David Joo
Ms. Roy
British Literature
November 4, 2015
Poetry Time Warp
16th Century Literature
Dates for the Period: 1485-1603 AD
Major Historical Events: Protestant Reformation, Eighty year’s war, Reign of Suleiman the magnificent
Major Literary Movements: In the literature of northern Europe, the sixteenth century marks the flowering of the Renaissance. In some countries, such as England, the literary Renaissance continued well into the following century. This chapter will deal with some of the important currents and authors in French and English literature of the sixteenth century.
Major Literary Figures:
Christopher Marlowe
Background: Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day. He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe's mysterious early death. Marlowe's plays are known for the use of blank verse and their overreaching protagonists.
Poem:
The Passionate Shepherd To His Love
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy
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In addition to being one of the most well-known love poems in the English language, it is considered one of the earliest examples of the pastoral style of British poetry in the late Renaissance period. It is composed in iambic tetrameter (four feet of unstressed/stressed syllables), with seven (sometimes six, depending on the version) stanzas each composed of two rhyming couplets. It is often used for scholastic purposes for its regular meter and
Water supports a seed to grow into a beautiful flower, just as Christopher Marlowe’s works watered the seed of the Renaissance and Elizabethan literature. The Renaissance was characterized by new ideas and thinking, which created many influential writers from this time. Christopher Marlowe is known as a talented writer from the late sixteenth through early eighteenth centuries. He and many other writers of this time created new ways of writing and impacted it in other ways. Marlowe was considered the most important playwright before Shakespeare, but his entire career lasted six years because of his untimely death when he was twenty-nine. His most famous work, Doctor Faustus, is based on the Faust Legend, a German classic, in which a scholar sells his soul to the devil in exchange for more power and knowledge (Biography.com). Christopher Marlowe’s tragic play, The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus, had major influences in the development of Elizabethan literature during the mid-sixteenth century in England.
This seven day unit is designed to engage student thinking in preparation for reading literature from early 20th century Europe. They will be encouraged to place themselves in the position of the people of this time period to reflect on the poor conditions in which they lived to understand how literature can reflect the feeling or mood of a time period, answering the overall unit theme: How does the “feeling” of a time period affect the literature created during that time period? Other essential questions of this unit include: How can historical events, attitudes of generations, or climate of the time affect literature, specifically during 20th century Europe?, and In what ways can literature document personal feelings of its author?. Students should already be skilled in analyzing literature, as this has been a focus of the course throughout the school year. Students will be transferring this skill in analysis to evaluate the historical time period and events that could have had an effect on the literature and art created in those
The sixteenth century was the age of the revival of religion, literature, and art. The spirit of progress and
B. advisory people C. outside threats III. Influence on Religion in England A. Religious state prior B. Religious position C. protest Catholicism IV. Influence on English Renaissance A. Literature 1. Famous authors 2. subject matter 3.
When thinking of a significant and influential writer the words articulate, creative, and intellectual come to mind. Those same three words also come to mind when I think of the iconic writer William Shakespeare. Approximately around April 23rd, 1564 in Strafford-upon-Avon one of the greatest poets, playwrights, and writers was born. Shakespeare lived and wrote during the literary time period called the “English Renaissance” also referred to as the “Elizabethan Literature” time period. During this cultural and artistic time period most of the literature focused on self-actualization and reformation. Shakespeare was considered a dramatist due to the depth and passion represented in most of the pieces of literature he composed. (“English Renaissance Literature Characteristics”). Some of Shakespeare’s famous and influential works composed during this time period included Hamlet,
William Shakespeare was once a great bard or poet. He made many poems that were and are still famous to this day. There many poems and plays that were famous, but two of the most were called sonnet 29 and the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare was once and still is one of the most famous playwrights in history.
