Renaissance Poetry

1
Renaissance Poetry

• 1500-1660
• History and Characteristics

2
The Monarchs

• Henry VII (1485-1509)
• Wars of the Roses ended, unification of England
  began
• Henry VIII (1509-1547)
• People moved to cities, population doubled from
  1563-1605
• Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
• Renaissance flourished
• The Elizabethan Age
• James I of Scotland
• Not as enthusiastic, lost loyalty
• Growing religious and political unrest
• Poetry became more introspective and cynical

3
Societal Factors

• 1476 William Caxton invented the printing press
• Improved methods of paper manufacturing
• By 1640, more than 26,000 different editions and
  works had been published
• By 1530, more than half the population of England
  was literate
• Middle class grew
• Continuing development of trade
• Exploration of other lands brought back and
  encouraged interest in new ideas

4
Societal factors, cont.

• Queen Elizabeth I ruled
• Established 100 free grammar schools for both
  sexes and all ranks of people
• Widespread education for all, not just clergy
• Encouraged intellectual life in her court (she
  was a poet herself)
• Her courtiers were true Renaissance Men
  soldiers, scholars, and poets

5
Significant MovementsHumanism

• The classical ideas of Greece and Rome became
  popular (due partly to expansion of trade and
  widening social contacts)
• These ideas led to HUMANISM
• Philosophy of secularism
• Personal independence and individual expression
• Suspension between faith and reason
• Religion wasnt enough, but the scientific
  answers werent up to par

6
Humanism cont.The carpe diem poem

• seize the day
• Individual experience in the here and now more
  important than the uncertain afterlife
• Aesthetic movement
• Beautiful, ornate, florid language
• Oftentimes took the form of the seduction poem
  
• Sometimes clever and coy, sometimes overt

7
Metaphysical Poetry

• Rebelled against the conventional, aesthetic
  imagery of the Humanist movement
• Under James I, more cynical
• Dealt with the complexities and contradictions
  of life
• Its form fit its focus rough, irregular rhythm
• John Donne leader of metaphysical poetry

8
Metaphysical Poetry cont.Metaphysical Conceit

• Conceit poetic idea, usually a metaphor
• A metaphysical conceit is an unconventional,
  shocking comparison
• It makes us look at a focus in a new, unexpected
  way
• Intellectual, makes you think but the payoff is
  worth it

9
Later Renaissance, post Metaphysics

• Reaction to the metaphysical poets
• Back to classical, pure, restrained style

10
Bibliography

• England in Literature. Glenview, IL Scott
  Foresman, 1991 159-165.
• English Literature. 4 January 2007
  lthttp//encarta.msn.comgt
• Lectures on Modern European Intellectual
  History Renaissance Humanism. 4 January 2007
  lthttp//www.historyguide.orggt
• What is metaphysical poetry? 4 January 2007
  lthttp//spider.georgetowncollege.edugt