The Preparation for the Renaissance (1516–1578)

The Part of the Humanists – Important Points

1. Special Characteristics of the English Renaissance

General Features of the Renaissance in Europe
Liberation and broadening of thought.
Decline of rigid scholasticism.
Religion and morality became subjects of inquiry rather than fixed dogma.
Reformation challenged spiritual authority.
New discoveries in navigation and astronomy widened human knowledge.
Renewed admiration for Greek and Roman classical literature.

2. Special Characteristics of the English Renaissance

(a) Late Development of English Literature
Renaissance literature developed later in England than in Italy and France.
Humanism reached England early, but its effect on literature was slow.
English prose and verse were still immature.
Scholars preferred writing in Latin.
Important Examples
Sir Thomas More — Utopia (1516) written in Latin.
Francis Bacon — Instauratio Magna (1620) written in Latin.
Development of Poetry
English verse became irregular after Geoffrey Chaucer.
Poetic balance and harmony were restored only with Edmund Spenser in 1579.
Result
English Renaissance literature flowered after Italy’s golden age and after France had already produced:
François Rabelais
Pierre de Ronsard
Michel de Montaigne

3. Renaissance and the Arts in England

Renaissance in England was less connected with painting and sculpture.
England possessed few native visual arts.
Protestant Reformers opposed religious images.
Effect
English Renaissance became:
More inward
More moral
More serious
Religious Influence
Renaissance triumphed after the Reformation.
Anglicanism and early Calvinism influenced literature.
Resulted in:
Greater seriousness
Strong conscience
Religious passion
Less serenity than Italy.

4. Medieval Influence on English Literature

English literature remained more medieval than Italian or French literature.
Earlier English literature depended heavily on French models.
Even Geoffrey Chaucer was largely influenced by French literature.
Why Medieval Elements Continued
Literature appealed to common people.
Ballads remained popular.
Theatre was open to all classes.
Common people preserved old traditions.

5. Rise of Nationalism
Strong patriotism developed in England.
Writers glorified:
National history
Legends
Traditions
Antiquities
Dual Effect
Inspired rivalry with Greece, Rome, Italy, and France.
Also created hostility to foreign influence, especially Italianism.
Result
England increasingly saw itself as separate from continental Europe.

6. Beginnings of Humanism (1490–1520)

Humanism in England
A small group of scholars introduced classical learning.
Interest in Greek increased after the fall of Constantinople (1453).
Greek scholars fled to Italy carrying manuscripts.

Important Humanists
(a) Thomas Linacre (1460–1524)
Thomas Linacre
Grammarian, physician, translator of Galen.
Studied in Italy.
Helped establish Greek studies at Oxford.

(b) William Grocyn (1446–1519)

William Grocyn
Studied Greek in Italy.
Introduced proper Greek teaching at Oxford.

(c) John Colet (1467–1519)

John Colet
Influenced by Italian thinkers:
Girolamo Savonarola
Marsilio Ficino
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Preached purified Christianity.
Encouraged historical study of the Bible.
Founded St. Paul’s School in 1504.
Contribution to Education
Introduced reformed secondary education.
Focused on Latin and Greek studies.

(d) William Lily (1468–1522)

William Lily
Wrote a famous Latin grammar for St. Paul’s School.
Grammar revised by Desiderius Erasmus.
Became standard grammar in English schools.

7. Erasmus and England

Desiderius Erasmus
Visits to England
Came to England from 1499 onward.
Studied Greek and humanist learning.
Influences
Inspired by John Colet.
Wanted reform within Christianity without breaking Church unity.
Major Works
Adages (1500)
Praise of Folly (1509)

8. Sir Thomas More (1478–1535)

Sir Thomas More
Importance
Greatest English humanist.
Friend of Erasmus.
Author of Utopia — masterpiece of English humanism.
Background
Student of Oxford humanists.
Lawyer and Member of Parliament.
Travelled to Europe in 1515.

Utopia (1516)
Utopia
Sources of Inspiration
Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci.
The Republic.

Main Ideas in Utopia

(a) Attack on Scholasticism
Rejected medieval dialectics.
Preferred Greek philosophy to Latin philosophy.
(b) Opposition to War
Condemned military glory.
Considered soldiers as “men-slayers.”
War justified only as a last resort.
(c) Communism
No private property.
Gold treated as worthless.
Work compulsory for all.
(d) Ideal Society
Happiness considered the aim of life.
Opposed extreme asceticism.
Supported bodily health and comfort.
(e) Religious Toleration
All religions accepted.
Christianity had no special privileges.

Contradictions in More’s Life

Personally a strict Catholic and ascetic.
Yet Utopia advocates tolerance and freedom.
Later persecuted Protestants as Chancellor.
Executed for refusing to accept Henry VIII’s supremacy over the Church.

Social Criticism in Utopia

Problems Attacked
Enclosure movement.
Eviction of poor farmers.
Unemployment.
Harsh punishments and executions.
Famous Observation
Society is “a conspiracy of the rich against the poor.”

More’s Literary Importance

Great humorist and observer.
Rich, lively English prose.
Used colloquial language and wit.
Weakness
Sentences extremely long.
Did not fully shape modern English prose.

Other Important Works

Richard III
History of King Richard III
Powerful historical portrait.
Influenced William Shakespeare’s Richard III.

9. Educationists After More

Sir Thomas Elyot (1490–1546)
Sir Thomas Elyot
Important Work
The Governor (1531)
Importance
Treatise on education and moral philosophy.
Written for future rulers and governors.
Promoted classical learning and moral training.

Important Themes of the Chapter

Major Ideas
Humanism
Revival of classical learning
Individualism
Nationalism
Religious reform
Social criticism
Educational reform

Poetry in the Age of the Renaissance and Italian Influence (1525–1578)

General Background
Unlike prose, poetry gained little from the Protestant Reformers because they considered poetry worldly and
frivolous. The real revival of English poetry came through Humanism and especially through the influence of the
Italian Renaissance.
English verse before this revival had declined:
Stephen Hawes represented weak and languid poetry.
John Skelton represented disorderly and rough verse.
The renewal of poetry was therefore undertaken mainly by two court poets:
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
They introduced:
Italian poetic models
regular metre
sonnet form
lyrical expression
blank verse

1. Wyatt (1503–1542)
Importance
Wyatt is regarded as:
the father of the English sonnet
the pioneer who introduced Italian Renaissance poetry into England
After visiting France and Italy in 1527, Wyatt returned inspired by:
Francesco Petrarca
Dante
Italian lyric poetry
classical ideals filtered through Italian culture

Contributions of Wyatt
a) Restoration of English Verse
Wyatt attempted to restore:
harmony
grace
dignity
to English poetry.
His early verse was metrically irregular, but later he achieved comparative smoothness.

b) Introduction of Italian Forms

Wyatt introduced several Italian verse forms into English literature:
Form Description

Terza Rima Used by Dante

Strambotti Eight-line stanza (abababcc)

Petrarchan Sonnet Most influential contribution

Petrarchan Sonnet
Wyatt adapted the Italian sonnet:
octave + sestet structure
love theme
emotional expression
condensed artistic form
This form reintroduced lyricism into English poetry.

Themes in Wyatt’s Poetry

Love Poetry
His poetry often imitates Petrarch:
sighs
rejection
longing
emotional intensity
Example imagery:
“Love presseth with bold pretence,
And there campeth displaying his banner.”

Strong Personal Voice

Unlike Petrarch, Wyatt also speaks boldly and realistically.
Example:
“My heart I gave thee, not to do it pain.”
He often rejects submissive love conventions.

Renunciation of Love
A famous poem:
“Farewell Love, and all thy laws forever.”
shows:
Stoic influence
classical philosophy
independence

Satirical Poetry
Wyatt imitated:
Horace
Alamanni
His satires criticize:
corruption at court
greed
false ambition

Famous Lyric
His best-known lyric begins:
“My lute, awake! perform the last
Labour that thou and I shall waste.”
This became one of the earliest memorable English songs.

2. Surrey (1517–1547)
Importance
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey was:
Wyatt’s younger contemporary
more polished artist
introducer of blank verse into English poetry
He died young after execution by Henry VIII.

Characteristics of Surrey’s Poetry

a) Greater Technical Perfection
Unlike Wyatt:
Surrey’s metre is smooth and regular.
His poetry is musical and harmonious.

b) Petrarchan Influence
He wrote sonnets about:
Geraldine (Elizabeth Fitzgerald)
His poetry contains:
melancholy
refined love sentiment
graceful nature imagery

c) Love of Nature
Surrey beautifully combines:
landscape description
emotional reflection
This anticipates later Elizabethan lyricism.

Surrey’s Artistic Excellence

Example: Sonnet on Sardanapalus
This sonnet condemns luxury and weakness.
Features:
dignity
force
condensed thought
balanced structure

Friendship and Memory

His poem:
“Prisoned in Windsor he recounteth his pleasure there passed”
is highly personal.
It recalls:
friendship
courtly games
hunting
youthful pleasures
This poem is important because it introduces:
personal nostalgia
intimate self-expression
into English poetry.

Surrey’s Greatest Achievement: Blank Verse

Introduction of Blank Verse
Surrey translated parts of:
Aeneid
using:
unrhymed iambic pentameter
This became known as blank verse.

Importance of Blank Verse

Blank verse later became:
the principal metre of Elizabethan drama
the metre of Shakespeare and Milton
Surrey’s innovation therefore transformed English poetry permanently.

Features of Surrey’s Blank Verse

dignified
flexible
closer to classical epic style
uses enjambment
Though somewhat stiff initially, it created a magnificent poetic instrument.

Tottel’s Miscellany (1557)

The poems of Wyatt and Surrey were published posthumously in:
Tottel's Miscellany
Importance:
first printed anthology of English poetry
spread Renaissance poetic style
influenced later Elizabethan poets
However, their influence was delayed because England was not yet fully ready for Italianism.

3. Sackville (1536–1608)
Importance
Thomas Sackville links:
medieval poetry
Renaissance poetry
He contributed to:
Mirror for Magistrates
especially:
the Induction
Complaint of the Duke of Buckingham

Mirror for Magistrates

A collection of tragic stories about famous English historical figures.
Inspired by:
Boccaccio
Chaucer
Lydgate
Theme:
downfall of great men

Sackville’s Induction
Features
allegorical vision
gloomy atmosphere
medieval style
powerful rhythm
The poet is guided by:
Sorrow
Remorse
Dread
Revenge
War
Old Age
into the underworld.

Literary Importance
Sackville:
revived strong rhythm
used regular accentual metre
influenced Edmund Spenser
Especially in:
gloomy allegorical scenes
melancholy poetry
Thus Sackville becomes:
“the connecting link between Chaucer and Spenser.”

4. Minor Poets and Gascoigne

Minor Writers
Other poets of the period include:
Barnabe Googe
George Turberville
Thomas Tusser
Thomas Churchyard
Their poetry was generally:
mediocre
imitative
transitional

George Gascoigne (1525?–1577)

Importance
George Gascoigne was:
versatile experimenter
pioneer in many literary forms

Achievements
He wrote:
love poetry
satire
drama
prose fiction
treatise on prosody
He is remembered for:
first prose comedy
first regular English satire
first treatise on English prosody

Major Works
Work Importance

Hundreth Sundrie Flowers Love poems and translations

Steel Glass Satire in blank verse

Certayne Notes of Instruction Treatise on prosody

Steel Glass
A moral satire comparing:
truthful old steel mirrors
flattering modern glass mirrors
Themes:
luxury
moral corruption
social decay

Literary Significance
Gascoigne was:
innovative
technically important
but lacked:
poetic brilliance
emotional depth
Still, he helped prepare the way for later Elizabethan poetry.

Overall Significance of This Period

Major Achievements
Italian Influence
England absorbed:
Petrarchan love poetry
classical ideals
artistic refinement

Technical Innovations
This period introduced:
sonnet
blank verse
smoother metre
lyrical expression

Preparation for Elizabethan Poetry

Wyatt, Surrey, Sackville, and Gascoigne prepared the way for:
Edmund Spenser
William Shakespeare
the flowering of Elizabethan literature

Poetry — Italianism, Wyatt, Surrey, Sackville, Gascoigne

Italian Influence on English Poetry
English poetry in the early Tudor period was revived mainly through the influence of the Italian Renaissance rather
than the Reformation.
Poetry before this revival had become:
weak and dull in writers like Stephen Hawes
chaotic in form in writers like John Skelton
Two court poets under Henry VIII led the renewal:
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
They introduced Italian poetic forms and refined English metre.

1. Wyatt (1503–1542)
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Importance
Pioneer of Renaissance poetry in England.
Introduced Italian lyrical traditions into English literature.
Helped restore:
grace
harmony
nobility to English verse.
Contributions
Introduced Italian Forms
Wyatt experimented with:
Dante’s terza rima
Serafino’s strambotti
Petrarchan sonnet.
Introduction of the Sonnet
Wyatt introduced the Petrarchan sonnet into English poetry.
The sonnet became:
a vehicle of personal emotion
direct lyrical expression
subtle and condensed artistic form.
Style and Features
Early verses irregular in rhythm.
Gradually achieved metrical discipline.
Used:
bold imagery
emotional intensity
Petrarchan love conventions.
Themes
Love and disappointment
Personal independence
Satire against court corruption.
Satires
Influenced by:
Horace
Alamanni.
Criticized:
court life
greed
social hypocrisy.
Famous Poems Mentioned
“My lute, awake!”
“Farewell Love”
“Madam, withouten many words”
Significance
Reintroduced lyricism into English poetry.
Prepared the way for later Elizabethan sonneteers.

2. Surrey (1517–1547)
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Importance
Disciple and successor of Wyatt.
Greater artistic control and harmony.
One of the founders of English Renaissance poetry.
Literary Features
More regular and musical versification than Wyatt.
Strong Petrarchan influence.
Love poetry centered on Geraldine (Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald).
Major Contributions
(a) English Sonnet Form
Modified the Italian sonnet.
Developed the English/Shakespearean sonnet structure:
three quatrains
concluding couplet.
Later perfected by William Shakespeare.

(b) Introduction of Blank Verse

Greatest Achievement
Introduced blank verse into English literature through translation of Virgil’s Aeneid.
Features of Surrey’s Blank Verse
unrhymed iambic pentameter
dignified and epic tone
use of enjambment.
Importance
Became the chief metre of:
Elizabethan drama
epic poetry.
Essential foundation for later dramatists like Shakespeare and Marlowe.

Themes
Love
Nature
Friendship
Chivalric life
Melancholy.
Important Poem Mentioned
“Prisoned in Windsor”
Significance
Refined English metre.
Established blank verse as a major poetic medium.

Tottel’s Miscellany (1557)

Tottel’s Miscellany
Importance
First printed anthology of English poetry.
Published works of Wyatt and Surrey after their deaths.
Spread Renaissance poetic ideals in England.
Significance
Influenced later Elizabethan poets.
Helped popularize:
sonnets
lyrical poetry
Italianate style.

3. Sackville (1536–1608)
Thomas Sackville
Importance
Major poet between Surrey and Spenser.
Connected medieval tradition with Renaissance poetry.
Called the link between Chaucer and Spenser.

