HL - The Renaissance under Elizabeth

like Shakespeare, he used the conventionalized form of the sonnet creatively and vividly, with a sense of 'genuine' experience

(period of flourish)

educated but lower middle-class woman writer who mostly used popular forms and sources.

reacted against the conventional use of language, against the meaningless but decorative images and against the oversweet melody used by minor Elizabethan poets

(including the poem "Will and Testament")

The only true weapon the lover possesses against the unattainable but highly desirable lady is the reminder of mortality. under THE DISGUISE OF ADDRESSING TIME.

series of stories on verse concerning the misfortunes of great figures in English history. The didactic aspect of history is used through examples: it reinterprets the medieval concept of mankind's unpredictable fate in order to show the political and ethical background of the fall of some kings, that is, the moral causes of their fall.

It was written by several authors but initiated by THOMAS SACKVILLE

moralist and historian
poetry of reflection
Patriotism wqas his main interest but he also wrote lyrics and sonnets (To Delia)

main interest in narrative verse, although wrote sonnets and lyrics as well.

pastoral romance taking place in Greece

treats the stormy period ranging from Richard II to Henry VI (1377-1471)

celebrates England, 'the Isle of many blessings', conducting the reader through all the counties of England (detailed descriptions+local legends)

realistic tales in the manner of Robert Greene: work of Craftsmen ("Jack of Newbury" (1597) weavers; "Gentle Craft" (1598) shoemakers)

he innovated a new kind of prose style in his aim to refine English prose: EUPHEUISM = (over)decoration of style by imagesn comparisons, parallels, characterised by long symmetrical sentences in an almost machine-like/mechanical arrangement. Thus, the reader forgets about the thoughts behind the words.

imitated Greene's romances:
"Rosalynd" (1590) was used and transformed by Shakespeare in "As You Like It"

also wrote euphuistic romances because they were fashionable in in demand, and improved on Lyly: plot more complex, love interest increased, narrative more vivid and rapid. but they were iften written in a spirit of parody and he got tired of euphueistic unrealities
=> second phase of his carreer: REALISTIC PROSE TALES
describes the low life of Elizabethan London with social realism ("Conversion of an English Courtesan" = short novella in the first person)
many imitators: Lodge, Dekker, Nashe, Deloney (all Thomas :) )

"The Unfortunate Traveller": chronicle of adventures in France, Germany and Italy

also a dramatist. imitated Greene's realistic tales but put his realism in romantic setting

Euphues goes to Italy where he becomes morally corrupt and breaches his loyalty to a friend; realises it when he falls a victim of the corruption that surrounds him. End: moral and religious dissertations.
Book filled with lessons in wisdom and attacks on the irreligion and immorality of a Catholic country.

Full of flattering insincerities about the country, its Queen, its universities, its ladies. Discussions on refined manners and sophisticated sentiments.
Successful: idealised view of the aristocracy, just as they want to be seen => Lyly's aim: prevent them from going to the (corrupted) continent.

pen-aname for (group of) author(s): pamphlets written form a non-Anglican standpoint and denying the validity of bishops (replies by Lyly, Green, Nashe...)

guidebook with historical and personal comments

reaction against puritan pamphlets against drama

called the first English comedy; adaptation of Plautus's Miles Gloriosus. foolish and boastful soldier encouraged by mischievous associate to make love to a respectale woman betrothed by a merchant. farcical humour (//interlude) + humanistic learning (latin model + 5acts structure)

first acted in 1566, printed in 1575
verse comedy of uncertain authorship
old village woman loses her needle, upsets the whole village until she finds it in the trousers of her farm servant.
pure English country comedy (REALISM) + Latin plot construction (5acts)

rivalry btw Alexander the Great and a painter for the love of a Theban Captive. He renounces his love: the girl loves the painter.
less farcical, more refined and sophosticated: deeds of ternderness and magnanimity => more idealistic or "romantic"

romantic love affair between the moon and a mortal
eupuistic style but delicacy of tone and sentiment

double plot:
Bacon's manufacturing, with the help of the devil, of a brass head endowed with the power of speech
pastoral love story about the rival loves of 2 aristocrats for a village maid.
idyllic atmosphere where evil is easily dispelled

farcical elements (Latin) + comic devices from the interlude + element of allegory (med morality play) => new flavour, characterised by gentle and dream-like romanticism ≠ crude realism

plot derived from the anient history o Britain, as related in "Historia Regum Britanniae". warning to the Queen against the dangers of seidition and divided sovereignty; Lots o murders not shown on staoe (//Seneca). 5 acts + Aristotle's rule of the three unities.

for restricted and educated audience

Man of the Renaissance who can use blank verse; glorifies life on earth and man's free, daring and arrogant mind
heroes: supermen to whom the oetty rules of ordinary morality do not seem to apply.

he gives the public the thrills they hunger for
// Seneca: ghost, revenge, stage declamations/soliloquies
+ new factors: no subject from classic mythology or lengendary british history => play of modern love and war ; many spicy sub-plots (sensational incidents) ; 8 murders and suicides on stage ; play within a play >< unity of action

==> TRAGEDY OF REVENGE/blood => opens the way for a non-classical tragedy

blank verse
ambition, lust of power, glory of conquest
no enemy overcomes Tamburlaine except death; challenges divine rule because ecstasy of glory is what really matters

subject: 14th-century central Asian sheperd Timur who rose by his conquests and pipyless energy
Tamburlaine's barbarity is a proof of the potentialities of the human mind. falls passionately in love with his bride, Zenocrate
2nd part: cannot triumph death (his wife's + his own)

blank verse: words rather plain but strong rhythm // unflagging purposefulness (<3 hyperbole: charging the language with feeling until intensity which exceeds the literal meaning of the words)

Grand Senior of Turkey demands tribute of Malta -> govenor thinks Jews must pay -> Barabas (rich Jew) refuses -> money and house taken from him -> becomes violent -> poisons daughter Abigail + causes lover to die
Malta besieged -> betrays it to the Turks -> reward: made governor -> decides to kill all the Turkish officers but betrays himself and dies

sells his soul to the devil (Mephistopheles) to gain unlimited pwer and universal knowledge (+ good and bad angels) // Morality play
thirst for knowledge // Renaissance + conflict and psychology presented convincingly and with moving insight.
chooses to be damned
tragic situation: self-destruction as a result of the corruption/misuse of their own virtues //Shakespeare

sebtimental weakling betrayed and led to his death by the forces of ambition and cruelty (theme derived from English history but raised from formlessness of the old chronicle plays)