The English Renaissance (1485-1660)

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The English Renaissance(1485-1660)
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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).

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• 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)
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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).
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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)

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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).

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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).

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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).

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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)

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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.

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• 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?

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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).

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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).

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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).

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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)

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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)

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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)

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• 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)
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• 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)
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The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
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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)

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• 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.

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• 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. 
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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)

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• 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)

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• 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)

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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).

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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).

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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)

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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)

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• 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)

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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)

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• 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)

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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.