Mirror for Magistrates

Mirror for Magistrates
Nature
Collection of tragic stories about famous figures from English history.
Written by several poets.
Sackville’s contribution is the best part.
Sackville’s Contributions
Induction
Complaint of the Duke of Buckingham

Features of Sackville’s Poetry

Medieval Influence
Inspired by:
allegory
dream vision tradition
Roman de la Rose
Chaucer.
Dark and Gloomy Tone
Filled with:
sorrow
death
despair
infernal imagery.
Stylistic Features
Strong rhythm
Heavy alliteration
Powerful monotony
Somber atmosphere.
Importance
Influenced:
Edmund Spenser
later tragic poetry.
Helped regularize English metre.

4. George Gascoigne (1525?–1577)

George Gascoigne
Importance
Experimental Renaissance writer.
Tried many new literary forms.
Important innovator though not a great poet.
Literary Firsts
Gascoigne is credited with:
first prose comedy
first prose fiction from real life
first regular satire
first English treatise on prosody
first masque.

Major Works
Hundreth Sundrie Flowers
The Steel Glass
The Glass of Government
The Droome of Doomesday
Certayne Notes of Instruction concerning the making of verse or ryme in English

The Steel Glass

The Steel Glass
Themes
Satire on moral corruption
Attack on luxury and artificiality
Praise of old English simplicity.
Features
Written in blank verse.
Moral and nationalistic tone.

Gascoigne’s Importance
More important as innovator than as artist.
Shows transition from imitation of Italianism to English nationalism.
Prepared ground for later Elizabethan literature.
Important Literary Developments of the Period
1. Revival of English Poetry
Poetry revived through Italian Renaissance influence.
2. Introduction of New Forms
Sonnet
Terza rima
Blank verse
Classical satire.
3. Growth of Lyricism
Personal emotion and individual voice returned.
4. Development of English Metre
Greater regularity and accentual rhythm.
5. Transition from Medieval to Renaissance
Medieval allegory still present in Sackville.
Humanism and Italian influence dominant in Wyatt and Surrey.

Theatre from 1520–1578

General Features
Transitional period between:
medieval drama
Elizabethan theatre.
No masterpieces yet, but experimentation everywhere.

1. Humanism in the Theatre

Survival of Miracle Plays
Continued almost till the end of the century.
Declined because Protestants opposed them.
Moralities
Moralities evolved into:
Humanist moralities
Protestant moralities.

2. Humanist Moralities
Skelton’s Magnificence
Magnificence
Features
First secularized morality play.
Warns rulers against extravagance and bad counselors.

The Four Elements (1519)

The Four Elements
Importance
Humanist morality.
Teaches:
geography
science
cosmography.
Encourages knowledge and exploration.
Themes
Education
Rationalism
Patriotism.

Redford’s Wyt and Science

Wyt and Science
Themes
Knowledge as ideal.
Human Wit must struggle against:
ignorance
idleness
tediousness.
Significance
Reflects Renaissance passion for learning.
3. Reformation Drama
Sir David Lyndsay
Sir David Lyndsay
Satire of the Thrie Estaitis
Satire of the Thrie Estaitis
Features
Religious and political satire.
Criticizes:
clergy
nobles
corruption.
Strong Protestant tone.

John Bale
John Bale
King Jehan
King Jehan
Importance
Transitional play between morality and historical drama.
Mixes:
allegorical figures
historical characters.
Portrays King John as Protestant hero.

4. Heywood’s Interludes
John Heywood
Features
Comic interludes/farces.
Written mainly for amusement.
Influenced by French farce tradition.
Famous Interludes
The Four P’s
Play of the Weather
Johan Johan
Importance
Developed English comic dialogue and farce.

5. Classical Influence on Drama

Ralph Roister Doister
Ralph Roister Doister
Importance
First English classical comedy.
Inspired by Plautus.
Features
Five-act structure
Comic realism
Mixture of classical and English elements.

Gammer Gurton’s Needle

Gammer Gurton’s Needle
Features
Rustic comedy
Village realism
Broad humour.

6. Senecan Tragedy
Influence of Seneca
Seneca
Features Borrowed
Revenge themes
Violence and horror
Long speeches
Ghosts
Chorus.
Gorboduc (1562)
Gorboduc
Importance
First English tragedy.
First play in blank verse.
Themes
Civil war
Political disorder
Succession crisis.
Significance
Beginning of English tragic tradition.

7. Formation of National Drama

Important Plays:
Appius and Virginia
Damon and Pythias
Horestes
Cambyses
Promos and Cassandra
Features
Blend of:
tragedy
comedy
morality tradition
history.
Use of:
comic relief
violent action
mixed characters.

Importance of the Period (1520–1578)

Poetry
Italian Renaissance transformed English poetry.
Sonnet and blank verse introduced.
Foundation laid for:
Spenser
Sidney
Shakespeare.
Drama
Medieval drama evolved into Renaissance theatre.
Classical and native traditions merged.
Prepared way for:
Marlowe
Shakespeare
Elizabethan drama.
Continuation: Formation of English Drama (Cambyses to Elizabethan Theatre)
Cambyses — Importance and Features
Cambyses
Spectacle and Violence
Unlike earlier tragedies such as Gorboduc, Cambyses presents violence directly on stage.
Important Violent Scenes
Sisamnes is:
executed
beheaded
flayed alive.
Cambyses proves his sobriety by:
shooting Praxaspe’s son through the heart with an arrow.
Significance
English audiences increasingly preferred:
visible action
murder
horror
emotional excitement,
rather than merely hearing events described by messengers.
This tendency later became central to Elizabethan revenge tragedy.

Pathos in Cambyses
Emotional Scenes
The play also contains strong sentimental and pathetic scenes.
Example
The dying child laments movingly.
The mother mourns over her dead son.
Cambyses cruelly orders the child’s heart cut out.
Literary Importance
These scenes anticipate later emotional drama in:
William Shakespeare’s King John
Elizabethan tragic pathos generally.
Comparison Mentioned
The text compares the child’s suffering to:
Isaac in medieval mystery plays
Prince Arthur in Shakespeare’s King John.

Mixture of Horror and Pleasant Scenes

The playwright balances violence with lighter scenes.
Example
A peaceful garden scene appears after horrifying murders.
A lord and lady walk among flowers and discuss nature.
Importance
This mixture of:
tragedy
comedy
beauty
horror
became a permanent feature of English drama.
This blending later appears prominently in Shakespearean drama.

Weaknesses of Cambyses
Bombastic Style
The play became famous for exaggerated rhetoric.
Shakespeare’s Mockery
Shakespeare later mocked its inflated style through Falstaff:
“I will do it in King Cambyses’ vein.”

Stylistic Defects
The language contains:
absurd metaphors
awkward inversions
artificial diction.
Examples Mentioned
“christall eyes”
“velvet paps”
These expressions later appeared ridiculous.

Problem of Dramatic Metre

Major Difficulty
Early dramatists lacked:
a flexible dramatic verse form.
Existing Metres Were:
stiff
monotonous
unsuitable for natural dialogue.
Fourteen-Syllable Rhymed Lines
Used heavily in Cambyses:
too rigid
forced unnatural grammar and word order.
Development Toward Better Drama
Two Important Solutions
1. Blank Verse
Introduced earlier by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and used in Gorboduc.
2. Use of Prose
Used experimentally by George Gascoigne in Supposes.
These developments eventually gave English drama:
flexibility
realism
natural speech.

Decline of Morality-Play Elements

In Cambyses, traces of morality plays still remain:
allegorical names
symbolic figures like Ambidexter.
But these elements were gradually disappearing.
Transition
The national drama was moving from:
abstract morality allegory
to
realistic human characterization.

Richard Edwards and Dramatic Progress

Richard Edwards
Damon and Pythias
Damon and Pythias
Importance
Better constructed than Cambyses.
Eliminates allegorical abstractions.
Closer to true Elizabethan tragicomedy.
Features
Friendship theme
Dramatic movement
More natural characterization.

Whetstone and Shakespeare

George Whetstone
Promos and Cassandra (1578)
Promos and Cassandra
Importance
Source for Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.
Example of maturing English drama.
Significance
Shows the movement toward:
complex morality
mixed tragic and comic tones
psychological drama.

Overall Importance of the Period (1520–1578)

Why This Period Matters
Although no great masterpieces appeared yet, this era:
experimented boldly
combined many traditions
created foundations for Elizabethan theatre.

Major Influences Combined

Medieval Elements
Miracle plays
Moralities
Comic interludes.
Classical Influence
Seneca
Plautus
Terence.
Italian Influence
Renaissance comedy
tragic structure
prose drama.

Achievements of the Period

1. Creation of Professional Theatre
Acting companies formed.
Permanent theatres established.
2. Development of Blank Verse
Essential for later drama.
3. Growth of Historical Drama
From morality to chronicle history.
4. Mixing of Tragedy and Comedy
Became hallmark of English drama.
5. Rise of Complex Characters
Characters became:
passionate
contradictory
lifelike.

Transition to Elizabethan Drama

By 1578:
experimentation was nearly complete.
the foundations of national drama were laid.
The next generation—
Christopher Marlowe
William Shakespeare
Ben Jonson
would transform these experiments into the greatest age of English theatre.
Chapter IV – The Theatre from 1520 to 1578
1. Humanism in the Theatre
This period produced no masterpiece, but it prepared the way for the great Elizabethan drama.
English drama combined:
survival of the medieval tradition (miracle plays and moralities)
influence of the Renaissance and Reformation.
Miracle Plays
Continued almost till the end of the century.
Gradually declined because Protestants disliked them.
They no longer developed artistically but still remained popular.
Moralities
Continued to flourish and changed according to new ideas.
Two major tendencies emerged:
Humanist moralities
Protestant/Reformation moralities

2. Humanist Moralities
John Skelton – Magnificence (c.1516)
First important laicised morality.
Written to warn Henry VIII against extravagance.
Hero Magnificence is ruined by bad counsellors.
Saved by allegorical figures:
Good Hope
Circumspection
Perseverance.
Focus shifts from religious salvation to practical moral lessons.

The Four Elements (1519)

Early humanist morality influenced by:
geographical discoveries
spirit of scientific inquiry.
Influenced by Utopia and Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages.
Themes
Importance of:
geography
cosmography
science
knowledge.
Important Characters
Humanity
Studious Desire
Sensual Appetite
Ignorance.
Important Ideas
Knowledge leads to understanding of God through nature.
English nationalism appears:
regret that Englishmen did not discover America first.
Ignorance becomes comic clown figure.

John Redford – Wyt and Science

Pedagogic morality from late reign of Henry VIII.
Science is daughter of Reason.
Human Wit seeks knowledge but is distracted by:
Idleness
Ignorance.
Themes
Education
Rationalism
Intellectual discipline.
Reflects Renaissance hunger for learning.
Comic Element
Ignorance learning alphabet from Idleness.
Satire on old teaching methods.

3. The Reformation on the Stage

Sir David Lyndsay – Satire of the Thrie Estaitis (1540)
Performed at Linlithgow before the Scottish king and people.
Mixture of:
political satire
religious criticism.
“Three Estates”
Nobility
Clergy
Merchants.
Themes
Corruption in Church and society.
Social injustice.
Protestant criticism of Catholic clergy.
Important Features
Character John the Common Weal represents common people.
Violent attack on clergy.
Comic scenes expose:
indulgence sellers
greedy priests
church corruption.

John Bale
Major Protestant dramatist.
Used drama for Protestant propaganda.
King Jehan
Reinterprets King John as a Protestant hero.
Mixture of:
history
morality play.
Importance
Transitional play between:
morality play
historical drama.
Influenced Shakespeare’s King John.

4. John Heywood and the Interludes

John Heywood
Wrote comic interludes under Henry VIII.
Catholic writer and friend of Thomas More.
Main aim: entertainment, not moral teaching.
Features of Interludes
Short comic dialogues.
Influenced by French farce.
Little or no plot.
Realistic humour.
Important Interludes
The Four P’s
Play of the Weather
Witty and Witless
Love.
Significance
Developed comic realism.
Helped growth of secular drama.

5. Calisto and Melibea

Adaptation of Spanish La Celestina.
English version printed in 1530.
Original tragic ending changed into moral happy ending.
Shows English tendency toward moral instruction.

6. Progress of the Theatre after 1550

Rise of Professional Theatre
Professional acting companies developed.
Actors initially treated as vagabonds.
Noble patronage became necessary.
Important Development
Leicester's Men received royal licence in 1574.
First Theatre
Built in Shoreditch in 1576 outside London city limits.
Boy Companies
Choir boys of Chapel Royal and schools acted plays.
Competed with adult actors.

7. Classical Influence – Comedy

Nicholas Udall – Ralph Roister Doister
First English classical comedy.
Influenced by Plautus.
Features
Five-act structure.
Braggart hero.
Comic servant Merrygreek.
Realistic English domestic scenes.
Importance
First regular English comedy.

Gammer Gurton’s Needle

Rustic farce written at Cambridge.
Story of lost needle.
Strong comic realism.
Famous drinking song:
“Back and side go bare.”
Importance
One of earliest English farces.
Purely English in setting and humour.

8. Classical Influence – Tragedy

Influence of Seneca
Elizabethan tragedy borrowed from Seneca:
revenge themes
violence
ghosts
rhetorical speeches
choruses
sensational crimes.
This influence later appears in:
Titus Andronicus
The Duchess of Malfi.

Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton – Gorboduc (1562)

Importance
First English tragedy in blank verse.
Based on British legendary history.
Themes
Civil war
Uncertain succession
Political disorder.
Features
Senecan influence:
choruses
messenger speeches
rhetorical style.
Also influenced by morality plays.
Historical Importance
Prepared way for Elizabethan tragedy and revenge drama.

9. Other Dramatic Influences

“Prodigal Son” Plays
Influenced by Dutch humanist drama:
Misogonus
Nice Wanton
George Gascoigne’s Glass of Government.
Themes:
education
discipline
morality.

Italian Influence
George Gascoigne
The Supposes → from Ariosto.
Jocasta → adaptation from Euripides through Italian version.
The Bugbears
Adapted from Italian comedy.
Shows increasing Italian dramatic influence.

10. Formation of National Drama

Important transitional plays:
Appius and Virginia
Damon and Pythias
Horestes
Gismond of Salerno
Cambyses
Promos and Cassandra.
These combine:
morality traditions
history
comedy
tragedy.

11. Cambyses – Transitional Drama

Thomas Preston – Cambyses (1569)
Features
Mixture of:
tragedy
comedy
morality elements.
Historical and allegorical characters together.
Graphic violence shown directly on stage.
Important Characteristics
Spectacular murders.
Strong pathos.
Comic interludes.
Blend of high tragedy and low humour.
Significance
Anticipates Shakespearean drama.
Contains early complex villain figures.
Shows movement toward full national drama.

12. Final Development before Shakespeare

Richard Edwards – Damon and Pythias
Better structured tragicomedy.
Eliminates allegorical abstractions.
George Whetstone – Promos and Cassandra (1578)
Source for Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

BOOK IV – The Flowering of the Renaissance (1578–1625)

General Characteristics of the Great Period
1. Importance of Translations
Role of Translation
English literature developed through massive translations from:
Greek
Latin
Italian
French
Spanish.
Major Translators
Philemon Holland
Thomas North
John Florio
George Chapman.
Important Works Translated
Plutarch's Lives
Essays
Iliad.
Chapman’s Homer
Powerful Elizabethan version of Homer.
Inspired later poets like John Keats.

