Renaissance or Tudor Era

1
Renaissance (or Tudor) Era

• 1485-1603

2
Two Different Renaissances

• Italian Renaissance (1330-1550)
• Mostly visual arts
• Painting
• Sculpture
• English Renaissance
• Mostly literature
• Noted as a period of British nationalism

3
English Renaissance

• Renaissance
• New beginning
• Many causes
• Invention of printing press creates an explosion
  of literacy (20,000 works of literature printed
  in England from 1476-1640)
• Adaptation and translation of several works
  (especially Greek classics) into English
• New curiosity sparked by exploration and
  discovery of the New World
• English Reformation under Henry VIII

4
Humanism

• New philosophy that encouraged knowledge of the
  arts, languages, and a generally broad and active
  education
• Newly created middle class
• Led to a great spirit of confidence and an urge
  to explorebelieved humans should strive to reach
  new heights
• Narratives, poetry, and dramas reflect the ideas
  of the timesespecially criticisms of the
  monarchs and the Church

5
POETRY

• Switched from narrative poetry to lyrical poetry
• Sonnets (favorite verse-form)
• 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter (10
  syllables in every line) with a varying rhyme
  scheme
• Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare most famous
• Sonnet cycleseries of sonnets that fit together
  to tell a story
• Theme of most sonnets is LOVE and they are used
  to teach a universal truth about life

6
POETRY Contd

• Pastoral poetry
• Makes the rustic simplicity of rural life sound
  perfect
• A shepherd addresses a shepherdess with whom he
  is in love
• Allows urban readers the chance to experience the
  perfect life found in nature
• Many had replies
• Christopher Marlowe The Passionate Shepherd to
  His Love (TOO perfect)
• Sir Walter Raleigh The Nymphs Reply to the
  Shepherd (harsh and realistic)

7
Persuasive Writing

• Often depicts the Monarch as Hero to inspire
  confidence and loyalty in citizens
• Some writers praise or flatter rulers in order to
  gain favor with them
• Occasionally used to try to effect change in
  government institutions
• Many examples from this time period are actually
  speeches BY rulers used to rally troops or build
  morale
• Queen Elizabeth I had several memorable speeches

8
Persuasive Writing Contd

• Sir Thomas Mores Utopia (Greek for no place)
• Written to King Henry VIII
• Uses a REASONED ARGUMENT
• One idea logically supports another
• If A happens, then B will happen
• Paints a picture of the heroic monarch
• Points out the negative aspects of Henry VIIIs
  reign and begs him to see how much better his
  country would be if he stopped acting selfishly
• NOTE! Just after this book was published,
  Henry VIII had More beheaded for refusing to sign
  an oath of allegiance to the Church of England
  after his divorce from Catherine of Aragon

9
Shakespeare

• Shakespeare was actually a Renaissance writer,
  but due to his importance, we give him an era all
  to himself!