The Renaissance Period 1485-1660

The Renaissance Period 1485-1660

The term renaissance is a French word meaning “rebirth.” It refers particularly to a renewed interest in classical learning – the writings of ancient Greece and Rome. The Renaissance Period is considered to be a cultural movement. The Renaissance era in Europe and in England was marked by a change in the way people thought about themselves and the world. No longer content with the fixed religious beliefs of the Middle Ages, people became more interested in expanding their own knowledge.

The War of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars between supporters of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, for the throne of England. They are generally accepted to have been fought in several spasmodic episodes between 1455 and 1485 (although there was related fighting both before and after this period). The war ended with the victory for the Earl of Richmond, Henry Tudor, who founded the House of Tudor, which subsequently ruled England and Wales for 117 years. Henry Tudor, King Henry VII The Tudor Rose

Does this man look full of himself or what? Technically the Renaissance era in England begins when a Tudor nobleman (Henry Tudor) is crowned King Henry VII. However, the Renaissance occurred gradually and this cultural movement occurred across Europe, not just in England. Portraits of King Henry VIII King Henry VII is the father of King Henry VIII, famous for beheading his many wives and breaking with the Catholic Church to create the Church of England.

The Renaissance, a time of renewal of the human spirit, a renewal of curiosity and creativity, started in Italy. Over several centuries Italy had acquired considerable wealth ($), which it had accumulated from banking and trade with the East. Many famous inventors, painters, and writers flourished during this time period. People like: Michelangelo, Christopher Columbus, Galileo, and Da Vinci. The Louvre – Museum in Paris

During the Renaissance educated people began to embrace an intellectual movement known as humanism. Humanists looked not only to the Bible but also to the Latin and Greek classics for wisdom and knowledge. Humanists combined classical ideology with traditional Christian thought in order to teach people how to live and rule. Humanism is a movement that came from what we today would call humanities, which is the study of philosophy, history, languages and the arts. Michelangelo's David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture.

An invention that transformed this historical time period is the printing press. Early books were written by hand and preserved by monks and Byzantine and Islamic scholars. However, the invention of the printing press in the early 15th century (early 1400’s) dramatically changed the way people received information. No longer were the elite or nobles the only ones to have access to books, newspapers, journals, etc. With the power to have more books comes more reading, thus more enlightenment.

Johannes Gutenburgis credited with inventing the first printing press in Germany around 1400. By 1476 William Caxton had his own printing press up and running in Westminster, England.

The new mind frame of the Renaissance was to attain virtue, not success or money or fame. This new ideal is founded on the belief that virtue is the best possible human possession and the only source of true happiness.

Poetry of the Renaissance/Elizabethan Age Major themes – love and beauty Physical beauty – outward sign of the spirit striving for perfection (humanist theory). Poet writes to a lady who is inflexible. Man seeks her love, but hopelessly. Her moods create the weather. Lady is usually not real (a stereotype). “Fair” = a sign of beauty

Carpe Diem and Pastoral Poetry Carpe Diem is a Latin phrase which means “seize the day.” Poets in the Renaissance were pushing for enlightenment and the concept of fleeting time/life being short meant more authors were generating poems with these themes: Live for today. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Pastoral Poetry focuses on the idealized countryside and the simple life. With cities on the rise, there was a desire to get back to the simplistic things in life. Pastoral poetry idealizes a simple life.

THE SONNET TYPES AND CHARACTERISTICS

Your Eyes For my dearest Jessie Zeigler Your eyes amist, delicious twists of gray, They watch your silken hair splay round my hand. Your smile awry; I laugh—I cry to stay Yet take my leave for lack of holy bands. Ah me, so waiting in my solitude. I bear; I grin; I sweat; I die in wait. My lady sweet, know that you’re here pursued. Yet even while the star-crossed stars dictate, Go clothe yourself with moon and stars of sky. Your bouquet is the sun upon its rise. So come to me that day when day comes nigh; I’ll say, “My Lovely,” to those starlit eyes. Those twists of gray alight in passion’s love, They watch at last our names writ out above.

BACKGROUND • The sonnet originated in Sicily in the 13th Century with Giacomo da Lentino (1188-1240), a lawyer who wrote his poems in the Sicilian dialect of Italian • Some authorities credit another Italian, Guittoned'Arezzo (1230-1294), with originating the sonnet. • The English word "sonnet" comes from the Italian word "sonetto," meaning "little song." Some early sonnets were set to music, with accompaniment provided by a lute. • The Italian poet Petrarch (1304-1374), a Roman Catholic priest, popularized the sonnet more than two centuries before Shakespeare was born. Other popular Italian sonneteers were Dante Alighieri, who is famous for writing The Inferno.

