The English Renaissance

1485 - 1660

Monarch HistoryPrior to 1485: 30-year civil War of the Roses –

Lancasters – red roseYorks – 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 rivalHenry 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 popeHenry VIII wants freedom from papal authorityonly has daughter (Mary)Requests annulment Denied

Protestant ideas, cont’d.

Secretly marries Anne Boleyn (wife’s court attendant) 1533Forces Parliament to pass Act in Restraint of Appeals – declares the King England’s highest judicial authorityDeclares self head of Church of England (Anglican church)

Protestant ideas, cont’d.

Irony: Anne Boleyn only has a daughter (Elizabeth)Is beheaded3rd marriage (to Jane Seymour): son, Edward VIReigns age 9 – 16 & diesEngland – even greater Protestant

Protestant ideas, cont’d.

Half-sister Mary reigns – tries unsuccessfully to reintroduce Roman CatholicismPersecuted Protestants – “Bloody Mary”Half-sister Elizabeth becomes queen 1558

Queen Elizabeth

One of the ablest monarchs in English historyExcellent politicianEngland – time of unprecedented prosperity & international prestigesingle

Queen Elizabeth, cont’d.

Remained in the middle on religious mattersMade 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 warExcommunicated from Catholic Church

Martin Luther: enraged with Roman Catholic ways

Ninety-five Theses – posted on Castle Church in Wittenberg, 1517Example: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 RomeLeads to a Catholic Reformation as well

Renaissance“rebirth”Began in 14th-c. ItalyMore modern view of stressing human life here on earth rather than religion & afterlifeFocus: 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 potentialBible is translated into other languagesFocus: cultivating innate talents to the fullestSurge of creative energy

Elizabethan TheaterMost popular art form – increased value of the spoken wordPriority in educational curriculum & societyInexpensiveSubject of interest: the heroic individualStill retained “heaven” & “hell”

Following Elizabeth’s reign:

Financial recklessness of James I & Charles IReliance more on Parliament to curb king’s powerPetition of Right est. – limited power of Chas. I1642 civil war: Royalists vs. Parliament & Puritans (Oliver Cromwell) – Royalists defeated

Following Elizabeth, cont’d.

Parliament invites Charles II to return from exile Assumes throne 1660Restoration period begins…

Shakespeare’s Poetic Techniques

Verse drama – play written as a poem; all of his plays are considered theseMeter – pattern of beat, or rhythm, in a line of poetryIamb – 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 reliefLess important charactersThose of lower classupper class talking to those of lower classThose of less intelligenceLetters

Expressing madness

Shakespeare varies his verse

Rhyming couplets – 2 rhyming lines

Why?Signal the end of a sceneSignal the exit or entrance of a characterFor emphasisWitches – power over the other characters (usually never over 4 beats/iambs per line)