2. Italian Influence (Italianism)

Italy became the major cultural influence on England.
Important Italian Influences
The Book of the Courtier
Italian novelle:
Boccaccio
Bandello
Cinthio.
Influence on English Literature
Drama
Romance
Courtly manners
Love poetry.
Negative View
Some Protestants attacked Italian influence:
associated Italy with:
corruption
atheism
immorality
Machiavellian politics.
Important Critic
Roger Ascham criticized Italian corruption in The Scholemaster.

3. Patriotic Exaltation
Growth of National Pride
England developed:
imperial ambition
maritime confidence
national consciousness.
Important Historical Background
voyages of Francis Drake
defeat of Spanish Armada (1588).
Literature and Patriotism
Writers glorified:
England
Protestantism
national destiny.

4. High Conception of Poetry

Poetry was regarded as divine and noble.
Philip Sidney – Apologie for Poetrie
Defends poetry against Puritan attacks.
Calls poet:
prophet
creator
teacher.
Edmund Spenser
Poetry seen as:
divine inspiration
heavenly enthusiasm.
Elizabethan View
True poet possesses:
inspiration
imagination
“fine frenzy.”

5. Spirit of Independence
Characteristics
Freedom in:
language
grammar
versification.
Writers constantly invented new expressions.
Dramatic Verse
Flexible blank verse evolved gradually.
Reached perfection later in:
Christopher Marlowe
William Shakespeare.

Important One-Line Points for Exams

Magnificence is the first laicised morality play.
The Four Elements reflects Renaissance scientific curiosity.
Satire of the Thrie Estaitis attacks church corruption.
John Bale’s King Jehan is a bridge between morality and history play.
John Heywood popularised comic interludes.
Ralph Roister Doister is the first English comedy.
Gorboduc is the first English tragedy in blank verse.
Seneca strongly influenced Elizabethan tragedy.
Cambyses anticipates Shakespearean tragicomedy.
Italian novelle became major sources for Elizabethan drama.
Sidney’s Apologie for Poetrie is the great defence of poetry.
Continuation — General Characteristics of the Great Period
5. Spirit of Independence and Freedom in Poetry
Elizabethan poetry and drama were marked by extraordinary freedom.
There were:
no rigid grammatical rules,
no fixed prosody,
no strict poetic laws.
This freedom gave English literature:
vitality,
flexibility,
originality.

Freedom in Grammar and Language

Characteristics
Parts of speech were used freely.
Nouns became verbs.
Adjectives became nouns.
Adverbs became verbs or adjectives.
This flexibility enriched English expression.
Importance
Writers could create fresh and energetic language.
The language remained natural and dramatic rather than mechanical.
This freedom later helped:
William Shakespeare
Christopher Marlowe
Ben Jonson
to develop powerful dramatic dialogue.

Freedom in Prosody and Metre

Elizabethan verse was not rigidly fixed.
Features
Words could expand or contract according to rhythm.
Pronunciation varied with dramatic need.
Accent and syllable count were flexible.
This made dramatic verse:
natural,
emotional,
musical.

Blank Verse
The most important metre became:
Blank Verse=Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter\text{Blank Verse} = \text{Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter}Blank
Verse=Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter
Importance
Allowed flexibility and dramatic movement.
Became perfect instrument for tragedy and drama.
Different Styles
The blank verse of:
Edmund Spenser
John Donne
Christopher Marlowe
John Fletcher
Philip Massinger
William Shakespeare
all differed greatly.
Shakespeare’s Development
Early plays → regular and rhetorical blank verse.
Later plays → freer, subtler, more conversational rhythms.
Scholars even use metre to determine chronology of Shakespeare’s plays.

Freedom in Rhyming Patterns

The Couplet
The heroic couplet already existed but:
pauses varied,
lines flowed into one another,
rhythm remained flexible.
Unlike later Neo-classical poetry:
lines were not rigidly self-contained.
This preserved movement and naturalness.

Masculine and Feminine Rhymes

Elizabethan poets knew French poetic rules from the La Pléiade.
In France
Poets strictly alternated:
masculine rhymes
feminine rhymes.
In England
No rigid rule was imposed.
Poets used feminine rhymes:
freely,
artistically,
for sweetness and melody.
Importance
English poetry remained:
flexible,
musical,
imaginative,
rather than mechanical.

Overall Characteristics of Elizabethan Poetry

The poetry of the period is marked by:
freedom,
experimentation,
musical richness,
imaginative energy,
emotional spontaneity.
Unlike later classical poetry, Elizabethan poetry:
rejected strict rules,
encouraged individuality,
valued inspiration above discipline.

Important Exam Points

Elizabethan grammar and syntax were highly flexible.
Blank verse became the chief medium of drama.
Shakespeare perfected flexible dramatic blank verse.
Elizabethan poetry rejected rigid French-style poetic rules.
Feminine rhymes were used freely for melody and softness.
Freedom and experimentation are major features of Renaissance poetry in England.

The Flowering of the Renaissance (1578–1625) — Key Points

1. Translations and Their Influence
Elizabethan literature grew through a vast number of translations from Greek, Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish
works.
By the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, most major classical and modern European works were available in English.
Important translators:
Thomas North — translated Plutarch’s Lives from Amyot’s French version.
Philemon Holland — translated Livy, Pliny, Suetonius, and Plutarch.
John Florio — translated Montaigne’s Essays (1603).
George Chapman — produced the famous translation of Homer’s Iliad.
Important translated authors:
Plutarch
Montaigne
Homer
Ovid
Du Bartas
Missing translations:
Plato was mostly neglected.
Greek tragedians like Aeschylus and Sophocles were not translated.
François Rabelais and Niccolò Machiavelli were influential though not translated early.
2. Italian Influence (Italianism)
Italian culture strongly shaped Elizabethan literature.
England borrowed:
courtly ideals,
romance,
drama,
novelle (short stories),
Renaissance artistic culture.
Major influences:
Boccaccio
Bandello
Castiglione
Important translated works:
The Courtier translated by Thomas Hoby
Spanish romances like Amadis and Palmerin translated by Anthony Munday
Reaction against Italy:
Protestants and Puritans saw Italy as corrupt and immoral.
Roger Ascham criticized Italian influence in The Scholemaster.

Patriotic Exaltation
Literature reflected national pride and imperial ambition.
England celebrated:
Protestantism,
maritime exploration,
military victories,
national destiny.
The defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) strengthened confidence.
Writers believed England could surpass classical and continental literature.
Important Explorers and Writers
Francis Drake — circumnavigated the globe.
Richard Hakluyt — wrote The Principall Navigations.
Samuel Purchas — continued Hakluyt’s work.

High Conception of Poetry

Poetry was regarded as divine inspiration.
The poet was considered:
prophet,
creator,
inspired genius.
Philip Sidney in Apologie for Poetrie:
defended poetry against Puritan attacks,
called the poet “monarch” among sciences.
Edmund Spenser emphasized poetic inspiration and enthusiasm.
The age valued:
imagination,
beauty,
emotional intensity,
artistic experimentation.

Spirit of Independence
Elizabethan writers rejected rigid classical rules.
Language and grammar remained flexible.
Writers freely changed:
parts of speech,
syntax,
pronunciation,
metre.
Dramatic blank verse evolved rapidly.
English poetry avoided strict French poetic regulations like fixed rhyme alternation.

The Pioneers: Lyly, Sidney, and Spenser

1. John Lyly
Important Works
Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578)
Euphues and His England (1580)
Contributions
Created “Euphuism”:
highly artificial prose style,
balanced sentences,
antithesis,
alliteration,
elaborate comparisons.
First English prose stylist consciously aiming at artistic prose.
Influenced courtly literature for many years.
Features of Euphuism
Symmetrical sentence structure.
Decorative imagery from:
mythology,
natural history,
bestiaries.
Ornamental rather than realistic prose.

2. Philip Sidney
Major Works
Arcadia
Astrophel and Stella
Apologie for Poetrie
Significance
Ideal Renaissance courtier:
soldier,
scholar,
diplomat,
poet.
Combined chivalry with humanist culture.
Arcadia
Pastoral romance mixing:
shepherd life,
chivalry,
adventure,
love stories.
Richly decorative poetic prose.
Introduced:
psychological analysis,
picturesque description,
artistic imagery.
Astrophel and Stella
First great English sonnet sequence.
Inspired by love for Penelope Devereux.
Themes:
love versus duty,
desire,
melancholy,
emotional conflict.
Helped revive the sonnet in England.
Apologie for Poetrie
Defence of poetry against Puritan criticism.
Declared poetry superior to history and philosophy.

3. Edmund Spenser
Important Works
The Shepheardes Calendar (1579)
The Faerie Queene
Amoretti
Epithalamion
Four Hymns
Contributions
First major poet of the Elizabethan Renaissance.
Revived English poetry with musical and artistic verse.
Revered Geoffrey Chaucer as his master.
The Shepheardes Calendar
Series of twelve eclogues representing months of the year.
Combined:
pastoral tradition,
nationalism,
archaism,
metrical experimentation.
Famous for:
rich musicality,
varied stanza forms,
artistic craftsmanship.
Spenser’s Importance
Great innovator in:
rhythm,
stanza form,
poetic diction.
Helped establish confidence in English poetry.

Important Exam Points

Important Dates
1578 — Euphues
1579 — The Shepheardes Calendar
1580 — Arcadia written
1590 — First part of The Faerie Queene
1591 — Astrophel and Stella published
Important Literary Features of the Age
Translation movement
Italian influence
Patriotism
Humanism
Poetic experimentation
Flexible language and metre
Rise of artistic prose
Development of sonnet and pastoral poetry
Important Terms
Euphuism
Humanism
Italianism
Pastoral Romance
Sonnet Sequence
Blank Verse
Renaissance Individualism
The Pioneers of the English Renaissance: Lyly, Sidney and Spenser
This chapter presents the three major literary pioneers who prepared the flowering of English Renaissance literature
around 1578:
John Lyly
Sir Philip Sidney
Edmund Spenser
They introduced artistic prose, refined poetry, musical versification, romantic imagination, and Renaissance ideals
into English literature.

1. John Lyly (1554–1606)

Importance
First English prose stylist who consciously aimed at artistic expression.
Creator of Euphuism — an ornate, balanced, highly decorative prose style.
Influenced courtly speech and literature for many years.

Major Works
Euphues (1578)
Full title: Euphues, or the Anatomy of Wit
Euphues and His England (1580)

Story of Euphues
Euphues = a gifted young Athenian.
Travels to Naples (symbolic of London society).
Falls into immoral pleasures and disloyal love.
Eventually reforms and returns to Athens to pursue wisdom.
Themes:
Morality
Education
Religion
Court life
Dangers of sensuality

Features of Euphuism
1. Balanced Sentences
Antithesis
Parallel structure
Symmetry
Example:
Carefully balanced clauses and repeated patterns.
2. Alliteration
Frequent sound repetition.
3. Decorative Imagery
Lyly borrowed:
Mythology
Natural history
Bestiaries
Fabulous animals and plants
4. Artificial Style
Ornament valued more than realism.
Style often more important than content.

Significance
First fashionable artistic prose in English.
Influenced Elizabethan court culture.
Helped shape later prose dialogue and dramatic wit.

2. Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)

Importance
Ideal Renaissance gentleman:
Courtier
Soldier
Scholar
Poet
Combined chivalry with humanist learning.
Great influence on poetry, criticism, and prose romance.

Sidney’s Major Works

1. Arcadia
Nature of the Work
Pastoral romance mixed with chivalry.
Set in idealized Arcadia.
Combines:
adventure
disguise
love
war
moral reflection
Important Characters
Musidorus
Pyrocles
Pamela
Philoclea
Amphialus
Cecropia
Features of Arcadia
1. Poetic Prose
Highly ornate and imaginative.
2. Picturesque Descriptions
Strong visual and artistic imagery.
Influence of Italian Renaissance painting.
3. Psychological Insight
Analysis of emotions and gestures.
More realistic characterization than earlier romances.
4. Preciosity
Refined, elaborate metaphors.
Emotional subtlety.

2. Astrophel and Stella

Importance
First great English sonnet sequence.
Inspired later sonneteers including:
Edmund Spenser
William Shakespeare
Theme
Love of Astrophel for Stella.
Features
Personal emotion
Petrarchan influence
Conflict between:
desire
virtue
duty
Famous Advice
“Look into thy heart and write.”

3. An Apology for Poetry

Importance
First major work of English literary criticism.
Main Ideas
Poetry is superior to history and philosophy.
Poet = prophet and creator.
Poetry teaches virtue through delight.
Key idea:
Poet combines imagination and moral instruction.

3. Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)

Importance
Greatest non-dramatic poet of the Elizabethan age.
Called:
“Poet’s poet”
Combined:
medievalism
Renaissance beauty
nationalism
moral allegory

Major Works of Spenser

1. The Shepheardes Calender (1579)
Importance
Beginning of the English Renaissance flowering.
Established Spenser as national poet.
Structure
12 eclogues
One for each month.
Themes
Love
Poetry
Religion
Social criticism

Features
1. Archaism
Deliberate use of Chaucerian old words.
2. Musical Versification
Great variety of stanza forms and rhythms.
3. Artistic Consciousness
Spenser openly discusses poetic craftsmanship.
4. Pastoral Tradition
Influenced by:
Virgil
Theocritus
Mantuan
Marot

2. The Faerie Queene

Importance
Spenser’s masterpiece.
National epic of the English Renaissance.

Nature of the Poem

Allegorical Epic
Each knight represents a virtue:
Holiness
Temperance
Chastity
Justice
etc.
Main Figure
Prince Arthur = Magnificence / ideal virtue.
Political Allegory
Fairy Queen represents Queen Elizabeth I.

Major Qualities
1. Magnificent Imagery
Rich visual pageantry.
Color, music, and ornament.
2. Romantic Adventure
Dragons
Castles
Magic
Knights
Beautiful heroines
3. Sensuous Beauty
Lavish descriptions.
4. Moral Purpose
Intended to “fashion a gentleman.”

Famous Characters
Redcrosse Knight
Britomart
Belphoebe
Amoret
Una

3. Amoretti
Theme
Courtship of Elizabeth Boyle.
Features
Pure and ideal love.
Harmony and serenity.
Distinctive Spenserian sonnet form.
4. Epithalamion
Importance
Greatest marriage ode in English.
Subject
Celebration of Spenser’s wedding day.
Features
Musical structure
Classical imagery
Joyous tone
Rich sensuous detail

Spenser’s Philosophy
Influenced by:
Plato
Neo-Platonism
Renaissance idealism
Main belief:
Physical beauty reflects divine beauty.

General Importance of Lyly, Sidney and Spenser

Together they:
refined English prose and poetry,
enriched literary style,
introduced Renaissance artistic ideals,
strengthened national literary confidence,
prepared the way for:
Christopher Marlowe
William Shakespeare
the great Elizabethan dramatists.