The sonnet form was introduced in England by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547). • In Italy, England, and elsewhere between the 13th and early 16th Centuries, the most common theme of sonnets was love. Sonnets in later times also focused on religion, politics, and other concerns of the reading public.

TYPES SONNET Petrarchan Shakespearean

What are the lines about? Do they tell a story?Do they speak about feelings? PETRARCHAN When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself, and curse my fate, SHAKESPEAREAN How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. LYRIC

How many lines do these sonnets have? PETRARCHAN SHAKESPEAREAN Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines And often is his gold complexion dimmed And every fair from fair sometime declines By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed: But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou 1ow'st Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee • When I consider how my light is spent • Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, • And that one talent which is death to hide • Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent • To serve therewith my Maker, and present • My true account, lest he returning chide, • "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?“ • I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent • That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need • Either man's work or his own gifts: who best • Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state • Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed • And post o'er land and ocean without rest: • They also serve who only stand and wait." LYRIC 14 lines

How many syllables are there per line?Notice the stress pattern of the lines PETRARCHAN When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself, and curse my fate, SHAKESPEAREAN How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. LYRIC 14 lines 10 syllables

How many syllables are there per line?What syllables have stress?U =unstressed; / =stressed PETRARCHAN When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state, SHAKESPEAREAN How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height U / U / U / U U / U / U / U / / U / U / U / U / U / U U / U / U / U / U / / U / LYRIC 14 lines 10 syllables

CHARACTERISTICS • a lyric poem • consisting of fourteen lines • written in iambicpentameter • An iamb is a metrical foot consisting ofan unaccented syllable U followed by an accented syllable / . • Pentameter means there are 5 iambs in the line • 2 syllables x 5=10 syllables • “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.” • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R98BjmPI_5M

PETRARCHAN

Sonnet XLIIElizabeth Barrett Browning How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. A B B A A B B A • COUNT THE NUMBER OF LINES • IDENTIFY THE RHYME SCHEME

I love with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death C D C D C D • COUNT THE NUMBER OF LINES • IDENTIFY THE RHYME SCHEME • HOW ARE THE LINES DIVIDED?

RHYME scheme • Petrarchan (Italian) rhyme scheme: • abba, abba, cd, cd, cd • abba, abba, cde, cde

Thought structure • Octave/ sestet • The octave, eight lines, presents a situation or idea. • The sestet (sextet), six lines, responds, to the situation or idea in the octave.

English Sonnets The rhyme scheme for the English sonnet is ababcdcdefefgg, with three quatrains (a set of four lines) and a final couplet (two lines). Notice that there are more rhymes in the English sonnet. Because so many Italian words end in vowels, it is easier to find four words that rhyme in that language than it is in English.

How to write a sonnet • Take a sheet of paper and write the rhyme scheme you wish to use down the left hand side. • It is good to use a pencil or word processor so that erasing is easily done. • Think of a subject, word, or object and try writing a first line that has to do with it. • The instructions of your project don’t force you to use iambic pentameter, but if you want to use it, try to keep the de-dump-de-dump rhythm in your head.

Writing Sonnets continued • It helps to write sonnets with the natural divisions in mind. For Shakespearean sonnets, which I consider easier, this would be groups of four lines – abab. Try to get a whole thought into those four and then try to write the connecting four – cdcd. Repeat this for efef. The ending couplet I like to think of as the closer, summing up the poem.

Option B – The Essay • Some of you will choose to write an analysis of “The Shepherd” and “The Nymph’s Reply.” • If you choose this option, there are a few different ways to approach the essay. • Firstly, you could analyze diction. What is the author’s (Christopher Marlow’s or Sir Walter Raleigh’s) intent for using the words they used. On a different level, what was the speakers of the poems’ intent?

Option B continued • Since the poems are speeches between two people to each other, strategies like imagery, pictures or other sensations painted with words, are related to diction. • Secondly, you may wish to analyze the contrasting moods (feelings created in the readers) and themes of the poems. In fact, contrasting diction and imagery might be useful too. • Lastly, keep in mind what you think are the underlying messages of these poems – what to they really mean beneath it all.

The Renaissance Period 1485-1660