There are many different themes that can be used to make a poem both successful and memorable. Such is that of the universal theme of love. This theme can be developed throughout a poem through an authors use of form and content. “She Walks in Beauty,” by George Gordon, Lord Byron, is a poem that contains an intriguing form with captivating content. Lord Byron, a nineteenth-century poet, writes this poem through the use of similes and metaphors to describe a beautiful woman. His patterns and rhyme scheme enthrall the reader into the poem. Another poem with the theme of love is John Keats' “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” meaning “the beautiful lady without mercy.” Keats, another nineteenth-century writer, uses progression and compelling
William Shakespeare can be argued as one of the most important people in human history. Born in 1564 in a small town in England named Stratford-upon-Avon, he lived an ordinary life and not much was known about his early years. In 1582, he married his wife with whom they bore 3 children, and moved to London 10 years later to pursue a career as a poet and playwright. He went to write over 194 pieces of writing, including 37 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 long narrative poems, and other assorted uncredited writing. By the end of his career, Shakespeare was considered one of the most important figures of the Renaissance, and eventually the greatest writer in the English language, writing many timeless works that are still read, observed, and acted out today.
One theory is close his close rival Christopher Marlowe. It is said that Marlowe was a huge influence on Shakespeare and even collaborated and contributed to some of his plays. Marlowe had an extensive education with scholarships and he attended University. Whereas, there is no record of education for Shakespeare after basic grammar school. So how could someone with so little education write such broad and sophisticated plays? It is believed that Christopher Marlowe’s murder was no murder at all, just a cover-up in an effort for him to “disappear.” He was arrested ten days before his supposed murder where he was being sentenced to torture, giving him motive to fake his death and get a new identity. During the
Literary writers have the innate ability to take a reader on a journey through fairy tale lands or magical and mythological epic adventures. Their words shape the direction of the journey with imagery and mental references to past adventures. The writer’s word choice greatly influences the reader. This may suggest the author’s view on a particular controversial topic. The author’s values, views, moral compass and religious background can influence and affect their writing style. The creative process literary writers utilize can also be easily swayed by politics, mood, society or war. The French 12th and 13th medieval period is an era containing many of these topics. Literary figures of this period explore and expose many of these themes in their
The literature world for the English Renaissance period was filled with adventurous stories of chivalrous knights going on epic quests to slay dragons and save the princess, win her affection and skirt off happily ever after. Many poems were also written during this period that told of the beauty of a woman or the overall beauty of nature. Shakespeare, one of the most well known writers of all time was very influential to the literature world now with his theme of the Shakespearean Sonnet, as well as Petrarchian Sonnet adding more diversity.
One of the most used love poems would have to be, “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It has been recited at many weddings for people who use it to announce their love for each other. And if a person were to ask someone if they had ever heard of this poem they would most likely get an answer of yes. In Mrs. Browning’s poem she uses the repeating of the same words, “I Love Thee”, over and over, which gives the poem its rhythm. But yet she still uses the rhyming scheme at the end of sentences that rhyme like these two sentences, “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height/My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight”.
In the course of reading these medieval and renaissance works of literature, I went on many adventures. I witnessed Sir Gawain beat the mysteries and riddles of the Green Knight, I read in awe as Beowulf battled viciously against demons and hags alike, and I laughed hysterically as Hamlet let his sarcastic remarks loose on the world. As I read these medieval and renaissance works, I made comparisons and differences between the romance of their plots, their styles of writing, and the theme of the writings.
Throughout his relatively short lifespan, Christopher Marlowe flourished remarkably as an artist because of the fruition of his plays and poems. The dramatist’s first play, Tamburlaine the Great, was performed on a classic stage in 1587 in London. This play was the first English play to be written in blank verse and has been deliberated to be the beginning of the more mature phase of the Elizabethan theatre. The dramatist also wrote in iambic pentameter, which “became very popular before the end of this age” (Escoala). Marlowe wrote a total of seven plays and two poems, including Tamburlaine the Great (parts one and two), Doctor Faustus, The Massacre at Paris, and “Hero and Leander.” The immense success of Marlowe’s plays is partly because of the stage presence of actor Edward Alleyn. The role of Tamburlaine in Tamburlaine the Great was most likely written for him, for Alleyn was awfully tall for the time period and the character of Tamburlaine is described to be rather “haughty.” Above all, Marlowe was admired for his contemporaries during the Renaissance era, with George Peele remembering him as
Middle English literature (1066-1500),English Renaissance(1500-1660), Elizabethan and Jacobean period .(1558-1625), late renaissance (1660-1625),and go on .