Important One-Line Points for Exams

Lyly introduced Euphuism.
Sidney wrote the first great English sonnet sequence.
Sidney’s Apology for Poetry is the first major English literary criticism.
Spenser is called the “Poet’s Poet.”
The Shepheardes Calender inaugurated the English Renaissance flowering.
The Faerie Queene is an allegorical epic celebrating virtue and Elizabethan nationalism.
Epithalamion is the finest marriage ode in English literature.
Major Points from The Pioneers: Lyly, Sidney and Spenser
1. General Features of the Period
Around 1578, English literature entered a new artistic phase dedicated to beauty and style.
The distinction between prose and poetry became blurred because prose romances like Euphues and Arcadia
were highly poetic.
Drama alone required separate treatment.
The chief pioneers:
John Lyly
Sir Philip Sidney
Edmund Spenser

JOHN LYLY
Importance
First English prose writer to use a deliberately artistic style.
Founder of Euphuism.
His style dominated Elizabethan court literature for many years.
Major Works
Euphues, or the Anatomy of Wit (1578)
Euphues and his England (1580)

Euphues, or the Anatomy of Wit

Story
Hero: Euphues, a gifted young Athenian.
Travels to Naples (symbolic of London society).
Falls into immoral living and betrays friendship.
Finally returns to Athens and moral wisdom.
Themes
Morality
Education
Religion
Distrust of corrupt society
Features
Mixture of story and moral sermons.
Great popularity: four editions in eighteen months.

Euphues and his England

Features
Praises England, Elizabeth, universities, and English women.
More patriotic and flattering than the first book.
Contains realistic pictures of London society.
Important Character
Lady Flavia — witty older woman helping young lovers.

Euphuism
Characteristics
Balanced and symmetrical sentences.
Heavy use of:
Antithesis
Alliteration
Parallelism
Decorative comparisons from:
Mythology
History
Bestiaries and medieval natural lore.
Importance
Introduced conscious artistry into English prose.
Later “euphuism” became synonymous with artificial or affected language.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY

Importance
Ideal Renaissance gentleman:
Courtier
Soldier
Diplomat
Scholar
Poet
Combined medieval chivalry with Renaissance learning.
Major Works
Arcadia
Astrophel and Stella
Apologie for Poetrie

Arcadia
Nature of the Work
Pastoral + chivalric romance.
Inspired by Spanish and Italian romances.
Plot Elements
Princes:
Musidorus
Pyrocles
Princesses:
Pamela
Philoclea
Features
Disguises
Romantic adventures
Wars
Moral conflicts

Literary Importance
Contributions
Developed:
Character study
Psychological analysis
Descriptive prose
Style
Highly ornate and imaginative.
Full of:
Metaphors
Conceits
Pathetic fallacy
Decorative imagery
Artistic Quality
Influenced by Italian painting and Renaissance art.
Strong sense of:
Colour
Line
Light and shade

Astrophel and Stella

Importance
First great English sonnet sequence.
Inspired later sonneteers including Shakespeare.
Theme
Sidney’s love for Penelope Devereux (Lady Rich).
Main Features
Conflict between:
Passion and duty
Desire and virtue
Intense emotional sincerity.
Chivalric tone.
Famous Advice
“Look into thy heart and write.”

Style of the Sonnets

Rich imagery
Condensed thought
Emotional intensity
Blend of Petrarchan influence and personal feeling

Apologie for Poetrie

Importance
First major work of English literary criticism.
Defence of poetry as morally uplifting and imaginative.

EDMUND SPENSER
Importance
Greatest non-dramatic poet of the Elizabethan age.
National poet before Shakespeare’s rise.
Major Works
The Shepheardes Calender
The Faerie Queene
Amoretti
Epithalamion
Prothalamion
Mother Hubberds Tale
Complaints
Colin Clouts Come Home Againe

The Shepheardes Calender (1579)

Importance
Beginning of great Elizabethan poetry.
Made Spenser the national poet.
Features
Twelve eclogues corresponding to twelve months.
Mixture of:
Love
Religion
Poetry
Social criticism
Style
Archaism influenced by Chaucer.
Great metrical variety.
Musical language.
Themes
Love for Rosalind.
Complaint against neglect of poets.
Criticism of corrupt clergy.

Spenser’s Philosophy
Platonic Beauty
Influenced by Plato and Marsilio Ficino.
Earthly beauty reflects divine beauty.
Key Idea
Beauty + Virtue are connected.

Mother Hubberds Tale

Nature
Satirical beast fable.
Themes
Corruption at court
Political intrigue
Decline of chivalry
Neglect of poets

Complaints
Mood
Pessimistic and mournful.
Important Poems
Ruines of Time
Teares of the Muses
Muiopotmos
Themes
Decline of learning
Corruption
Vanity of worldly things

Colin Clouts Come Home Againe

Importance
Most autobiographical work.
Describes:
London court life
Corruption
Disillusionment
Important Figure
“Shepherd of the Ocean” = Sir Walter Raleigh

Amoretti
Nature
Sonnet sequence addressed to Elizabeth Boyle.
Importance
Pure and moral love unlike many Petrarchan sequences.
Features
Chastity
Harmony
Gentle emotional tone

Epithalamion
Importance
Greatest marriage ode in English.
Celebrates Spenser’s wedding day.
Features
Rich imagery
Musical structure
Joyful realism
Classical allusions
Critical View
Called the lyrical triumph of the English Renaissance.

The Faerie Queene

Importance
Spenser’s masterpiece.
One of the greatest epic allegories in English literature.

Aim
“To fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous discipline.”

Nature of the Poem

Combination of:
Allegory
Romance
Epic
Moral instruction
Pageantry

Main Features
1. Allegory
Characters represent virtues:
Redcross Knight → Holiness
Artegall → Justice
Britomart → Chastity

2. Romance Element
Chivalric adventures
Enchantment
Fairy world
Heroic quests

3. Pictorial Quality
Spenser described as:
“A painter in verse.”
Features
Rich colour imagery
Detailed descriptions
Chiaroscuro effects
Spectacle and pageantry

Britomart
Importance
Strongest female character.
Warrior maiden and passionate lover.

Spenserian Stanza
ababbcbccababbcbccababbcbcc
Features
9 lines:
8 iambic pentameter lines
Final alexandrine
Musical and majestic movement.

Overall Significance of Spenser

United:
Music
Painting
Allegory
Romance
Created the dreamlike world of Elizabethan imagination.

Other Court Poets

Sir Walter Raleigh
Features
Courtier, explorer, prose writer, poet.
Important poems:
The Lie
The Pilgrimage
Also wrote:
The History of the World

Edward de Vere
Features
Court poet.
Italianate nobleman.
Graceful lyrical verse.

Fulke Greville
Features
Friend and biographer of Sidney.
Philosophical and reflective poet.
Important work:
Life of Sidney
The passage explains the richness and diversity of late Elizabethan poetry (1590–1603), especially under the
influence of three major pioneers: John Lyly, Sir Philip Sidney, and Edmund Spenser.
Main Literary Background (1590–1603)
Almost all non-dramatic Elizabethan literature was influenced by:
Lyly’s Euphues
Sidney’s Arcadia and Astrophel and Stella
Spenser’s Faerie Queene
Around 1590:
Sidney’s sonnets and Arcadia appeared.
Spenser published the first books of The Faerie Queene.
This created a great literary movement:
sonnets flourished,
pastorals became popular,
poets experimented with lyrical genres.
Though drama became dominant, many dramatists also wrote poetry.

Samuel Daniel (1562–1619)

Samuel Daniel
Important Features
Quiet, sober, classical poet.
Unlike many passionate Elizabethans, he:
preferred reflection to emotion,
valued clarity and restraint,
brought prose-like purity into verse.
Important Works
Tragedies
Cleopatra (1594)
Philotas (1611)
Masques
The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses (1604)
The Queen’s Arcadia
Hymen’s Triumph
Other Important Poems
Complaint of Rosamond (1592)
Letter from Octavia to Antony
Musophilus (1599)
Civil Wars (1595–1609)
Delia (sonnets)

Musophilus
A didactic dialogue:
Musophilus defends literature and poetry.
Philocosmus supports active worldly life.
Main Ideas
Literature improves morality.
Poetry civilizes nations.
English literature can become world-famous.
Daniel believed England could surpass Italy in literature.

Civil Wars
Historical poem about:
Wars between Lancaster and York.
Covers Richard II to Edward IV.
Characteristics
Calm, dignified narration.
Historically accurate.
Less imaginative than Shakespeare.
Famous line:
“I versify the truth, not poetize.”
Weakness
Too historical and not poetic enough.

Critical Opinions
Praised by:
Spenser → admired his harmony.
Wordsworth & Coleridge → admired his purity.
Criticized by:
Ben Jonson:

“a good honest man, but no poet.”

Drayton:

“too much historian in verse.”

Michael Drayton (1563–1631)

Michael Drayton
Characteristics
Opposite of Daniel.
Energetic, imaginative, colourful.
Strong rhythm and patriotic feeling.
Less disciplined and less polished.
Early Influence
Inspired by:
Virgil,
Mantuan,
folk songs,
Spenser.

Important Works
Pastoral & Sonnets
Idea, the Shepherd’s Garland (1593)
Ideas Mirrour (1594)
Historical Poems
Mortimeriados → later revised as The Barons’ War (1603)
Other Works
Heroical Epistles (1597)
The Owl (1604)
The Man in the Moon (1605)
Polyolbion (1613, 1622)
Nymphidia
Quest of Cynthia
Muses Elizium

Nymphidia
One of Drayton’s best-known short poems.
Features
Comic fairy fantasy.
Deals with:
Oberon,
Queen Mab,
Pigwiggen.
Influences
Chaucer’s Sir Thopas
Rabelais
Spenser
Shakespeare’s fairy world in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Style
Humorous,
grotesque,
playful mock-epic.

Heroical Epistles
Inspired by:
Ovid’s Heroides.
Contains letters between famous English historical lovers:
Rosamond & Henry II,
Queen Isabella & Mortimer,
Surrey & Geraldine, etc.
Importance
Combines:
history,
psychology,
romance.

Polyolbion
Drayton’s greatest but most difficult work.
Nature of the Work
Huge topographical poem.
About England’s geography, rivers, hills, counties, legends.
Characteristics
Patriotism dominates.
Rivers and hills are personified.
Mixture of:
geography,
mythology,
history,
local legends.
Weaknesses
Extremely long and monotonous.
Artificial personification.
Importance
Unique patriotic celebration of England.

Elizabethan Collections of Poetry

Important anthologies:
Paradyse of Dainty Devises (1576)
A Gorgious Gallery of Gallant Inventions (1578)
A Handefull of Pleasant Delites (1584)
The Phenix Nest (1593)
The Passionate Pilgrim (1599)
England’s Helicon (1600)
England’s Parnassus (1600)
Belvedere (1600)
Poetical Rapsody (1602)
These collections mixed:
famous poets,
unknown writers,
excellent lyrics,
mediocre verses.

Elizabethan Songs and Lyrics

Importance
The song became one of the greatest achievements of Elizabethan literature.
Features
Musical,
lyrical,
emotional,
graceful,
influenced by both folk tradition and Renaissance art.
Themes
Love,
religion,
fantasy,
humour,
pastoral life.
Musical Culture
Songs were sung:
in courts,
homes,
theatres,
roadsides.
Accompanied by:
virginals,
guitar,
flute,
viola da gamba.

Sidney and Spenser as Song Writers

Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney
Wrote emotional songs in:
Astrophel and Stella
Arcadia
Famous:
“Ring out your bells!”
Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Songs in:
Shepheardes Calendar
Epithalamion
More elevated and artistic.

Marlowe’s Famous Song

Christopher Marlowe
The famous pastoral lyric:
“Come live with me and be my love”
became one of the most celebrated songs of the age.
It later received a reply poem from Sir Walter Raleigh.
Key Points — Poetry from 1590 to 1625
1. General Features of Elizabethan Poetry (1590–1603)
Literature after 1590 was strongly influenced by:
John Lyly
Philip Sidney
Edmund Spenser
Popular literary forms:
Pastorals
Sonnets
Romances
Songs
Important publications that inspired literary activity:
Astrophel and Stella
Arcadia
The Faerie Queene
Writers often combined drama with lyric poetry.

Samuel Daniel (1562–1619)

Samuel Daniel
Important Characteristics
Calm, sober, reflective poet
Classical and restrained style
More moralist and historian than passionate poet
Preferred serenity over emotional intensity
Known for purity and clarity of language
Major Works
Historical & Political
The Civil Wars
About Wars of the Roses
Historical narrative in verse
Patriotic theme
Dramatic Works
Cleopatra
Philotas
Masques & Pastoral
The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses
The Queen’s Arcadia
Hymen’s Triumph
Love & Reflective Poems
Delia
Complaint of Rosamond
Musophilus
Defence of literature
Praises English language and poetry
Critical Opinion
Praised for:
Purity of diction
Smooth style
Philosophic calmness
Criticized for:
Lack of passion
Too historical and prose-like

Michael Drayton (1563–1631)

Michael Drayton
Characteristics
Patriotic poet
Energetic and imaginative
Vigorous but uneven style
Rich in rhythm and colour
Less controlled than Daniel
Major Works
Pastoral & Sonnets
Idea: The Shepherd’s Garland
Idea
Historical Poetry
The Barons’ Wars
About Edward II and Mortimer
Epistles
Heroical Epistles
Modeled on Ovid’s Heroides
Historical lovers exchange letters
Satire
The Owl
The Man in the Moon
Major Patriotic Work
Poly-Olbion
Describes rivers, hills, counties of England
Mixes geography, mythology, legend, history
Fairy Fantasy
Nymphidia
Comic fairy epic
Features Oberon and Queen Mab
Important Features of Drayton
Strong nationalism
Rich imagination
Use of mythology and local legends
Great rhythmic power
Weak structure and syntax

Elizabethan Songs & Lyric Poetry

General Features
Songs became extremely popular
Sung in:
Courts
Roads
Taverns
Plays
Romances
Common Themes
Love
Nature
Fantasy
Religion
Drinking
Melancholy
Important Song Collections
William Byrd
Psalms, Sonnets and Songs
Nicholas Yonge
Musica Transalpina
Strong Italian influence
John Dowland
Books of Songs or Airs
Thomas Campion
Four Books of Airs
Best lyrical craftsmanship among song writers

Songs in Drama
Shakespeare’s Songs
William Shakespeare
Important Songs Mentioned
“When daisies pied”
“Sigh no more, ladies”
“Full fathom five”
“Take, O take those lips away”
“When that I was and a little tiny boy”
Features
Natural imagery
Musical rhythm
Dramatic appropriateness
Variety of mood:
Comic
Melancholic
Fantastic
Rustic

The Sonneteers
Sonnet Fashion (1591–1597)
Began after publication of:
Astrophel and Stella
Characteristics
Influence of:
Petrarch
French and Italian sonneteers
Themes:
Love
Beauty
Suffering
Idealism

Important Sonneteers
Samuel Daniel
Delia
Pure style and calm tone
Michael Drayton
Idea
Energetic and dramatic
Greatest Sonneteers
Philip Sidney
Astrophel and Stella
Edmund Spenser
Amoretti
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Shakespeare’s Sonnets — Main Ideas
Love for a beautiful young man
Relationship with a dark lady
Themes:
Betrayal
Beauty
Time
Jealousy
Immortality through poetry
Importance
Finest Elizabethan sonnets
Extraordinary musical beauty
Deep emotional intensity

Erotic Italianism & Sensuous Poetry

Main Features
Strong Italian influence
Sensuality and erotic imagery
Mythological subjects

Christopher Marlowe — Hero and Leander

Christopher Marlowe
Major Work
Hero and Leander
Characteristics
Based on Greek legend
Sensuous and luxurious imagery
Mixture of:
Passion
Satire
Irony
Rich poetic language
Influenced by Ovid and Italian Renaissance style

Shakespeare’s Narrative Poems

Venus and Adonis
Features
Erotic mythological poem
Rich imagery
Realistic emotion
Sensuous style
The Rape of Lucrece
Features
Tragic and moral theme
Psychological intensity
Elaborate rhetoric
Rich descriptive passages

Important Overall Features of Elizabethan Poetry

Rich imagination
Musical language
Influence of Italy and classical literature
Patriotism
Love of beauty and song
Combination of realism and fantasy
Great experimentation in poetic forms
Prose and Reflective Poets
Robert Southwell (1561–1595)
Catholic poet influenced by Italian religious poetry.
Combined religious devotion with Elizabethan conceits and imagery.
Executed at Tyburn after torture for his Jesuit activities.
Important works:
St. Peter’s Complaint
Maonia
The Burning Babe
Meditations on the “Four Last Things.”
Themes:
Religious passion
Mysticism
Suffering and divine love
Important because:
One of the earliest major religious poets of the age.
Anticipates later metaphysical and devotional poets like Richard Crashaw.

