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1、Renaissance English LiteratureHistorical background 16th century - a period of the breaking up of feudal relations and the establishing of the foundations of capitalism England an absolute monarchynReligious Reformation - end the rule of the Catholic Church - king as both the head of Church and the
2、head of statenProtestantism -the official national religionHenry 8 ( a Tudor Monarch)Queen Elizabeth the summit of absolute monarchynElizabethan age: - progress of bourgeois economy - victory in the Spanish War - commercial expansion abroad - development of art and literature - an unsettled time: pe
3、asants uprisingsThe RenaissancenA transition from the medieval to the modern worldnBetween the 14th and mid-17th centurynRenaissance: rebirth, revivalnEmphasis on the newly discovered Greek and Roman classics; the reintroduction into Western Europe of the full cultural heritage of Greece and RomenEs
4、sence: get rid of the old feudal ideas; introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie nHumanism: keynote of Renaissance (individualism )1. A thirsting curiosity for the classical literature2. The keen interest in the activities of humanity - exalt human nature - dignity
5、of human beings - importance of the present life - the right to enjoy the beauty of this life - the rebellious spirit against feudal rule and ecclesiastical dominationThe Idea of the RenaissanceLiterary featuresnLyrical poetry: England: a nest of singing birds - variety, freshness, youthfulness, rom
6、antic feeling - Thomas Wyatt: sonnet - Henry Howard: blank verse - Sir Philip Sidney: popularize sonnet sequence - Edmund Spencer: “the poets poet” Sir Philip Sidney（1554-1586）SonnetnAstrophel and Stella 阿斯特罗菲尔和斯黛拉n阿斯特罗菲尔：爱星星的人 Latinn斯黛拉：天上之星CriticsnDefense of Poetry 诗辩 - Edmund Spencer: “the poets
7、poet”(1552-1599) The Faerie Queene (an allegory) 1589-1596 The Shepheardes Calendar (an eclogue) 1579 Spenserian stanza: 8 iambic pentameter, 1 iambic hexameter The Faerie Queen lyricsnAmoretti 爱情小唱 1591-1595n1595 Epithalamion 婚后曲n1596 Prothalamion 婚前曲nFour hymns 四首赞美歌 1596- Christopher MarlownHero
8、and Leander 1) a tale of two tragic lovers (Romeo and Juliet type) 2) main idea: love at first sight star-crossed loven“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” main idea: a shepherd invites his love to live with himSonnetnlyric poem of 14 lines with a formal rhyme schemenexpressing different aspects of
9、 a single thought, mood, or feeling, sometimes resolved or summed up in the last lines of the poem. nOriginally short poems accompanied by mandolin or lute music, sonnets are generally composed in the standard meter of the language in which they were writtenfor example, iambic pentameter.Two Main Fo
10、rms of the Sonnet1. the Petrarchan, or Italian, sonnetnThe Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight-line stanza) and a sestet (six- line stanza).n Rhyme scheme: abbaabba, cdecde2. the English, or Shakespearean, sonnetnexemplified by the works of William Shakespearenrhyme scheme: a b a b, c d c
11、 d, e f e f, g gShakespeares sonnets The sonnets describe the devotion of a person, often identified as Shakespeare himself, to a young man whose beauty and virtue he praises and to a mysterious and faithless Dark Lady with whom the poet is infatuated.1)Three groups:nThe first 126 sonnets are addres
12、sed to the young nobleman. nIn the first 17 sonnets the poet urges the young man to marry and beget children who will preserve his beauty in a new generation, since his youth will fade. nSonnets 18 to 126 are about the young man. The poet enjoys his friendship and is full of admiration promising to
13、bestow immortality to the young man by the poems he writes in his honor.nSonnets 127 to 152 are mostly addressed to the Dark Lady. A married woman with dark hair and complexion.2) significance: reveal the most sophisticated aspects of human naturenMoral conflicts and psychological uncertaintiesnThe
14、immortality of art as being represented by poetrynThe value of genuine friendshipnThe sorrows of feeling neglected in a corrupt worldnRenaissance Prose:1.Thomas More and UtopianA conversation between More and a returned sailornBook 1: social conditions of EnglandnBook 2: a picture of an ideal societ
