1. The English Renaissance
The REBIRTH of Classical Knowledge

2. Life is GOOD!

• Human beings and nature as the results of natural law rather than occult powers
• 3. Focus on afterlife switches to focus on the Here and Now.

Discovery of New World and International Travel
Invention of the printing press
Rise of Democracy and Nationalism
Revitalized interest in education and the founding of Universities
Patronage of the arts

4. Rediscovery of the classics
Took classical Greek and Roman writing as an example
Classic writings show mankind as glorious individuals capable ofgreatness
the opposite of what church taught at the time

5. Sonnet
A poem of fourteen lines.
Renaissance sonnets often dealt with love from afar.
A group of sonnets on the same subject are called a sonnet cycleor sequence.
There are two popular types:

6. Sonnet
Italian or Petrarchan:
Divided into an Octave and a Sestet (8 and 6 lines)
Rhyme scheme of abbaabba cdecde

7. Sonnet
Shakespearean or English:
Four divisions- three quatrains and a rhymed concluding couplet
Typical rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg
Spenser sometimes combined the types with what is called a Spenserian Sonnet (very rare)

8. Sir Philip Sidney
Son of a respected statesman, but carried himself with extreme modesty
A courtier, soldier, scholar and poet
Respected for his intelligence & good judgment at the royal court
Most famous work was Astrophel and Stella, Englands first great sonnet sequence
Was engaged to Penelope Devereux, but eventually it was broken off. She is the basis of Stella
Also wrote Defence of Poesy, a defense of literature when it was attacked by the puritans
Was killed in battle, died very nobly

9. Christopher Marlowe
Son of middle class shoemaker, went to Cambridge on a scholarship.
possibly an atheist, highly unorthodox for the time
Popularized BLANK VERSE
possibly a spy for Queen Elizabeths Secret Service
murdered in a bar fight. May have been political assassination.
Famous works: The Tragical History of the life and Death of Doctor Faustus, the pastoral poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Was a major influence on the work of Shakespeare.