Guillaume du Bartas
Protestant religious poet immensely admired in England.
Major works:
La Semaine
Seconde Semaine
Themes:
Biblical creation
Sacred epic poetry
Influence:
Inspired English Protestant religious poetry.
Influenced John Milton.
Showed that Biblical subjects could become epic poetry.

Joshua Sylvester
Chief English translator of du Bartas.
Published translations between 1590–1606.
Helped popularize sacred Protestant poetry in England.

Philosophical / Reflective Poets

Sir John Davies (1569–1626)
Lawyer, statesman, and philosophical poet.
Important works:
Orchestra (1596)
Philosophical poem on dancing as cosmic harmony.
Nosce Teipsum (1599)
On immortality of the soul.
Features:
Logical and reflective poetry.
Combines philosophy with imagination.
Serious intellectual verse unusual for the age.

John Davies of Hereford

Didactic and theological writer.
Important works:
Mirum in Modum
Microcosmos
Themes:
Theology
Physiology
Morality
Human nature
Known more for moral purpose than poetic excellence.

Satire in the Elizabethan Age

Joseph Hall (1574–1656)
Claimed himself as the “first English satirist.”
Influenced by Horace, Persius, and Juvenal.
Important work:
Virgidemiarum
Satirized:
Fashion
Court life
Sonneteers
Drama
Social hypocrisy
Criticized:
Bombastic drama of Christopher Marlowe.
Features:
Concrete observation
Lucidity
Moral confidence

John Marston (1575–1634)

Bitter, cynical satirist.
Important works:
The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image
The Scourge of Villanie
Characteristics:
Violent language
Coarse satire
Strong rhetoric
Cynicism and pedantry

John Donne (1573–1631)

Began with erotic and satirical poetry.
Influenced by Persius.
Features of satire:
Harsh irregular metre
Conversational style
Intellectual complexity
Metaphysical wit
Themes:
Corruption
Court life
Moral decay
Important because:
Introduced originality and metaphysical intensity into satire.

Poetry under James I (1603–1625)

General Characteristics
Compared with the Elizabethan age:
Less youthful optimism.
More pessimism and melancholy.
Growth of:
realism
morality
religion
didacticism
Literature becomes more self-conscious and serious.
Influence of Puritanism increases.

Jacobean Poets
George Wither (1588–1667)
Early pastoral and satirical poet.
Later became a Puritan writer.
Important works:
Abuses Stript and Whipt
The Shepherd’s Hunting
Faire-Virtue, the Mistress of Phil Arete
Features:
Love of nature
Simplicity
Rural feeling
Moral earnestness
Anticipates Romantic nature poetry, especially William Wordsworth.

William Browne (1591–1643)

Major pastoral poet.
Important works:
Britannia’s Pastorals
The Shepheard’s Pipe
Influenced by:
Edmund Spenser
Arcadia
Features:
Patriotism
Love of Devon countryside
Rich descriptive passages
Cheerful tone

Phineas Fletcher (1582–1650)

Religious and allegorical poet.
Important work:
The Purple Island
Themes:
Human body and soul
Morality
Christian allegory
Influenced by:
Spenser
du Bartas

Giles Fletcher (1588–1623)

Religious mystical poet.
Important work:
Christ’s Victorie and Triumph
Themes:
Christ’s temptation
Redemption
Heavenly glory
Link between:
Spenser and Milton
Renaissance poetry and Puritan spirituality

William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649)

Scottish poet deeply influenced by Italian poetry.
Known for:
Sonnets
Melancholy lyricism
Nature poetry
Important works:
Flowers of Sion
The River of Forth Feasting

Ben Jonson
Important Poetry Collections
Epigrammes
The Forrest
Under-Woods
Characteristics
Strongly classical and humanistic.
Influenced mainly by Latin literature.
Wrote:
satires
epigrams
elegies
complimentary poems
Praised contemporaries like:
William Shakespeare
Francis Bacon
George Chapman
Features:
Moral seriousness
Self-control
Logic and structure
Classical restraint
Major influence on later Neo-classicism and poets like John Dryden.

John Donne
Importance
Most original poet of the age.
Founder of metaphysical poetry.
Characteristics
Intellectual wit
Conceits
Abrupt openings
Irregular metre
Conversational tone
Fusion of emotion and intellect
Themes
Love
Religion
Philosophy
Death
Spiritual conflict
Significance
Influenced metaphysical poets:
George Herbert
Andrew Marvell
Richard Crashaw
Major Poets and Literary Trends (1590–1625)
1. Religious and Reflective Poets
Robert Southwell (1561–1595)
Catholic poet and Jesuit priest.
Wrote deeply religious poetry influenced by Italian style and conceits.
Executed at Tyburn after torture.
Main works:
St. Peter’s Complaint
The Burning Babe
Mæonia
Four Last Things
Features:
Passion used in service of faith.
Intense imagery, paradox, antithesis.
Influenced later religious poets like Richard Crashaw.

Joshua Sylvester
Translator of the French Protestant poet Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas.
Published translations of La Semaine and Seconde Semaine.
Helped popularize Biblical epic poetry in England.
Importance of Du Bartas
Inspired Protestant religious poetry.
Encouraged direct use of Biblical themes instead of mythology.
Influenced:
Edmund Spenser
Philip Sidney
John Milton

2. Philosophical Poets
Sir John Davies (1569–1626)
Major works:
Orchestra (1596)
Nosce Teipsum (1599)
Hymns to Astraea (Elizabeth I)
Features:
Philosophical and reflective poetry.
Combined logic with imagination.
Discussed immortality of the soul.
Serious intellectual poetry during an age dominated by lyrics and pastorals.

John Davies of Hereford

Major works:
Mirum in Modum (1602)
Microcosmos (1603)
Features:
Theological and philosophical poetry.
Moral and didactic tone.
Less poetic power but strongly edifying.

Satire in Elizabethan Poetry

Joseph Hall (1574–1656)
Major work:
Virgidemiarum (1597–1598)
Features:
Claimed to be the “first English satirist.”
Modeled after Horace, Persius, and Juvenal.
Satirized:
Fashion
Language
Sonneteers
Drama
Social manners
Criticized Marlowe’s bombastic style.
Concrete, vivid, and witty satire.

John Marston (1575–1634)

Major works:
The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image
The Scourge of Villanie (1598)
Features:
Cynical and coarse satire.
Violent language and declamation.
Strong verbal energy.
More excessive and less controlled than Hall.

John Donne – Early Satires

Wrote satires around 1593.
Influenced by Persius.
Rejected smooth poetic style.
Used harsh rhythm and irregular metre.
Satirized:
Courtiers
Litigators
Social corruption
Literary fashions

Poetry under James I (1603–1625)

General Characteristics of Jacobean Poetry
Difference from Elizabethan poetry:
More sombre and pessimistic.
More moral and religious.
Greater realism and satire.
Decline of youthful exuberance.
Poetry became more self-conscious and reflective.
Influence of Puritanism increased.
Elizabethan Age:
Optimism
National pride
Adventure
Joy and imagination
Jacobean Age:
Melancholy
Cynicism
Religious seriousness
Social criticism

Important Jacobean Poets

George Wither (1588–1667)
Major works:
Abuses Stript and Whipt (1613)
The Shepherd’s Hunting (1615)
Faire-Virtue
Wither’s Motto
Features:
Puritan satirist.
Loved nature and rural life.
Early nature poetry anticipates William Wordsworth.
Combined satire, pastoral, morality, and lyricism.
Important idea:
Nature gives spiritual joy even through simple objects like flowers and streams.

William Browne (1591–1643)

Major works:
Britannia’s Pastorals
The Shepheard’s Pipe
Features:
Pastoral poetry influenced by Spenser and Sidney.
Love for Devon countryside.
Cheerful and descriptive.
Rich imagination though structurally loose.
Phineas Fletcher (1582–1650)
Major works:
Piscatorie Eclogs
The Purple Island
Features:
Allegorical and religious poetry.
Combined physiology with allegory.
Strong influence of Spenser and Du Bartas.
Linked Spenser to John Bunyan.

Giles Fletcher (1588?–1623)

Major work:
Christ’s Victorie and Triumph (1610)
Features:
Religious epic poetry.
Link between Spenser and Milton.
Described:
Christ’s temptation
Passion
Resurrection
Heavenly Jerusalem
Mystical and visionary poetry.

William Drummond (1585–1649)

Major works:
Flowers of Sion
The River of Forth Feasting
Features:
Influenced by Italian poetry.
Known for sonnets.
Melancholy and refined tone.
Continued sonnet tradition after it declined in England.

Ben Jonson
Major collections:
Epigrammes
The Forrest
Under-Woods
Features:
Strong classical influence.
Learned humanist.
Satirical and moral poetry.
Praised logic, discipline, and self-control.
Influenced Neo-classicism and later poets like John Dryden.
Important qualities:
Realistic character sketches.
Moral satire.
Literary criticism.
Strong individuality and ego.
Important poem:
Verses praising William Shakespeare.
Contribution:
Brought classical discipline into English poetry.
Leader of the “Tribe of Ben.”

John Donne
Features of Donne’s Poetry
Rebellion against convention
Rejected:
Pastoral tradition
Mythology
Petrarchan love poetry
Smooth melody
Preferred:
Wit
Intellectual complexity
Colloquial speech
Dramatic openings
Harsh rhythms
Metaphysical qualities
Conceits
Paradox
Intellectual arguments
Sudden comparisons
Mixing sublime and trivial
Examples:
Flea symbolizing union of lovers.
Love compared with sainthood.
Philosophical treatment of passion.
Major poems
The Good Morrow
The Canonization
The Ecstasy
The Relique
Songs and Sonnets
Elegies
Satires
Importance
Founder of Metaphysical poetry.
Influenced 17th-century poets.
Combined intellect with emotion.
Compared with:
Robert Browning for dramatic intensity.
Luis de Góngora and Giambattista Marino for stylistic complexity.

Important Literary Movements/Concepts

Metaphysical Poetry
Characteristics:
Intellectual wit
Conceits
Paradox
Abrupt openings
Fusion of thought and feeling
Irregular rhythm
Main poet:
John Donne

Classical/Neo-classical Influence
Promoted by:
Ben Jonson
Features:
Order
Logic
Discipline
Moral satire
Latin influence

Religious Poetry Revival

Influenced by:
Du Bartas
Southwell
Fletcher brothers
Themes:
Biblical subjects
Christian morality
Spiritual vision
Salvation and divine grace
Important Exam Points
Southwell
Catholic religious poet.
The Burning Babe admired by Ben Jonson.
Sir John Davies
Nosce Teipsum = philosophical poem on the soul.
Joseph Hall
Famous satirist.
Virgidemiarum.
George Wither
Nature poet with Puritan leaanings.
Browne
Pastoral poet of Devon.
Fletcher brothers
Religious allegorical poetry.
Ben Jonson
Classical humanist.
Leader of “Tribe of Ben.”
John Donne
Founder of Metaphysical poetry.
Used conceits and intellectual wit.

Prose from 1578–1625 — Important Authors & Features

1. Robert Greene (1560–1592)
Robert Greene
Important Works
Mamillia (1583)
Arbasto
Perimedes
Pandosto → source for Shakespeare’s The Winter's Tale
Menaphon (1589)
Conny-catching Tracts (1591–92)
Groatsworth of Wit
Characteristics
Disciple of John Lyly and Euphuism.
Mixed romance + moral instruction.
Pastoral and sentimental imagination.
Also wrote realistic underworld stories about London rogues.
His prose moves from ornate euphuism to simpler realistic narration.
Early influence on the English novel tradition.
Significance
Bridge between romance and realism.
First prose glimpse of Shakespeare in Groatsworth of Wit (“upstart crow”).

2. Thomas Lodge (1558–1625)

Thomas Lodge
Important Work
Rosalynde / Rosalinde (1590) → source for As You Like It
Characteristics
Euphuistic romance.
Blend of:
witty dialogue,
pastoral setting,
lyrical songs.
Graceful and refined prose style.
Significance
One of the most attractive prose romances of the age.
Strong influence on Shakespeare.

3. Thomas Nashe (1567–1601)

Thomas Nashe
Important Works
Pierce Penniless
The Anatomy of Absurdity
Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem
The Terrors of the Night
The Unfortunate Traveller / Life of Jack Wilton
Lenten Stuffe
Characteristics
Satirical, grotesque, energetic prose.
Influenced by:
François Rabelais
Pietro Aretino
Master of:
slangy prose,
violent imagery,
picaresque narrative.
Mixed comedy, horror, and realism.
Significance
Creator of the English picaresque novel.
Important precursor to later prose satire and melodrama.
Influenced dramatists like:
John Marston
Cyril Tourneur
John Webster

4. Thomas Deloney (1543?–1600?)

Thomas Deloney
Important Works
Jack of Newbury
The Gentle Craft
Characteristics
Realistic portrayal of craftsmen and working-class life.
Cheerful, clear, lively prose.
Describes:
apprentices,
guilds,
workshops,
travelling journeymen.
Significance
One of the earliest realistic social novelists in English.
Valuable picture of London artisan life.
Influenced Thomas Dekker and Thomas Heywood.

5. Thomas Dekker
Thomas Dekker
Important Works
The Wonderful Year (1603)
The Bachelor’s Banquet
The Belman of London
The Seven Deadly Sins of London
The Gull’s Hornbook
Characteristics
Social sketches of London life.
Humorous realism.
Ironical “grobian” style (mock advice exposing folly).
Combines satire with vivid urban description.
Significance
Great observer of Jacobean London.
Precursor of later essayists like:
Joseph Addison
Richard Steele
Jonathan Swift

Authors of “Characters”
Sir Thomas Overbury
Thomas Overbury
Important Work
A Wife (1614) with prose “Characters”
Features
Short prose portraits of social types.
Witty and pointed style.
Influenced the English character-writing tradition.

John Earle
John Earle
Important Work
Microcosmographie (1628)
Features
Theophrastan character sketches.
Observational prose with humour and imagination.

Dramatic Prose
Important Points
Early prose drama: George Gascoigne (Supposes, 1566)
John Lyly used prose extensively in drama.
Most dramatists mixed:
verse for tragedy,
prose for comedy and realism.