15、y2.John Foxemake English prose more popular to the common people3.John Lyly and EuphuesnA prose romancenEuphuism: antithesis, alliteration, allusions4. Francis Baconna philosopher, a scientist and an essayist-founder of modern science -inductive method of reasoning-founder of English materialist phi
16、losophy-first English essayistnEssays-compact in style, clear in expression, profound in thought -compact, precise, direct, forceful, persuasive- “Of Studies”nEnglish drama1.Origin: religious ceremony, church plays2.DevelopmentnReligious period miracle plays (mystery plays): biblical stories and the
17、 stories of the saints The Second Shepherds PlaynMoral period morality plays: dramatized allegory; the conflict between good and evil EverymannInterludes - short plays played for light relief between the acts-end of the 15th century -a transition to Elizabethan drama3.Renaissance drama-comedy and tr
18、agedy were established as types of drama-development of theaters-growth of acting culture4.University wits-John Lyly, Robert Greene, George peele, Christopher Marlow, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nashe, Thomas Lodge-technical innovationsnFree Renaissance tragedy for classical restraintsnDevelop a comedy tradi
19、tion more close to life John Lyly: write for a refined, aristocratic audiencenThomas Kyd: start the tradition of revenge tragedy5.Christopher Marlow-most gifted “university wit”-The Tragic History of Doctor FaustusnCause of the tragedy: blind faith in human intellectnTheme: praise if individuality;
20、conviction of the possibility of human efforts in conquering the universe-make blank verse the principal instrument of English drama6. William Shakespeare (1564-1616 )nLifenWorks Poetry Long poems Sonnets DramanCommentsLifenborn in Stratford-upon-Avon, his father is a tradesmannneither a Londoner no
21、r a courtiernwent to local grammar schoolnmarried in 1582nnot a university productnan actor & a shareholder in the theatreTwo long poemsnVenus and AdonisnThe Rape of LucreceShakespeares Sonnets The sonnets describe the devotion of a person, often identified as Shakespeare himself, to a young man who
22、se beauty and virtue he praises and to a mysterious and faithless Dark Lady with whom the poet is infatuated.nThe first 126 sonnets are addressed to the young nobleman. nIn the first 17 sonnets the poet urges the young man to marry and beget children who will preserve his beauty in a new generation,
23、 since his youth will fade. nSonnets 18 to 126 are about the young man. The poet enjoys his friendship and is full of admiration promising to bestow immortality to the young man by the poems he writes in his honor.nSonnets 127 to 152 are mostly addressed to the Dark Lady. A married woman with dark h
24、air and complexion.1.Three groups:All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players. What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an angle in apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of
25、 the world; the paragon of animals; and yet to me what is this quintessence of dust? - William Shakespeare -the first period: apprenticeship-the second period: full of sunshine and laughter-the third period: full of storm and clouds-the fourth period: principal tragicomedies1)Dramatic career:2)Great
26、 comedies:-sing of love, youth, and ideal of happiness A Midsummer Nights Dream The Merchant of Venice As You Like It, Twelfth Night-two groups of characters:nYoung men and womennSimple and shrewd clowns and other common people-respect women 2)Great comedies:3)Great tragedies:social contradictions a
27、nd social evilsHamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth4) Historical playspolitical plays: the necessity for national unity under one sovereignHenry V, the only ideal king, a symbol of English glorynShakespeare is a realist.-authentic panorama of his age-characters are representatives of the people of his timenShakespeare is a master of English language.-language reveals the peculiarities of his character-use about 16,000 words in his writings-create a lot of new words and expressionsnShakespeare is good at many poetic forms. blank verse 5) Features of his dramatic works:
