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The English Renaissance. 1485 - 1660. Monarch History. Prior to 1485: 30-year civil War of the Roses – Lancasters – red rose Yorks – white rose Lancaster king Henry Tudor (Henry VII) marries York daughter Elizabeth ( R&J ??)
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The English Renaissance 1485 - 1660
Monarch History • Prior to 1485: 30-year civil War of the Roses – • Lancasters – red rose • Yorks – white rose • Lancaster king Henry Tudor (Henry VII) marries York daughter Elizabeth (R&J??) • Tudor royal family est. – ended feudalism (Showtime’s The Tudors, anyone??)
Monarch History, cont’d. • Younger son Henry (VIII) marries Catherine, daughter of king & queen of Spain, New World rival • Henry VIII (1509) – true “Renaissance man” – athlete, poet, musician, educated in French, Italian, & Latin
Protestant ideas arrive to England • Growing dissatisfaction with church abuses and influence of Rome and the pope • Henry VIII wants freedom from papal authority • only has daughter (Mary) • Requests annulment • Denied
Protestant ideas, cont’d. • Secretly marries Anne Boleyn (wife’s court attendant) 1533 • Forces Parliament to pass Act in Restraint of Appeals – declares the King England’s highest judicial authority • Declares self head of Church of England (Anglican church)
Protestant ideas, cont’d. • Irony: Anne Boleyn only has a daughter (Elizabeth) • Is beheaded • 3rd marriage (to Jane Seymour): son, Edward VI • Reigns age 9 – 16 & dies • England – even greater Protestant
Protestant ideas, cont’d. • Half-sister Mary reigns – tries unsuccessfully to reintroduce Roman Catholicism • Persecuted Protestants – “Bloody Mary” • Half-sister Elizabeth becomes queen 1558
Queen Elizabeth • One of the ablest monarchs in English history • Excellent politician • England – time of unprecedented prosperity & international prestige • single
Queen Elizabeth, cont’d. • Remained in the middle on religious matters • Made Anglican church a compromise between Catholicism & radical Protestants (“Puritans”) • The undisputed leader of a great military power, defeated Spanish Armada, ending unpopular Spanish alliance altogether
Queen Elizabeth, cont’d. • Avoided religious war • Excommunicated from Catholic Church
Martin Luther: enraged with Roman Catholic ways • Ninety-five Theses – posted on Castle Church in Wittenberg, 1517 • Example: 32. Those who believe that, through letters of pardon, they are made sure of their own salvation will be eternally damned along with their teachers…
Ninety-five Theses, cont’d. • Eventually leads to a full Protestant Reformation – a breaking away from the Church of Rome • Leads to a Catholic Reformation as well
Renaissance • “rebirth” • Began in 14th-c. Italy • More modern view of stressing human life here on earth rather than religion & afterlife • Focus: arts & literature (remember the printing press!), beauty of nature, human impulses, mastery over the world, & astronomy
Renaissance, cont’d. • New emphasis on the individual & development of human potential • Bible is translated into other languages • Focus: cultivating innate talents to the fullest • Surge of creative energy
Elizabethan Theater • Most popular art form – increased value of the spoken word • Priority in educational curriculum & society • Inexpensive • Subject of interest: the heroic individual • Still retained “heaven” & “hell”
Following Elizabeth’s reign: • Financial recklessness of James I & Charles I • Reliance more on Parliament to curb king’s power • Petition of Right est. – limited power of Chas. I • 1642 civil war: Royalists vs. Parliament & Puritans (Oliver Cromwell) – Royalists defeated
Following Elizabeth, cont’d. • Parliament invites Charles II to return from exile • Assumes throne 1660 • Restoration period begins…
Shakespeare’s Poetic Techniques • Verse drama – play written as a poem; all of his plays are considered these • Meter – pattern of beat, or rhythm, in a line of poetry • Iamb – unstressed () syllable followed by a stressed (/) syllable / Ex. pre•dict
Shakespeare’s Poetic Techniques • Iambic pentameter – 5 iambs per line • Blank verse – unrhymed iambic pentameter / / / / / Good things of day be•gin to droop and drowse; Where are the 5 iambs separated? Things bad be•gun make strong them•selves by ill.
Shakespeare’s Poetic Techniques Why the large space? Ross: How goes the world, sir, now? Macduff: Why, see you not? To complete the line of iambic pentameter!
Shakespeare varies his verse • Prose – written style of novels, etc. that lacks rhythmic patterns and rhyme; paragraph form Why? • Fools; those used for comic relief • Less important characters • Those of lower class • upper class talking to those of lower class • Those of less intelligence • Letters • Expressing madness
Shakespeare varies his verse • Rhyming couplets – 2 rhyming lines Why? • Signal the end of a scene • Signal the exit or entrance of a character • For emphasis • Witches – power over the other characters (usually never over 4 beats/iambs per line)