalamion (1596)
• William Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609) • William Shakespeare
• History plays: Richard III (1589-1593)
• Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99)
Jacobean Poetry • Tragedy: Hamlet (1600-1601)
• Ben Jonson & the Cavalier Poets
• Other: The Tempest (1611-12)
• John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets

Jacobean Drama
• Ben Jonson, Volpone (1606)
PROSE • John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (1623)

Elizabethan Prose:
• Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (1594)

Jacobean Prose:
• Francis Bacon, Essays (1599)
• The Authorised Version of the Bible (King James Bible, 1611)
Jacobean Period (James I)→ convulsed period → tensions between
Catholicism and Protestantism. Gunpowder Plot.
➢ Later on, James I’s successor – Charles I – was executed and the
monarchy dissolved. Oliver Cromwell establishes the
Commonwealth. Years later, in 1660, and after much political
turmoil, Charles II was invited to the throne and the monarchy was
restored (Restoration Period – Unit 4).
Poetry:
• The sonnet is no longer the privileged form
• Petrarch is no longer the source of inspiration
• Poets draw inspiration from Latin writers such as Ovid, Martial, Juvenal,
Horatio → love poems, but also satirical pieces
• Poetry becomes more varied and even provocative
• Different subgenres: ode, elegies, satire, love poems

Cavalier Poets vs. Metaphysical Poets

Cavalier Poets
‘To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time’

BY ROBERT HERRICK

Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, Carpe diem

The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
Tempus fugit
And nearer he’s to setting. Memento mori
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.

Source: The Norton Anthology of Poetry Third Edition (1983)

Metaphysical Poets
 Valediction: Farewell
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
The breath goes now, and some say, No:

So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the *laity our love. *people not part of the clergy/ those
rooted in the mundane and the physical

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,

Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres, *movement of the cosmos
Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary* lovers' love *mundane

(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,

That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other do.

And though it in the center sit,

Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,

Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
 IAMBIC TETRAMETRE

So let us melt and make no noise

As virt- / uous men / pass mild- / ly a-way,

And whis- / per to / their souls / to go,
Whilst some / of their / sad friends / do say
The breath / goes now, / and some /
say, No:
 POETRY THEATRE

Elizabethan Poetry Elizabethan Drama

• Romance in verse: Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590) • Pre-Shakespearean:
• The University Wits: Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, Thomas
• The Sonnet and Sonnet Sequence Lodge, George Peele
• Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella (1591) • Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy (1586)
• Edmund Spenser’s Amoretti (1595), Epithalamion (1595), • Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (c. 1588)
Prothalamion (1596)
• William Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609) • William Shakespeare
• History plays: Richard III (1589-1593)
• Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99)
Jacobean Poetry • Tragedy: Hamlet (1600-1601)
• Ben Jonson & the Cavalier Poets
• Other: The Tempest (1611-12)
• John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets

Jacobean Drama
• Ben Jonson, Volpone (1606)
PROSE • John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (1623)

Elizabethan Prose:
• Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (1594)

Jacobean Prose:
• Francis Bacon, Essays (1599)
• The Authorised Version of the Bible (King James Bible, 1611)
RENAISSANCE DRAMA
Elizabeth I (1558-1603) Renaissance Theatre
James I (1603-1625) (Elizabethan &
Jacobean Drama)
Charles I (1625-1649)

Commonwealth (1650-1660) Theatres Closed

Charles II (1660-1685) Restoration Theatre

 IMPORTANT

Most of the information related to Renaissance Drama is NOT included in this presentation. In addition
to your class notes, please read and study the document titled ‘UNIT 3- Notes’ available on the course
page. Section III.2. Elizabethan Theatre includes all the information you should know about Renaissance
Theatre.
‘Renaissance Theatre’ → ‘Golden Age of Theatre’
• Secularisation of theatre
• Professionalisation of theatre and sponsorship
• Permanent theatre buildings & the Growing Popularity of Theatre
From 1574 to 1642 the London playhouses found their audiences amongst
a population which grew from about 20000 to nearly 400000 people. In
1595 the estimates suggest that the two acting companies were visited by
about 15000 people weekly. In 1620 when six playhouses 9 where open,
three of them the smaller private houses, the weekly total was probably
nearer 25000. Perhaps about 15 or 20 per cent of all the people living
within reach of Shoreditch and Southwark were regular playgoers. (Gurr
1992: 213)
• Public vs. Private Theatres
• Female roles → women not allowed on stage
 PUBLIC THEATRES

“The Swan”

“The Globe”

“The Rose”
 Scenery was not used in Elizabethan plays. The setting of a scene was suggested through dialogue.
This meant that scenes could move quickly from place to place as no scenery changes were required

[…] But pardon, and gentles all,

The flat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Shakespeare’s Henry V
Within this wooden O the very casques
is a history play based
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
on King Henry V of
[…]
England. The play
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
focuses on the events
On your imaginary forces work.
immediately before and
Suppose within the girdle of these walls
after the Battle of
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
Agincourt (1415),
[…]
France, during the
Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Hundred Years’ War
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
fought between England
and France.
From Shakespeare’s Henry V, ‘Prologue’
THE GLOBE’S SOCIAL STRUCTURE

LOWER CLASS:
• Paid a penny to stand around the stage
• ‘Groundlings’

MIDDLE CLASS:
• Sat in tiers/galleries covered by a roof
• Protected from weather
• Paid extra for seat cushion

NOBLES:
• More choices, including the balcony and even on
the stage
 PRIVATE THEATRES

Blackfriars
 POETRY THEATRE

Elizabethan Poetry Elizabethan Drama

• Romance in verse: Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590) • Pre-Shakespearean:
• The University Wits: Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, Thomas
• The Sonnet and Sonnet Sequence Lodge, George Peele
• Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella (1591) • Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy (1586)
• Edmund Spenser’s Amoretti (1595), Epithalamion (1595), • Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (c. 1588)
Prothalamion (1596)
• William Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609) • William Shakespeare
• History plays: Richard III (1589-1593)
• Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99)
Jacobean Poetry • Tragedy: Hamlet (1600-1601)
• Ben Jonson & the Cavalier Poets
• Other: The Tempest (1611-12)
• John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets

Jacobean Drama
• Ben Jonson, Volpone (1606)
PROSE • John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (1623)

Elizabethan Prose:
• Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (1594)

Jacobean Prose:
• Francis Bacon, Essays (1599)
• The Authorised Version of the Bible (King James Bible, 1611)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• Playwright, actor, and co-owner of his own company
• Son to a middle-class glove-maker in Stratford-upon-Avon
• Attended grammar school, but no university education
• Around 1590 he left his family and travelled to London to work as an
actor and playwright
• Most popular playwright in England
• His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and James I
(1603-1625), and he was a favourite of both monarchs.
• James I granted Shakespeare’s company the greatest posible compliment
by bestowing upon its members the title of ‘King’s Men’.
• Wealthy and renowned, he retired to Stratford and died in 1616, aged 52
• His plays were not inteded for publication, but rather performance. It was
after his death that two actors of his company published his works in the
famous First Folio (1621)
Later Romances: they include plays such as The Tempest that combine tragic elements, comedy, pastoral scenes,
as well as a magic and fantastic dimension.
BLANK VERSE: poetic pattern with regular metrical but unrhymed lines.
First used by authors such as Christopher Marlowe, blank verse became a key
feature in Shakespeare’s work. Shakespeare’s plays are, for the most part, written in
unrhymed iambic pentameter (i.e. a form of blank verse).

Hamlet

Iambic pentameter but no

end-rhyme – blank verse

‘Sonnet 2’

Iambic pentameter and

end-rhyme (no blank verse)
 POETRY THEATRE

Elizabethan Poetry Elizabethan Drama

• Romance in verse: Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590) • Pre-Shakespearean:
• The University Wits: Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, Thomas
• The Sonnet and Sonnet Sequence Lodge, George Peele
• Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella (1591) • Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy (1586)
• Edmund Spenser’s Amoretti (1595), Epithalamion (1595), • Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (c. 1588)
Prothalamion (1596)
• William Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609) • William Shakespeare
• History plays: Richard III (1589-1593)
• Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99)
Jacobean Poetry • Tragedy: Hamlet (1600-1601)
• Ben Jonson & the Cavalier Poets
• Other: The Tempest (1611-12)
• John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets

Jacobean Drama
• Ben Jonson, Volpone (1606)
PROSE • John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (1623)

Elizabethan Prose:
• Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (1594)

Jacobean Prose:
• Francis Bacon, Essays (1599)
• The Authorised Version of the Bible (King James Bible, 1611)
Jacobean Theatre
• The plays of the Jacobean Period became even more complex, even more
passionate and violent tan the plays of the Elizabethan age, as they go
more deeply into problems of corruption and human weakness.
• Tragedy of Blood → also known as ‘revenge tragedy’ was a genre
mainly concerned with revenge and its consequences. It draws on
Senecan tragedy
• John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi (1623)
• Urban Comedy (satirical component)→ the period also witnessed the
emergence of comedies that move away from court settings and
characters and focus instead on the middle-classes (the emergent
bourgeoise) in an urban context. Comedies such as Ben Jonson’s Volpone;
or the Fox criticise the corruption, vices and greedy nature of the
emergent bourgeoise.
• Ben Jonson’s Volpone; or the Fox (1606)
• Court Masques
Court Masques
• Pieces combining opera, theatre and ballet
• They were always performed in the context of the court (a form of
entertainment for the upper classes). An opportunity to see and be seen.
• They were allegorical, featuring gods and fantastic beings from classical
mythology and British history. Very often their purpose was to reinforce
the God-given right to rule of Stuart monarchs.
• Ben Jonson was a popular author of masques and Inigo Jones a well-
known designer of the sets for these performances which were incredibly
expensive to produce, really lavish and involved the use of rich costumes.
http://elizabethancostume.net/masque/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G22UED2yJ_Q
 RESOURCES
Critical Works:
• Carter, R. and John McRae. The Routledge History of Literature in Literature.
London: Routledge, 2005.
• Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol. 1. London
and New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Podcasts:
• ‘English Renaissance Theatre’. English History Podcast.
• ‘Masques’. Historic Royal Palaces.
• ‘Shakespeare’s Sonnets’. In Our Time, BBC.
• ‘The Metaphysical Poets’. In Our Time, BBC.

Films:
• Shakespeare in Love (1998), directed by John Madden.
• Will Shakespeare (1978), created by John Mortimer and directed by Mark Cullinghma and
Robert Knights.
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), directed by Shekhar Kapur.
 RESOURCES
Webpages:
• ‘The Masque’. Historic Royal Palaces: https://www.hrp.org.uk/banqueting-
house/history-and-stories/the-masque/#gs.je8ud5
• Elizabethan Drama: http://elizabethandrama.org/
• ‘Elizabethan Theatre’. Elizabethan Era: https://www.elizabethan-
era.org.uk/elizabethan-theatre.htm
• ‘Renaissance English Drama: Elizabethan Staging Conventions.’ Luminarium:
Anthology of English Literature:
https://www.luminarium.org/renlit/dramastaging.htm
• Shakespeare’s Sonnets: https://shakespeares-sonnets.com
• ‘Cavalier Poets’. Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature:
https://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/cavalier.htm
• ‘Metaphysical Poets’. Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature:
https://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/metaphysical.htm