Shakespeare’s Use of Prose

William Shakespeare
Uses
Comic scenes → prose.
Emotional disorder or madness:
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Natural witty speech:
Rosalind in As You Like It
Importance
Helped prose become:
natural,
flexible,
conversational,
psychologically expressive.

Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Important Prose Works
Discoveries
English Grammar (partly lost)
Plays in Prose
Epicœne
Bartholomew Fair
Features
Strong realistic prose.
Influenced by Latin models.
Careful, disciplined stylist.

Literary Criticism
Stephen Gosson
Stephen Gosson
Important Work
The School of Abuse (1579)
Views
Attacked poetry and drama.
Considered literature morally corrupting.

Sir Philip Sidney

Philip Sidney
Important Work
Defence of Poesie / Apology for Poetry
Main Ideas
Poetry is superior to:
history,
philosophy.
Poet as:
teacher,
moral guide,
creator of ideal beauty.
Literature inspires courage and virtue.
Importance
Greatest English critical work of the Renaissance.
Defends imaginative literature powerfully.

Key Themes of Renaissance Prose (1578–1625)

Influence of:
Euphuism,
pastoral romance,
Italian prose traditions.
Growth of:
realism,
satire,
urban observation.
Rise of:
picaresque fiction,
character sketches,
literary criticism.
Theatre helped prose become:
natural,
dramatic,
conversational.
Prose from 1578–1625 — Important Authors & Features
1. Robert Greene (1560–1592)
Robert Greene
Important Works
Mamillia (1583)
Arbasto
Perimedes
Pandosto → source for Shakespeare’s The Winter's Tale
Menaphon (1589)
Conny-catching Tracts (1591–92)
Groatsworth of Wit
Characteristics
Disciple of John Lyly and Euphuism.
Mixed romance + moral instruction.
Pastoral and sentimental imagination.
Also wrote realistic underworld stories about London rogues.
His prose moves from ornate euphuism to simpler realistic narration.
Early influence on the English novel tradition.
Significance
Bridge between romance and realism.
First prose glimpse of Shakespeare in Groatsworth of Wit (“upstart crow”).

2. Thomas Lodge (1558–1625)

Thomas Lodge
Important Work
Rosalynde / Rosalinde (1590) → source for As You Like It
Characteristics
Euphuistic romance.
Blend of:
witty dialogue,
pastoral setting,
lyrical songs.
Graceful and refined prose style.
Significance
One of the most attractive prose romances of the age.
Strong influence on Shakespeare.

3. Thomas Nashe (1567–1601)

Thomas Nashe
Important Works
Pierce Penniless
The Anatomy of Absurdity
Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem
The Terrors of the Night
The Unfortunate Traveller / Life of Jack Wilton
Lenten Stuffe
Characteristics
Satirical, grotesque, energetic prose.
Influenced by:
François Rabelais
Pietro Aretino
Master of:
slangy prose,
violent imagery,
picaresque narrative.
Mixed comedy, horror, and realism.
Significance
Creator of the English picaresque novel.
Important precursor to later prose satire and melodrama.
Influenced dramatists like:
John Marston
Cyril Tourneur
John Webster

4. Thomas Deloney (1543?–1600?)

Thomas Deloney
Important Works
Jack of Newbury
The Gentle Craft
Characteristics
Realistic portrayal of craftsmen and working-class life.
Cheerful, clear, lively prose.
Describes:
apprentices,
guilds,
workshops,
travelling journeymen.
Significance
One of the earliest realistic social novelists in English.
Valuable picture of London artisan life.
Influenced Thomas Dekker and Thomas Heywood.

5. Thomas Dekker
Thomas Dekker
Important Works
The Wonderful Year (1603)
The Bachelor’s Banquet
The Belman of London
The Seven Deadly Sins of London
The Gull’s Hornbook
Characteristics
Social sketches of London life.
Humorous realism.
Ironical “grobian” style (mock advice exposing folly).
Combines satire with vivid urban description.
Significance
Great observer of Jacobean London.
Precursor of later essayists like:
Joseph Addison
Richard Steele
Jonathan Swift

Authors of “Characters”
Sir Thomas Overbury
Thomas Overbury
Important Work
A Wife (1614) with prose “Characters”
Features
Short prose portraits of social types.
Witty and pointed style.
Influenced the English character-writing tradition.

John Earle
John Earle
Important Work
Microcosmographie (1628)
Features
Theophrastan character sketches.
Observational prose with humour and imagination.

Dramatic Prose
Important Points
Early prose drama: George Gascoigne (Supposes, 1566)
John Lyly used prose extensively in drama.
Most dramatists mixed:
verse for tragedy,
prose for comedy and realism.

Shakespeare’s Use of Prose

William Shakespeare
Uses
Comic scenes → prose.
Emotional disorder or madness:
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Natural witty speech:
Rosalind in As You Like It
Importance
Helped prose become:
natural,
flexible,
conversational,
psychologically expressive.

Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Important Prose Works
Discoveries
English Grammar (partly lost)
Plays in Prose
Epicœne
Bartholomew Fair
Features
Strong realistic prose.
Influenced by Latin models.
Careful, disciplined stylist.

Literary Criticism
Stephen Gosson
Stephen Gosson
Important Work
The School of Abuse (1579)
Views
Attacked poetry and drama.
Considered literature morally corrupting.

Sir Philip Sidney

Philip Sidney
Important Work
Defence of Poesie / Apology for Poetry
Main Ideas
Poetry is superior to:
history,
philosophy.
Poet as:
teacher,
moral guide,
creator of ideal beauty.
Literature inspires courage and virtue.
Importance
Greatest English critical work of the Renaissance.
Defends imaginative literature powerfully.

Key Themes of Renaissance Prose (1578–1625)

Influence of:
Euphuism,
pastoral romance,
Italian prose traditions.
Growth of:
realism,
satire,
urban observation.
Rise of:
picaresque fiction,
character sketches,
literary criticism.
Theatre helped prose become:
natural,
dramatic,
conversational.

Key Points from the Passage

1. Controversy on Rhyme vs Classical Quantitative Verse
During the Elizabethan age, some scholars wanted English poetry to imitate Latin and Greek poetry.
Supporters of Classical Quantitative Verse
Sir John Cheke
Roger Ascham
Gabriel Harvey
Abraham Fraunce
Thomas Campion
They:
Considered rhyme “barbarous” and “Gothic”
Tried to make English poetry quantitative like Latin
Favoured:
Iambic lines
Hexameters
Classical metre without rhyme
Important Critical Works
A Discourse of English Poetrie (1586) — defended measured verse
The Arte of English Poesie — balanced view
Observations on the Art of English Poesie (1602) — attacked rhyme

2. Samuel Daniel and Defence of Rhyme

Samuel Daniel
Important Work:
Defence of Ryme (1603)
Main Arguments
Daniel:
Defended rhyme logically and calmly
Said rhyme gives:
Musical beauty
Form and structure
“certainty” and cadence
Rejected blind imitation of Greek and Latin models
Asserted English poetic independence
Famous Idea
“We are the children of Nature as well as they.”
Importance
First example of sane and balanced English literary criticism
Closed the 30-year controversy over rhyme
Preferred stanza over couplet
Considered one of the best prose stylists of the age

Religious Prose
3. Martin Marprelate Controversy
Conflict between:
Puritans (Calvinists)
Anglicans
Features
Began in 1588
Anonymous pamphlet war
Puritans attacked bishops violently
Important Figure
Thomas Nashe defended Anglican side
Result
Puritan leaders arrested and executed
Strict censorship imposed

4. Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker
Major Work
The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity
Importance
One of the first masterpieces of English prose
Defence of Anglicanism
Main Ideas
Hooker argued:
God reveals truth through:
Bible
Reason
Reason is God’s gift
Church + Bible + Reason must work together
Opposition
He opposed:
Puritans → relied only on Bible
Catholics → relied only on Church authority
Contribution
Father of Anglican theology
Combined:
Rationalism
Traditionalism
Influenced later Anglican thinkers and even Edmund Burke
Style
First great philosophical English prose
Latinised but clear and harmonious
Logical, majestic, dignified

5. Elizabethan Preachers
Lancelot Andrewes
Known for:
Learning
Wit
Powerful sermons
Defects:
Conceits
Wordplay
Pedantry

John Donne
Characteristics of sermons:
Metaphysical subtlety
Complex imagery
Obscurity
Themes of death and judgment

6. The Bible of 1611

King James Bible
Importance
Greatest monument of English religious prose
Read throughout England for centuries
Deeply influenced English language and style
Literary Features
Simplicity
Rhythm
Concreteness
Poetic parallelism
Influence on English Mind
It:
Strengthened religious feeling
Encouraged belief that English were a “chosen people”
Preserved poetic richness in English prose
Translators
Produced by 47 scholars
Supervised by Lancelot Andrewes
Defects Mentioned
Some passages obscure or mistranslated
Encouraged mystical and obscure writing styles
Overall Effect
Balanced English rationalism with:
Poetry
Mysticism
Imagination

7. Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Importance
First major English philosopher
Pioneer of modern scientific method
Major Works
Novum Organum
The Advancement of Learning
New Atlantis
Essays
History of Henry the Seventh

Bacon’s Philosophy
Main Principles
Knowledge gives power
Science should improve human life
Truth comes from:
Observation
Experiment
Induction
Famous Idea
“Nature cannot be commanded except by being obeyed.”
Idols of the Mind
Bacon analysed human errors as:
Idols of the Tribe
Cave
Market-place
Theatre

Bacon as Prose Writer

Essays
His essays are:
Short
Dense
Aphoristic
Practical
Features
Wisdom
Observation
Moral and political advice
Memorable maxims
Style
Compact
Powerful
Epigrammatic
Rich in imagery
Famous Lines
“Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.”
“He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune.”

Important Authors & Works Mentioned

Author Important Works

William Webbe A Discourse of English Poetrie

George Puttenham The Arte of English Poesie

Thomas Campion Observations on the Art of English Poesie

Samuel Daniel Defence of Ryme

Richard Hooker The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity

Francis Bacon Novum Organum, Essays

John Donne Sermons

Lancelot Andrewes Sermons

47 translators under Lancelot Andrewes King James Bible

Important Authors and Works Mentioned
Literary Criticism / Prosody
Sir John Cheke — advocated quantitative verse
Roger Ascham — supported classical metrics
Gabriel Harvey — promoted English hexameters
William Webbe — wrote A Discourse of English Poetrie (1586)
A Discourse of English Poetrie
George Puttenham — wrote The Arte of English Poesie
The Arte of English Poesie
Thomas Campion — wrote Observations on the Art of English Poesie (1602)
Observations on the Art of English Poesie
Samuel Daniel — wrote Defence of Ryme (1603)
Defence of Ryme

Religious Prose and Controversy

Martin Marprelate Controversy
Conflict between Puritans and Anglicans
Anonymous Puritan pamphlets attacking bishops
Important figure:
Thomas Nashe — defended Anglican side
John Penry — important Martinist leader

Richard Hooker
Author
Richard Hooker
Major Work
The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity
Key Ideas
Reason and revelation both guide humans
Reason is “God’s first-born child”
Defended Anglican compromise and Church hierarchy
One of the first masters of English prose
Related Person
Izaak Walton — wrote Hooker’s life

Major Preachers
Lancelot Andrewes
Lancelot Andrewes
Famous preacher and scholar
Known for learned, ornate sermons
John Donne
John Donne
Famous for metaphysical sermons and conceits

The Bible and Translation

Major Text
Authorized Version of the Bible
Earlier Translators Mentioned
John Wycliffe
William Tyndale
Miles Coverdale
Important Scholar
Lancelot Andrewes — presided over translation work
Latin Version Mentioned
Vulgate

Francis Bacon
Author
Francis Bacon
Important Works
Novum Organum
The Advancement of Learning
Essays
New Atlantis
History of Henry VII
Important Ideas
Inductive method
Knowledge is power
Scientific observation and experiment
“Idols” of the mind
Related Thinker
Niccolò Machiavelli — praised by Bacon

Thomas Coryate
Author
Thomas Coryate
Work
Coryat's Crudities
Note
Travel narrative
Introduced forks into England

Robert Burton
Author
Robert Burton
Major Work
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Influences / Comparisons Mentioned
Democritus
The Ship of Fools
In Praise of Folly
Utopia
François Rabelais
Michel de Montaigne
Shakespeare Reference
Jaques
As You Like It
Later Admirers
Samuel Johnson
Laurence Sterne
Charles Lamb

Additional Author Mentioned

John Barclay
Works
Euphormionis Satyricon
Argenis

Most Important Exam Topics from This Passage

Samuel Daniel — Defence of Ryme
Richard Hooker — The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity
Authorized Version of the Bible
Francis Bacon — Essays & scientific method
Robert Burton — The Anatomy of Melancholy
Martin Marprelate Controversy
Renaissance prose development
English prose style becoming mature in Elizabethan age
Chapter V — The Drama until Shakespeare (1580–1592): Key Points
1. Fertility and Importance of the Drama
The drama became the greatest achievement of the English Renaissance.
Unlike poetry and prose, which were often influenced by:

Italy,
classical antiquity,
court fashions,
drama remained deeply national and popular.

The theatre was:

open to all classes,
the chief source of entertainment,
a substitute for newspapers and novels,
and even a kind of secular church.
Almost every major writer attempted drama:
even writers like Spenser, Sidney, Daniel, and Drayton.
2. Difficulty in Studying Elizabethan Drama
The period (1580–1642) is difficult to classify because:
around 1000 plays existed,
many are lost,
chronology is uncertain,
collaboration among playwrights was common,
genres were mixed freely.
Examples:
tragedy + comedy together,
romance + history,
lyric poetry + violence.
3. Features of the Public Theatre
Theatre Structure
Public theatres were:
round or hexagonal,
open-roofed,
with:
pit,
galleries,
projecting stage.
Stage Features
little scenery,
symbolic props only,
emphasis on:
acting,
gesture,
declamation.
Actors
all female roles played by boys.
Actors became famous and influential.
Important actor:
Edward Alleyn
Important theatre company:
Lord Chamberlain’s Men
Important theatres:
The Globe Theatre
Blackfriars Theatre
4. The Audience
The audience included:
nobles,
merchants,
scholars,
workers,
common people.
Therefore plays had to satisfy everyone:
poetry for the educated,
humour and action for commoners,
romance, violence, patriotism, and comedy together.
This explains the mixed nature of Elizabethan drama.

Important Playwrights Before Shakespeare

John Lyly (1554–1606)
John Lyly
Importance
First dramatist to bring:
refinement,
elegance,
artistic prose dialogue
to English drama.
Famous for:
euphuistic style,
witty dialogue,
mythological court plays.
Major Plays
1. Campaspe (1581)
Campaspe
Alexander loves Campaspe.
Campaspe loves Apelles.
Alexander sacrifices love for duty.
Courtly, witty, graceful.
2. Sapho and Phaon
Sapho and Phaon
Allegory praising Queen Elizabeth.
Themes:
love,
beauty,
chastity.
3. Endymion (1586)
Endymion
Mythological allegory.
Cynthia represents Elizabeth.
Contains romantic fantasy.
4. Gallathea
Gallathea
Two girls disguised as boys fall in love.
Contains fantasy and comic confusion.
Characteristics of Lyly
prose drama,
wit and wordplay,
courtly elegance,
artificial but artistic style,
influence on Shakespeare’s early comedies.

