Renaissance Poetry

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Renaissance Poetry
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The Renaissance 1485- 1660

• French word meaning rebirth
• Renewed interest in classical learning, the
  writings of ancient Greece and Rome

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Italian Renaissance

• 14th century 16th century
• Boccaccio, Petrarch, da Vinci, Michelangelo, etc.
• Vaticans Sistine Chapel done by Michaelangelo
• The people are perfectly proportioned, implying
  people were capable of perfection. Very
  optimistic view of humanity.

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English Renaissance

• In contrast to Italian Renaissance, English
  renaissance was more restrained and pious.
• Regarded classical learning as a means for better
  understanding the Bible and leading a moral life.
  Who does this remind you of?
• Humanism used classical Latin and Greek writings
  to contemplate humanity and morality. Ex. John
  Milton

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Renaissance Poetry

• English Renaissance Poetry was characterized by
• New poetry that strongly borrowed from old themes
  or forms
• Aristocratic in tone and unconcerned with working
  people. why?

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Sir Thomas Wyatt The Elder (1503-1542) Henry
Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547)

• worked for Henry VIII as courtiers
• As Henry VIIIs ambassador, Wyatt traveled abroad
• Brought love sonnet to England from Italy.
• Surrey first used unrhymed iambic pentameter in a
  translation of parts of Virgils Aeneid
• Neither of them published their poems, since they
  were expected to compose songs and verses to
  entertain the King and not poetry
• 10 years after Surreys death (Wyatt died first),
  Richard Tottel published Songs and Sonnets - 96
  of Wyatts poems and 40 of Surreys
• Tottel changed some of the words around, however,
  so it is now popularly known as Tottels
  Miscellany

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Petrarch

• Francis Petrarch
• What is a petrarchan conceit?
• How many lines do they have?
• How many syllables? What meter?
• What is an octave and a sestet? What is the
  difference in terms of content?
• What is the turn?

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Surreys Love that doth reign (p. 344)

• Translation of a Petrarch sonnet. In that one,
  the situation is that the poet loves a lady, but
  will not permit him to declare his love.
• This is an English sonnet.
• Whats the stanza structure and rhyme scheme?

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Surreys Love that doth reign (p. 344)

• What happens in each quatrain?
• Where is the turn? What is the turn?
• What is the conceit? What specific parts of the
  poem show this?

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Wyatt

• Whose list to hunt p. 340
• They flee from me p. 341

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Whose List to Hunt

• Its rumored that Wyatt wrote this about his love
  for Anne Boleyn. Who was she?
• What does he say about his affection for her?
• What does noli me tangere mean? What is the
  historical reference?

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Whose List to Hunt

• What is the rhyme scheme?
• According to the speaker, why is he ending his
  hunt of the hind?
• What advice does he give to potential hunters of
  this hund?
• What does he say is written about the hinds neck?