The Renaissance

1
The Renaissance

• 1500-1660

2
Renaissance Mindset

• THE RENAISSANCE WAS AN AGE OF INDIVIDUAL
  PERSONALITIES, LIBERATED FROM THE POLITICAL
  CONSTRAINTS OF HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR AND POPE, FREE
  TO UNDERSTAND AND EXPRESS THEMSELVES FOR GOOD OR
  EVIL.
• MOTTO MAN IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS.
• Renaissance - rebirth (L. root nas / nat
  birth prefix re again)

3
Human Horizons Widened

• Revival of scholarship based on works of
  Aristotle and Plato
• Queen Elizabeth established some free schools
• Belief that 400 A. D. 1500 A.D. had been a
  dark night of ignorance

4
Humanism

• VIEW OF WORLD WITH HUMAN KIND AT CENTER
  CONCERNED WITH HUMAN INTERESTS / VALUES
• GOALS PERFECTION OF INDIVIDUAL HUMAN
• CHARACTER AND REFORM OF PUBLIC
• EVILS IN CHURCH AND STATE

5
Advances in Science Geography

• SCIENCE
• COPERNICUS (POLAND) -heliocentric
• GALILEO (ITALY)
• GEOGRAPHY
• SIR FRANCIS DRAKE (ENGLAND)
• HERNANDO CORTES (SPAIN)
• BALBOA (SPAIN)
• FOUNDING OF NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES

6
Protestant Reformation

• RELIGIOUS REFORM
• MARTIN LUTHERS NINETY-FIVE THESES
• HENRY VIIIS BREAK WITH CHURCH
• THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER WIDELY AVAILABLE IN
  ENGLISH
• THE KING JAMES BIBLE WRITTEN IN ENGLISH
  (IAMBIC PENTAMETER)

7
CULTURAL CHANGES

• CULTURE
• END OF FEUDALISM
• EMERGENCE OF URBAN CULTURE
• AND CAPITALIST ECONOMY
• EMERGENCE OF PROSPEROUS MIDDLE
• CLASS
• GROWTH OF LAY, NOT CLERICAL,
• CULTURE

8
SOCIAL CHANGES

• PRIZED MORAL / INTELLECTUAL NOBILITY
• OVER BIRTHRIGHT
• SOCIAL CLASSES LESS RIGID A MAN OF NATURAL
  TALENT COULD RISE TO THE TOP OF SOCIAL LADDER

9
Changes in Attitude

• LIFE NO LONGER SEEN AS A JOURNEY THROUGH A VALE
  OF TEARS, BUT
• AS A BEAUTIFUL, EXCITING END-IN-ITSELF
• RENAISSANCE ART REFLECTS THIS NEW OPTIMISM ABOUT
  HUMAN LIFE

10
ELIZABETHAN AGE

• TUDORS AND STUARTS RULED
• ELIZABETH, A TUDOR, RULED 45 YEARS. SINCE SHE
  NEVER MARRIED, ELIZABETH WAS SOMETIMES CALLED
  THE VIRGIN QUEEN. SHE CAME TO THE THRONE AT
  AGE 18.
• THE RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND IS KNOWN AS THE
  ELIZABETHAN AGE.

11
RENAISSANCE LITERATURE

• LITERATURE SHOULD BE STUDIED FOR ITS OWN SAKE AS
  WELL AS IN INTEREST OF
• HUMAN VIRTUE
• THE SONNET - a fourteen line poem with a
  fixed pattern of rhyme and meter (Shakespearean,
  Petrarchan, and Spenserian)
• THE ESSAY, LOVE POETRY, DRAMA
• ONE FORM BLANK VERSE (UNRHYMED
• IAMBIC PENTAMETER)

12
Poetry and Drama

• CAVALIER POETS--LOYAL TO CHARLES I wrote about
  love and patriotism
• METAPHYSICAL POETS (JOHN DONNE)
• POETRY CHARACTERIZED BY HIGH INTELLECTUALISM,
  EVEN IN LOVE POETRY AND CONCEITS
• REDISCOVERY OF ARISTOTLES POETICS
• INFLUENCED DRAMA.

13
The Renaissance Man

• COURTIER
• PATRIOT, SOLDIER, SCHOLAR,POET
• EDUCATED IN CLASSICAL / MODERN LANG.
• SIGNS OF MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL NOBILITY
  RHETORICAL ELOQUENCE, REFINED DICTION, URBANE
  WIT, RECTITUDE OF CONDUCT
• STILL DEVOUTLY RELIGIOUS BUT ENGAGED IN
• WORLDLY PURSUITS
• IN LOVE WITH LIFE -- CARPE DIEM MOTIF

14
Themes for Hamlet

• HUMANS FIND EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENTS NECESSARY.
• A HIGHER BEING OFTEN AIDS MAN IN HIS RIGHTEOUS
  BATTLES.
•  NOTHING IS AS PAINFUL TO THE HUMAN HEART AS
  INSENSITIVITY OR BETRAYAL ON THE PART OF A LOVED
  AND TRUSTED PERSON.
•  LIFE IS FULL OF OBLIGATIONS AND TRIALS.
• HONOR CAN HELP ONE TO DO GOOD.

15
THEMES FOR POETRY

• PAIN IS ASSOCIATED WITH UNREQUITED LOVE.
• LIFE AND BEAUTY ARE TRANSITORY.
• TIME INEXORABLY ERODES ALL THINGS MORTAL AND
  MATERIAL, BUT ART AND LOVE ARE ETERNAL.
• IN PERIODS OF DESPAIR AND SORROW, THE THOUGHTS OF
  THOSE ONE LOVES ARE A SOURCE OF STRENGTH AND
  SUSTENANCE.
• HONOR CAN HELP ONE TO DO GOOD

16
THEMES FOR POETRY

• RECOGNITION OF A LOVED ONES MORTALITY
  STRENGTHENS LOVE FOR THAT PERSON.
• LOVE CAN BE STRONG, STEADFAST, AND CONSTANT.
• MANKIND NEEDS A HUMAN LISTENER. DEATH IS OFTEN
  SEEN AS GIVING REST.
• LIFE IS FULL OF OBLIGATIONS AND TRIALS.