George Peele (1556–1596)

George Peele
Characteristics
lyrical poet,
decorative style,
rich imagery,
weak dramatic structure.
Important Plays
1. The Arraignment of Paris
The Arraignment of Paris
Mythological pastoral.
Praises Queen Elizabeth.
Musical and poetic.
2. David and Bethsabe
David and Bethsabe
Based on the Bible.
Written like a historical drama.
Decorative rather than powerful.
Importance
Brought poetic beauty to drama,
but lacked strong dramatic skill.

Arden of Feversham (1587)

Arden of Feversham
Importance
Early domestic tragedy.
Based on a real murder.
Plot
Alice Arden and her lover Mosbie murder Arden.
Crime is discovered.
Murderers are punished.
Features
realism,
psychological truth,
moral seriousness,
powerful emotional scenes.
Importance in Drama
Shows early realistic drama before Shakespeare.

Thomas Kyd (1558–1594)

Thomas Kyd
Importance
Popularised the revenge tragedy.
Major Work
The Spanish Tragedy
The Spanish Tragedy
Features
revenge theme,
ghosts,
madness,
murder,
violence,
sensationalism.
Plot
Horatio is murdered.
His father Hieronimo seeks revenge.
Final play-within-the-play ends in mass death.
Importance
Influenced:
Hamlet,
later revenge tragedies.
Characteristics
melodramatic,
emotional,
highly theatrical,
influenced by Seneca.

Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)

Christopher Marlowe
Importance
Greatest dramatist before Shakespeare.
Perfected blank verse.
Introduced heroic tragedy.
Major Work Mentioned
Tamburlaine
Tamburlaine
Importance of Tamburlaine
Heroic ambition,
powerful blank verse,
larger-than-life hero,
emotional intensity.
Marlowe’s Contribution
transformed English drama,
made blank verse flexible and majestic,
prepared the way for Shakespeare.

Overall Characteristics of Pre-Shakespearean Drama

Main Features
mixture of tragedy and comedy,
romantic and sensational plots,
little concern for classical unities,
strong emotions,
rhetorical speeches,
use of blank verse,
patriotism and nationalism,
influence of Seneca and classical literature,
public appeal.

Important One-Line Contributions

Writer Contribution

John Lyly Introduced refined prose comedy and euphuistic dialogue

George Peele Added lyrical beauty and decorative poetry

 Thomas Kyd Popularised revenge tragedy

Christopher Marlowe Perfected blank verse and heroic tragedy

Christopher Marlowe and the Growth of Elizabethan Drama
Christopher Marlowe is presented here as the revolutionary dramatist who transformed English theatre before
William Shakespeare reached maturity. The passage explains how drama evolved from moralistic tragedy into
passionate, heroic, and poetic theatre through Marlowe’s genius.
1. Marlowe’s Revolutionary Contribution
Before Marlowe, plays like:
The Spanish Tragedy
Arden of Feversham
still followed the morality-play tradition:
crime was condemned,
murder demanded revenge,
evil characters were punished.
Marlowe changed this completely.
Instead of condemning powerful criminals, he glorified them. His heroes:
seek unlimited power,
reject morality,
challenge religion and society,
appear larger than life.
This spirit reflects Renaissance individualism and rebellion.

Tamburlaine — The Superman Hero

Tamburlaine was Marlowe’s first major success.
Source of the Play
Marlowe based the play on the historical conqueror Timur/Tamerlane after reading:
Pedro Mexia’s account,
Perondinus of Florence’s biography.
Tamburlaine rises:
from shepherd
to world conqueror.
He destroys Persia, Syria, Hindustan, and defeats the Ottomans.
Why Tamburlaine Was Revolutionary
Tamburlaine is:
cruel,
bloodthirsty,
arrogant,
destructive.
Yet Marlowe presents him as admirable.
Examples:
cages Emperor Bajazet,
uses kings to pull his chariot,
massacres enemies,
threatens heaven itself.
Marlowe sees him as:
a “superman,”
embodiment of the “will to power,”
Renaissance man freed from morality.
The famous ambition of Tamburlaine:
“Still climbing after knowledge infinite,
And always moving as the restless spheres.”
shows limitless aspiration.
Style and Importance
The play:
lacks tight dramatic structure,
repeats declamatory speeches,
depends on emotional intensity.
But its greatest achievement was blank verse.
Marlowe transformed blank verse into:
powerful,
musical,
thunderous dramatic poetry.
Critics mocked it as:
“bragging blank verse”
yet everyone copied it afterward.

Doctor Faustus — Ambition and Damnation

Doctor Faustus adapts the German Faust legend.
Main Theme
Faustus sells his soul to Lucifer for:
knowledge,
power,
magical abilities.
Like Tamburlaine, he seeks the impossible.
Marlowe’s Identification with Faustus
Faustus reflects Marlowe himself:
rebellious,
atheistic,
intellectually ambitious.
Yet Marlowe also portrays:
fear,
guilt,
terror of damnation.
The final scenes are considered among the greatest in Renaissance drama because Faustus:
trembles before hell,
realizes eternal punishment is near.
The passage even claims these scenes rival or surpass Shakespeare in tragic intensity.
Weakness of the Play
The play contains:
unfinished scenes,
clown comedy,
loose construction.
But the poetry and tragic ending are sublime.

The Jew of Malta

The Jew of Malta centers on Barabas, a wealthy Jew whose property is confiscated by Christians.
Character of Barabas
Barabas becomes:
revengeful,
murderous,
Machiavellian.
He commits terrible crimes and finally dies in a boiling cauldron.
Yet Marlowe initially portrays him with:
dignity,
pride,
grandeur.
The passage argues that Marlowe attempted a sympathetic portrayal of a Jew long before Shakespeare’s The
Merchant of Venice and Shylock.

Edward II — Marlowe’s Best Constructed Play

Edward II is praised as Marlowe’s finest historical tragedy.
Improvements in This Play
Compared with earlier works:
speeches are shorter,
dialogue is more natural,
characters are better developed,
blank verse becomes flexible and human.
Plot
King Edward II is dominated by favorites:
Gaveston,
Mortimer.
Queen Isabella and Mortimer:
rebel,
imprison Edward,
arrange his murder.
Importance
The murder scene is deeply pathetic and powerful.
The play influenced Shakespeare’s later history plays, though the critic says it still lacks:
dramatic clarity,
national patriotism,
Shakespeare’s mastery of plot.

Marlowe’s Characteristics
Strengths
Marlowe introduced:
grandeur,
intensity,
lyrical passion,
heroic ambition,
magnificent blank verse.
His heroes desire:
infinite power,
infinite knowledge,
infinite wealth.
He made English drama feel:
energetic,
expansive,
heroic.
Weaknesses
He lacked:
humour,
comic sense,
ability to portray women,
dramatic structure,
variety in characterization.
His plays are often:
rhetorical,
repetitive,
loosely constructed.
Yet his poetic power transformed English theatre permanently.

Robert Greene and the Preparation for Shakespeare

Robert Greene adapted to the new theatrical style created by Marlowe.
Important plays:
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
James IV
Unlike Marlowe, Greene contributed:
tenderness,
romance,
graceful female characters.
Contribution
Greene anticipates Shakespeare through:
romantic love,
pastoral charm,
sympathetic heroines.
Characters like Margaret and Dorothea foreshadow:
Viola,
Rosalind,
Imogen.

Final Critical View

The passage concludes that different dramatists contributed separate qualities:
Dramatist Contribution

Wit and elegance

Tragic atmosphere

Marlowe Lyrical power and blank verse

 Romance and tenderness
William Shakespeare united all these qualities into one supreme dramatic art.

Edmund Spenser and His Time – Key Points

Spenser as the “New Poet”
Edmund Spenser was regarded as the poet who fulfilled the Renaissance aim of making English poetry equal to
Italian and French poetry.
He combined:
Medieval tradition (especially Geoffrey Chaucer)
Classical learning
Renaissance Humanism
Protestant idealism
Platonic philosophy
National Elizabethan spirit
Unlike William Shakespeare, whose genius was mainly dramatic, Spenser became the great synthesizer of
nondramatic poetry.

The Shepherd’s Calendar (1579)

Importance
Marked Spenser’s formal entry as the “New Poet.”
Dedicated to Philip Sidney.
A pastoral work containing 12 eclogues, one for each month.
Meaning of Pastoral Poetry
Poetry about shepherds and rural life.
Derived from:
Theocritus
Virgil
Used allegorically for:
Politics
Religion
Human emotions
Moral satire

Features of The Shepherd’s Calendar

1. Variety
Different verse forms in different eclogues.
Mixture of:
Songs
Dialogues
Complaints
Satire
Elegy
2. Archaism
Spenser revived old English words from Chaucerian tradition.
This gave dignity and historical continuity to English poetry.
3. Decorum
Proper matching of style with subject.
A major Renaissance ideal.
4. Allegory
Shepherds represent:
Clergymen
Poets
Political figures
Human virtues and vices

Important Eclogues
January
Colin Clout (Spenser himself) laments unrequited love for Rosalind.
Petrarchan love complaint in pastoral setting.
April
Contains praise of Queen Elizabeth.
Musical and lyrical verse.
May & July
Protestant satire against corrupt clergy.
August
Singing contest between shepherds.
Includes elaborate sestina form.
October
Most important eclogue for literary criticism.
Main ideas:
Poetry is divine and noble.
Poet inspired by heavenly power.
Reflects Renaissance faith in poetry.
November
Elegy for a noble lady called “Dido.”
Musical lament with refrain.
December
Poet reflects on old age and passing of life.

Spenser’s Literary Importance

Contributions
Brought control and refinement to English verse.
United:
Medieval
Classical
Renaissance traditions
Expanded possibilities of English poetic diction and meter.
Technical Achievement
Used 13 verse forms.
Introduced new stanza patterns.
Master of musical language.

Other Works of Spenser

Complaints (1591)
Collection of minor poems.
Important poems:
The Ruins of Time
The Tears of the Muses
Mother Hubbard’s Tale (satire)
Muiopotmos

Colin Clout’s Come Home Again

Pastoral account of:
Walter Raleigh bringing Spenser to court.
Combines autobiography and allegory.

Astrophel
Elegy on death of Philip Sidney.

Amoretti
Sonnet sequence in Petrarchan tradition.
Probably connected with his courtship of Elizabeth Boyle.

The Faerie Queene

Greatest Work
Published partly in 1590 and 1596.
Intended as a great national epic.
Themes
Virtue
Religion
Politics
Chivalry
Protestant morality
Significance
Culmination of Elizabethan poetic ideals.
Blends:
Allegory
Romance
Classical epic
Moral philosophy

Spenser’s Characteristics
1. Great Synthesizer
Combined:
Chaucerian tradition
Renaissance Humanism
Protestant ethics
Classical learning
2. Musical Style
Rich melody and rhythm.
Invented the famous Spenserian stanza.
3. Allegorical Imagination
Characters represent virtues, sins, and moral states.
4. Idealism
Strong moral and religious seriousness.
5. Craftsmanship
Careful attention to diction, sound, and structure.

Important People Connected with Spenser

Philip Sidney
Gabriel Harvey
Walter Raleigh
Elizabeth I

One-Line Critical Estimate

Spenser was the great poetic architect of the Elizabethan Renaissance who transformed English poetry into a
rich, musical, and European art form.
Edmund Spenser — Key Points from Spenser and His Time
Major Works Discussed
Amoretti
Epithalamion
Prothalamion
The Faerie Queene
Four Hymns
The Shepherd's Calendar

1. Amoretti
Features
Collection of 89 sonnets
Smooth, controlled poetic flow
Influenced by:
Francesco Petrarca
Torquato Tasso
Pierre de Ronsard
Common rhyme scheme:
ababbcbccdcdee
Combines:
Love
Immortality through poetry
Renaissance idealism
Famous Sonnet
“One day I wrote her name upon the strand…”
Important Idea
Poetry immortalizes beauty and love.

2. Epithalamion
Importance
Considered one of Spenser’s greatest achievements
Celebration of his own marriage (probably 1594 in Ireland)
Characteristics
Combines:
Personal emotion
Classical tradition
Christian blessing
Nature imagery
Music-like rhythm
Influences
Italian canzone tradition
Parliament of Fowls
Classical mythology
Irish setting and folklore
Structure
Narrative of a wedding day:
Preparation
Invocation to nymphs
Bride’s appearance
Church ceremony
Night and blessing
Themes
Sacred marriage
Harmony
Fertility
Celebration of love

3. Prothalamion
Occasion
Written for the double marriage of:
Lady Elizabeth Somerset
Lady Catherine Somerset
Famous Refrain
“Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.”
Features
Musical stanza structure
Ceremonial tone
Symbolic swans
Rich imagery
Difference from Epithalamion
More stylized and formal
Less personal

4. Four Hymns
Hymns Included
Hymn in Honour of Love
Hymn in Honour of Beauty
Hymn of Heavenly Love
Hymn of Heavenly Beauty
Philosophical Background
Strong influence of:
Plato
Neo-Platonism
Christianity
Important Thinkers Mentioned
Marsilio Ficino
Giordano Bruno
Baldassare Castiglione
Central Ideas
Physical beauty reflects spiritual beauty
Love elevates the soul
Divine beauty is superior to earthly beauty
Critical Note
Important mainly for:
Renaissance philosophy
Neo-Platonic thought
Less important as poetry compared with The Faerie Queene or Epithalamion.

5. The Faerie Queene

Importance
Spenser’s masterpiece
Great allegorical epic
Intended to shape an ideal gentleman
Main Influences
Medieval romance
Christian allegory
Aristotle
Plato
Italian epics
Protestantism
English patriotism
Model
Inspired partly by:
Orlando Furioso

Structure of The Faerie Queene

Originally planned:
12 books on moral virtues
Later political virtues
Only:
6 books completed

Allegorical Knights and Virtues

Book Character Virtue

Redcross Knight Holiness

Sir Guyon Temperance

Britomart Chastity

Cambel & Telamond Friendship / Love

Calidore Courtesy

Book I — Holiness
Main Characters
Redcross Knight = Holiness / Everyman
Una = Truth
Enemies
Error
Hypocrisy
Despair
Themes
Spiritual struggle
Protestant morality
Human temptation

Book II — Temperance
Hero
Sir Guyon
Themes
Control over passion
Health of body and soul
Dangers of excess
Important Episodes
House of Temperance
Temptation of Mammon
Destruction of Bower of Bliss

Books III & IV — Chastity and Love

Main Focus
Different forms of love:
True love
Married love
False/courtly love
Important Characters
Britomart
Amoret
Florimel
Belphoebe
Important Idea
Spenser redefines chastity as:
Pure married love
Not mere virginity

Book V — Justice
Hero
Artegal
Themes
Political order
Justice
Social hierarchy
Contains strong Elizabethan political ideas.

Book VI — Courtesy
Hero
Calidore
Themes
Gentleness
Noble behavior
Christian humility
Civilization vs brutality

Mutability Cantos
Themes
Change vs permanence
Time vs eternity
Nature and decay
Philosophical conclusion of the epic.

