The Renaissance 14 th – 17 th Century

The Renaissance14th – 17th Century

The Renaissance was a period of literature originating in Italy in the 14th century. • Renaissance is a French word that means “rebirth.” • Historians consider the Renaissance to be the beginning of modern history. • The Renaissance was much more than simply studying the work of ancient scholars. It influenced the painting, sculpture, and architecture for decades to come.

1485 Accession of Henry VII 1509 Accession of Henry VIII What was happening in England. 1558 Accession of Elizabeth I 1588 Defeat of Spanish Armada 1603 Death of Elizabeth I

How They Spoke • Fie - A curse, as in "Fie on thee, poxy harlot!" • Huzzah! - a cheer • S'wounds! - An exclamation, like wow. A shortened from "gods wounds". • Tosspot- Drunkard

Major Writers Christopher Marlowe Edmund Spenser William Shakespeare Hamlet The faerie queene Doctor Faustus John Milton • Sir Philip Sidney • Sir Thomas More Paradise Lost Astrophel and Stella utopia

John Donne – 1572-1631 • John Donne was born in London the son of a wealthy ironmonger and the maternal grandson of the playwright John Heywood. • Brought up a Catholic, he was educated at Oxford, he later converted to the Church of England. • He trained as a lawyer at Lincoln's Inn where he became notorious for his wit and high living • His poetry, which was published primarily: on love and religious themes and is characterised by its intensity, passion, intellectual argument, word-play, and cryptic complexity.

Henry Vaughan- 1622-1695 • Henry Vaughan was born at Newton-upon-Usk in Brecknockshire, Wales. • Both he and his brother attended Jesus College, Oxford but Henry left without taking a degree to study Law in London. • His studies were disrupted by the Civil War, however, and he returned to Wales to practise as a doctor. • He also produced a number of prose works on religious and medieval themes.

George Herbert- 1593-1633 • In 1630, in his late thirties he gave up his secular ambitions and took holy orders in the Church of England. • All of Herbert's English surviving poems are religious, and some have been used as hymns. • They are characterised by directness of expression and some conceits which can appear quaint. • Many of his poems have intricate rhyme schemes, and variations of lines within stanzas.

Not only did these three poets write about religion, but they were all metaphysical poets as well. Metaphysical poems are/were usually new sciences and consisted of unusual comparisons and far-fetched similes and metaphors.

Critical Opinion Samuel Johnson, who was also the first to group these poets together as ‘metaphysical poets’ claimed that "they were not successful in representing or moving the affections“ however their work was almost always intellectually stimulating.

The Flea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tJ8IlPh_qA

In the eyes of John Donne, the flea having taken blood from both him and his lover meant that he and his lover had effectively made love. M F

BY PARAM AND BHAVINI

The Renaissance 14 th – 17 th Century