Background

1. Background The Renaissance

2. Renaissance • “Re-Birth”-a period of change and growth • 1300-1650 • Revisited Greek and Roman art and literature • Stirred by the imagination • Thirsted for knowledge • Explored the scope of human potential • Began in Italy

3. The beginning… • Crusades were the ironic start? • Merchants were the primary patrons • Writers, musicians, philosophers, artists and thinkers • Petrarch (1304-1374) • Coined the term “Renaissance” • Wrote in the vernacular • First Humanist *The interest in human individuality and learning as well as the focus on what is intrinsic NOT forced religious morality.

4. “Primary concern with the world of here and now stimulated experimentation rather than logic, observation rather than inherited precepts” (797).

5. The Individual • Humanists • People were the most important subject of study • Human centered view of the universe • Humans are the measure of all things • “Man is the measure of all things” -Protagoras (c. 485-410 B.C.) • “Renaissance Person” • One with skills and interests in many areas • Da Vinci’s "Vitruvian Man"

6. New Spirit of Inquiry • Developed skills of observation and questioned known authorities (esp. the church) • Copernicus- heliocentric • Galileo- improved on many budding scientific ideas • Machiavelli- The Prince • Pragmatism: the idea that the ends justify the means • *** 1527 The Renaissance ended in Italy

7. On the flipside…The Rise of Printing • 1455 Gutenberg created the printing press • First printed Bible • Encouraged vernacular reading resulted in people thinking for themselves about religion • Wycliffe and More pushed these ideas and paved the way the Reformation

8. Speaking of Reformation… • As a result of the printing press Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses (complaints) • Created Protestantism • People did not need the Church to be connected to God • New Influence on art and literature • The art showed people doing things • The literature showed people as active and dynamic

10. So was there anything that the “Rennis” took from the “Medis”? • Humours: (from medieval physiology) four liquids in the human body affecting behavior. Each humour was associated with one of the four elements of nature. In a balanced personality, no humour predominated. When a humour did dominate, it caused a particular personality. Here is a chart of the humours, the corresponding elements and personality characteristics: • blood...air...hot and moist: sanguine, kind, happy, romantic • phlegm...water...cold and moist: phlegmatic, sedentary, sickly, fearful • yellow bile...fire...hot and dry: choleric, ill-tempered, impatient, stubborn • black bile...earth...cold and dry: melancholy, gluttonous,  lazy, contemplative • The Renaissance took the doctrine of humours quite seriously--it was their model of psychology--so knowing that can help us understand the characters in the literature. Falstaff, for example, has a dominance of blood, while Hamlet seems to have an excess of black bile. Many of Chaucer’s characters also are described by their humours. • What do you think the characters of Taming of the Shrew will have? • This focus on the body and personality connects directly back to humanism.

11. The influence of Renaissance Humanism reflected in art and literature… • http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/ren-humanism

12. Explication • Now that we have discussed an explication of a Renaissance work of art let us read the works that express these ideas. • Who coined the term Renaissance? • What is a sonnet? • A fourteen line poem, usually in iambic pentameter, with a varied rhyme scheme. The two main types of sonnet are the Petrarchan (or Italian) and the Shakespearean (or English).

13. Art Explication

14. Some devices you will encounter… • Conceit. An elaborate, usually intellectually ingenious poetic comparison or image, such as an analogy or metaphor in which, say a beloved is compared to a ship, planet, etc. The comparison may be brief or extended. • Petrarchan Conceit: Eyes like stars or the sun, hair like golden wires, etc. are common examples. Oxymorons are also common, such as freezing fire, burning ice, etc. • Enjambment: The running over of a sentence or thought into the next couplet or line without a pause at the end of the line; a run-on line. • Synecdoche: Speaking of a part to represent the whole. “Can you lend me a hand?” • Metonymy: A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. “We read Shakespeare, that is his poems and plays (not him literally).” • Synesthesia: The description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another. “The music tasted of champagne.”

15. Some more… • Hyperbole: is exaggeration or overstatement • Understatement: used to understate the obvious • Onomatopoeia: is a word that imitates the sound it represents • Mood: is the emotional attitude the author takes towards his subject • Tone:is the attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character • Connotation: is an implied meaning of a word • Anastrophe: Inversion of the normal syntactic order of words, for example: To market went she; “Yoda speak”decideyoumust.wav • Apostrophe: is when an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important object is directly addressed: With how sad steps, O moon, thou climbest the skies. • Consonance: is the repetition of consonant sounds, but not vowels • lady lounges lazily , dark deep dread crept • Assonance: is the repetition of vowel sounds but not consonant sounds • fleet feet sweep by sleeping geeks

16. ‘nough said, written, PowerPointed… • Now is the time to begin our study of the Renaissance with a man whose battle with unrequited love made him famous. Francesco Petrarch Page 804 in the text

17. While you may feel like this…

18. These poems are really not that bad! Once you try writing one, you will appreciate their work. Yup, that means that you will be writing one!