Style of Spenser
Spenserian Stanza
9 lines
Final line is an alexandrine
Musical rhyme pattern
Characteristics
Rich melody
Decorative imagery
Slow majestic movement
Variety of tone

Spenser’s Importance
Why Important?
First major modern English poet
Expanded poetic possibilities of English
Influenced:
John Milton
John Keats
William Wordsworth
Famous Description
Wordsworth called him:
“Sweet Spenser…”
Critical Title
“The poets’ poet”

Sir Philip Sidney

Importance
Ideal Renaissance gentleman
Scholar, poet, diplomat, courtier
Major Work
Astrophel and Stella
Significance
Popularized the Elizabethan sonnet sequence
Influenced later sonneteers

Elizabethan Sonnet Tradition

Influenced By
Petrarch
French and Italian Renaissance poets
Important Sonneteers
Samuel Daniel
Michael Drayton
William Shakespeare
Henry Constable
Thomas Lodge

Important One-Line Exam Points

Amoretti → 89 sonnets on love.
Epithalamion → greatest wedding ode in English.
Prothalamion → “Sweet Thames, run softly…”
The Faerie Queene → allegorical epic on virtues.
Redcross Knight → Holiness.
Sir Guyon → Temperance.
Britomart → Chastity.
Artegal → Justice.
Calidore → Courtesy.
Spenserian stanza → 9-line stanza with alexandrine.
Spenser called “the poets’ poet.”
Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella popularized sonnet sequences.
Key Points on Spenser and His Time
Edmund Spenser
Major Elizabethan poet known as “the poets’ poet.”
Combined:
Medieval allegory
Renaissance Humanism
Platonism
Protestant idealism
Chivalric romance
Important works:
The Faerie Queene
Amoretti
Epithalamion
Prothalamion
Four Hymns
The Shepherd’s Calendar

Amoretti
Sequence of 89 sonnets.
Themes:
Love
Immortality through poetry
Marriage
Influenced by:
Francesco Petrarca
Torquato Tasso
Pierre de Ronsard
Usual rhyme scheme:
ababbcbccdcdee
Famous sonnet:
“One day I wrote her name upon the strand…”
Famous Idea
Poetry can immortalize love and beauty beyond death.

Epithalamion
Epithalamion
Considered one of Spenser’s greatest achievements.
Celebration of his own marriage in Ireland (1594 probable).
Features:
Musical structure
Refrains
Rich imagery
Blend of classical, Christian, English, and Irish elements
Based on the progress of a wedding day:
Preparation
Bride’s arrival
Wedding ceremony
Night and blessing
Important Qualities
Fusion of personal feeling and poetic convention.
Combines:
Classical mythology
Biblical echoes
Folklore
Renaissance lyricism

Prothalamion
Prothalamion
Written for the double marriage of the Somerset sisters (1596).
Famous refrain:
“Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.”
More stylized and ceremonial than Epithalamion.

Four Hymns
Four Hymns
Consists of:
Hymn in Honour of Love
Hymn in Honour of Beauty
Hymn of Heavenly Love
Hymn of Heavenly Beauty
Themes
Neo-Platonism
Divine beauty
Spiritual love
Christian idealism
Influences
Plato
Marsilio Ficino
Il Cortegiano
Giordano Bruno

The Faerie Queene

The Faerie Queene
Spenser’s unfinished epic masterpiece.
Planned:
12 books on moral virtues
Additional books on political virtues
Only 6 books completed + “Mutability Cantos.”
Aim
To “fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline.”
Major Virtues
Book Hero Virtue

Redcross Knight Holiness

Sir Guyon Temperance

Britomart Chastity

Cambel & Telamond Friendship

Calidore Courtesy

Features of The Faerie Queene

Allegory
Characters symbolize:
Moral virtues
Religious truths
Human conditions
Sources
Medieval romance
Aristotle
Classical epic
Italian Renaissance epic
Protestant thought
English patriotism
Style
Rich imagery
Musical language
Archaic diction
Dreamlike atmosphere
Spenserian Stanza
ababbcbccababbcbccababbcbcc
9-line stanza:
8 iambic pentameter lines
Final alexandrine (12 syllables)

Sidney and the Sonnet Tradition

Sir Philip Sidney
Representative Renaissance gentleman:
Scholar
Courtier
Diplomat
Critic
Poet
Major Works
Astrophel and Stella
Arcadia
Defence of Poesie

Astrophel and Stella

Astrophel and Stella
108 sonnets + 11 songs.
Based on love for Penelope Devereux (Stella).
Combines:
Petrarchan convention
Personal emotion
Psychological depth
Famous Line
“Fool,” said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart and write.”
Famous Sonnets
“With how sad steps, O moon…”
“Come sleep! O sleep…”
“Leave me, O love which reachest but to dust…”

Arcadia
Arcadia
Pastoral prose romance mixed with poetry.
Themes:
Ideal love
Friendship
Kingship
Virtue
Versions
Old Arcadia
Revised Arcadia
Influence
Major prose romance influencing later English fiction.

Defence of Poesie
Defence of Poesie
First important English literary criticism.
Main Ideas
Poet creates a “golden world.”
Poetry teaches better than:
History
Philosophy
Poetry delights and instructs.

Sir Walter Ralegh

Sir Walter Ralegh
Courtier, explorer, soldier, poet.
Poetry marked by:
Simplicity
Strength
Stoic tone
Important Poems
“The Lie”
“The Passionate Man’s Pilgrimage”
Sonnet on The Faerie Queene

Fulke Greville
Fulke Greville
Stoic and Calvinist thinker.
Themes:
Human conflict
Religion vs worldly life
Political morality
Important Works
Caelica
Mustapha
Alaham

Elizabethan Sonnet Tradition

Important Sonneteers
Samuel Daniel — Delia
Michael Drayton — Idea
William Shakespeare — Sonnets
Henry Constable — Diana
Thomas Lodge — Phillis
Barnabe Barnes — Parthenophil and Parthenophe
Giles Fletcher — Licia
Characteristics
Petrarchan conceits
Idealized love
Emotional conflict
Wit and rhetoric

Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Features:
Dramatic intensity
Irony
Psychological complexity
Powerful concluding couplets
Shakespearean Sonnet Form
abab cdcd efef ggabab\;cdcd\;efef\;ggababcdcdefefgg

Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Important Poems
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
Hero and Leander
Features
Sensuous imagery
Magnificent flow
Classical mythology

Important Elizabethan Translations

Translator Work

Thomas North Plutarch’s Lives

Arthur Golding Metamorphoses

George Chapman Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey

Sir John Harington Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso

Edward Fairfax Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata

Important One-Line Exam Points

Spenser is called “the poets’ poet.”
The Faerie Queene is an allegorical epic.
Redcross Knight symbolizes Holiness.
Sir Guyon symbolizes Temperance.
Britomart symbolizes Chastity.
Spenserian stanza = 9 lines + alexandrine.
Sidney wrote Defence of Poesie.
“Look in thy heart and write” → Sidney.
Shakespeare used the rhyme scheme:
abab cdcd efef gg
Marlowe wrote Hero and Leander.

Drama from Miracle Plays to Marlowe — Important Points & Authors

1. Origins of English Drama
Began from Church liturgy and religious rituals.
Early dramatic form: Quem Quaeritis trope (“Whom do you seek in the sepulchre?”).
Developed into Liturgical Drama in Latin.
Later moved outside churches and became Miracle Plays in English.

MIRACLE PLAYS
Features
Based on:
Bible stories
Lives of saints
Creation to Doomsday
Performed during Corpus Christi festival
Organized by trade guilds
Staged on pageant wagons

Important Miracle Play Cycles

Chester Cycle
25 plays
From:
Fall of Lucifer
To Last Judgment
Includes:
Noah
Abraham and Isaac
Nativity
Passion
Resurrection
York Cycle
Originally 54 plays
More developed dramatically
Important:
Passion plays
Shepherd plays
Resurrection
Wakefield Cycle / Towneley Plays
32 plays
Most artistic cycle
Famous for realism and comedy
Important Plays
Secunda Pastorum
Famous shepherd play
Comic sheep-stealing episode
Written by anonymous Wakefield Master
Noah Plays
Noah’s wife shown as comic, shrewish character.

MORALITY PLAYS
Features
Allegorical drama
Characters are:
Virtues
Vices
Abstract qualities
Theme:
Struggle for man’s soul
Salvation

Important Morality Plays

The Pride of Life
Earliest morality play
Theme: inevitability of death
The Castle of Perseverance
Large allegorical play
Hero: Humanum Genus (Mankind)
Conflict between Virtues and Vices
Wisdom
Moral struggle of soul and senses
Mankind
Mixes morality with coarse comedy
Everyman
Most important morality play.
Characters
Everyman
Death
Fellowship
Goods
Good Deeds
Knowledge
Theme
Only good deeds accompany man after death.

INTERLUDES
Features
Short secular plays
Comic and realistic
Transitional stage between morality plays and Elizabethan drama

Important Interlude Writers

John Heywood
Most important interlude writer.
Important Plays
The Play of the Weather
The Four PP
Johan Johan
Features
Humor
Debate
Farce
Domestic comedy

HUMANIST & POLITICAL MORALITIES

John Bale
Protestant propagandist playwright
Important Play
King Johan
First historical morality play
Presents King John as Protestant hero

John Skelton
Important Play
Magnificence
Political morality play
Theme of moderation

FIRST ENGLISH COMEDIES

Nicholas Udall
Ralph Roister Doister
First English comedy
Inspired by Plautus
Character:
Braggart soldier (Miles Gloriosus type)
Gammer Gurton’s Needle
Early English comedy
Rustic humor
Simple comic plot about a lost needle

IMPORTANT DRAMATIC DEVELOPMENTS

From Miracle Plays
→ Biblical stories
To Morality Plays
→ Allegory and salvation
To Interludes
→ Comedy and realism
To Humanist Drama
→ Education and politics
Finally toward Elizabethan Drama
→ Real characters, structured plots, secular themes

Important Terms
 Term Meaning

Dramatic addition to church ritual

Liturgical Drama Drama inside church in Latin

Miracle Play Biblical/religious play

Morality Play Allegorical play

Interlude Short comic secular play

Pageant Wagon Moving stage

Most Important Names for Exams

Author/Play Importance

Everyman Greatest morality play

Wakefield Master Best miracle-play writer

John Heywood Master of interludes

Ralph Roister Doister First English comedy

King Johan Early history play

Gammer Gurton’s Needle Early rustic comedy

Key Points: From Miracle Plays to Marlowe
Early English Comedy
1. Gammer Gurton’s Needle
Rustic English comedy.
Main comic figure: Diccon the Bedlam — combines:
Medieval Vice character
Classical parasite
Written in rhyming “fourteeners.”
Important for lively conversational tone.
2. Supposes — by George Gascoigne
Adapted from Ludovico Ariosto’s Gli Suppositi.
First English prose comedy (1566).
Plot:
Student + clever servant outwit elders.
Mistaken identities and disguises.
Influenced:
The Taming of the Shrew
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Much Ado About Nothing

Rise of English Tragedy

Senecan Influence
Seneca the Younger
Major influence on Elizabethan tragedy.
Features:
Revenge
Horror
Murder
Rhetoric
Stoic moralizing
Ghosts
Violence
English translations
By Jasper Heywood and others.

Early Tragic Experiments

1. Damon and Pythias — Richard Edwards
Story of friendship.
Mixes:
Moralizing
Fooling/comedy
2. Horestes — John Pickering
Orestes’ revenge story.
Includes:
Vice character
Violence
Allegory
3. Cambises — Thomas Preston
“Lamentable tragedy mixed full of pleasant mirth.”
Shakespeare mocked its bombastic style.
4. Apius and Virginia
By “R.B.”
Called a “tragical comedy.”

Sidney’s Criticism of English Drama

Philip Sidney — Defence of Poesie
Criticized English drama for:
Ignoring classical unities
Mixing kings and clowns
Mixing tragedy and comedy
Praised only:
Gorboduc — by:
Thomas Sackville
Thomas Norton
Importance of Gorboduc
First English blank verse tragedy.
Senecan model.
Themes:
Civil war
Division of kingdom
Political disorder
Also called:
Ferrex and Porrex

Development of Theatres
Public Theatres
First permanent theatre:
The Theatre (1576)
Built by James Burbage
Other theatres:
Curtain
Rose
Swan
Globe
Features of Elizabethan Stage
Open-air
Round/octagonal
Platform stage
No scenery
Heavy reliance on language
Boys played women’s roles
Private Theatres
Example:
Blackfriars
Used by choir boys/child actors.

The University Wits

Group of educated playwrights:
John Lyly
Robert Greene
George Peele
Thomas Lodge
Thomas Kyd
Thomas Nashe
Christopher Marlowe
Importance
Professional playwrights.
Made drama literary.
Prepared way for William Shakespeare.

John Lyly
Famous for:
Euphuistic prose style.
Court comedies.
Important Plays
Campaspe
Sapho and Phao
Endimion
Midas
Gallathea
The Woman in the Moon
Mother Bombie
Contributions
Polished prose dialogue.
Mythological and pastoral comedy.
Influenced Shakespearean comedy.

George Peele
Important Plays
The Arraignment of Paris
Old Wives’ Tale
Battle of Alcazar
Edward I
The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe
Features
Lyricism
Mythology
Pastoral elements
Weak dramatic structure

Robert Greene
Important Plays
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
James IV
George a Green
Orlando Furioso
Alphonsus, King of Arragon
Contributions
Developed romantic comedy.
Mixed romance with realism.
Influenced Shakespeare’s:
Twelfth Night
As You Like It

Thomas Lodge
Important Work
Rosalynde
Source for As You Like It
Play
The Wounds of Civil War
Thomas Nashe
Important Play
Summer’s Last Will and Testament
Famous prose work
The Unfortunate Traveller

Thomas Kyd
Major Work:
The Spanish Tragedy
Importance
Founder of revenge tragedy.
Huge influence on Elizabethan drama.
Features
Revenge theme
Ghost
Madness
Play within a play
Violence
Melodrama
Main Characters
Hieronimo
Horatio
Bell-imperia
Lorenzo
Balthazar
Influence on Shakespeare
Influenced:
Hamlet
A Midsummer Night's Dream

Other Important Tragedies

Locrine
Legendary British story.
Senecan influence.
Arden of Feversham
First domestic tragedy.
Based on real murder.
Psychological realism.

Christopher Marlowe
Importance
Greatest of the University Wits.
Perfected blank verse.
Created heroic tragedy.

Tamburlaine the Great

Themes
Power
Ambition
Conquest
Renaissance individualism
Features
Mighty blank verse
Exotic imagery
Heroic overreacher
Famous idea
“Infinite aspiration.”

Doctor Faustus
Central Theme
Desire for unlimited knowledge and power.
Features
Renaissance ambition
Pact with Devil
Good Angel vs Evil Angel
Tragic conflict between:
Knowledge
Salvation
Famous Scenes
Helen of Troy speech:
“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships…”
Final soliloquy before damnation.
Importance
First great English tragic hero.
Blend of morality play + Renaissance tragedy.

Other Marlowe Plays

The Jew of Malta
Machiavellian villain:
Barabas
Edward II
Historical tragedy.
Study of weakness and political ambition.
Prepares way for Shakespeare’s history plays.

Most Important Exam Points

One-line Facts
First English comedy in prose → Supposes
First English blank verse tragedy → Gorboduc
Founder of revenge tragedy → Thomas Kyd
Founder of romantic comedy → Robert Greene
Greatest University Wit → Christopher Marlowe
“Marlowe’s mighty line” → powerful blank verse
First domestic tragedy → Arden of Feversham
First permanent theatre → The Theatre (1576)
Builder of first theatre → James Burbage