English literature is literature from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. This article focuses on Renaissance English literature. (1500–1660)
The pace at which Renaissance styles and ideas penetrated England and Scotland was slow, and the Elizabethan era (1558-1603) is often considered the peak of the English Renaissance. However, many scholars believe that it began in the early 1500s during the reign of Henry VIII (1491 – 1547).
The influence of Italian literature came to England
The sonnet form was introduced into English in the early 16th century by Thomas Wyatt and developed by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who also introduced rhymeless poetry to England and translated Virgil's Aeneas in 1540.
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC that tells the legendary story of Ainias, a Trojan
Long after the Reformation established dialects as the liturgical language of the elite, Latin continued to be used as a language of learning.
Utopia is a novel and political philosophy by Thomas More published in 1516. Written in Latin, the book is a frame narrative that depicts primarily a fictional island society and its religious, social, and political practices.
Elizabethan era (1558–1603)
Elizabethan literature refers to the works of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and is one of the most glorious eras of English literature. In addition to drama and drama, it also witnessed a flourishing of poetry, with new forms such as sonnets, Spencer verses and dramatic rhymeless poems, as well as prose, including historical chronicles, pamphlets, and the first English novels. Major writers include William Shakespeare, Edmund Spencer, Christopher Marlowe, Richard Hooke, Ben Johnson, Philip Sidney, and Thomas Kidd.
prose
The two most important prose writers of the Elizabethan era were John Riley and Thomas Nash
Riley was an English writer, poet, playwright and politician best known for his book Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578). Riley's stylistic origins in his first book, known as euphuism, are also seen as a major influence on William Shakespeare's plays, especially romantic comedies.
The story goes: Euphreys, a young man in Greece, goes to Italy in search of the joy of life, where he meets a good friend. When his friend introduces his fiancée (Lucila) to Euphreys, he falls in love with the woman and intends to snatch her up. Naturally, their friendship was broken. The woman then leaves Euphus to find another lover, and Euphreys and his friends regain their friendship.
Nash is considered the greatest pamphlet author of the Elizabethan era in England. He is a playwright, poet and satirist best known for his novel The Unfortunate Traveller.
poetry
Italian literature had an important influence on the poetry of Thomas Wyatt, one of the earliest poets of the English Renaissance. He was responsible for many innovations in English poetry and, together with Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, introduced sonnets from Italy to England in the early 16th century. Wyatt's stated goal was to try to use English, civilize it, and elevate its power to the power of its neighbors. Although his extensive literary work included translations and imitations of sonnets by the Italian poet Petrarch, he also wrote his own sonnets. Wyatt chose themes from Petrarch's sonnets, but his rhyming scheme underwent a major shift. Petrarch's sonnet consists of an "octave", the rhyming abba abba, after a turn, in a sense, a sestet with various rhyming schemes, but his poetry never ends in a rhyming couplet. Wyatt uses Petra dry octaves, but his most common site solution is cddc EE. This marks the beginning of the English sonnet, which has 3 sonnets and a closing couplet.
Wyatt
In the late 16th century, English poetry was characterized by the exposition of language and the extensive allusions to classical mythology. The most important poets of this era included Edmund Spencer and Sir Philip Sidney. Elizabeth herself was also influenced by Renaissance humanism, occasionally writing poems such as On the Departure of Mr. Mister and Doubts about Future Enemies.
Edmund Spenser was one of the most important poets of the period, writing The Faerie Queene, an epic and fantasy fable celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I.
Another important figure, Sir Philip Sidney, was an English poet, courtier and soldier who was hailed as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan era.
drama
John. Flolio
During the reigns of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and James I (1603-25), in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a London-centered culture, both courtly and popular, produced great poetry and drama. British playwrights were interested in the Italian model: a striking Italian actor had settled in London. The linguist and lexicographer John Florio, whose father was Italian, was a royal language tutor at the court of James I, and a friend and influencer of William Shakespeare, who brought much of the Italian language and culture to England.
The Spanish Tragedy, 1615 pp
The Spanish Tragedy was very popular and influential at the time, establishing a new genre in English literary drama, revenge drama or revenge tragedy. Its plot contains several violent murders and includes the incarnation of revenge as one of the characters. Spanish tragedies are often mentioned or imitated in the works of other Elizabethan playwrights, including William Shakespeare, Ben Johnson, and Christopher Marlowe. Many elements of The Spanish Tragedy, such as theatrical play-within-a-play used to trap murderers and ghosts intending revenge, appear in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Thomas Kyd is often proposed as the author of the hypothetical Your-Hamlet, which may have been one of Shakespeare's main sources of Hamlet.
Jane Lumley was the first to translate Euripides into English. Her translation of Iphigenia of Oris was the first known theatrical work written by a woman in English.
Christopher Marlowe
Marlowe's (1564-1593) theme differs from Shakespeare's in that it focuses more on the moral drama of Renaissance figures than on anything else. Drawing on German folklore, Marlowe introduced the story of Faust to England in his play Dr. Faust (circa 1592), about a scientist and magician obsessed with the thirst for knowledge and hoping to push the technological power of humanity to the limit, selling his soul to the devil. Faust used "the dramatic framework of morality" to present a story of temptation, depravity, and curse, and its free use of moral characters such as good angels and bad angels and the Seven Deadly Sins, as well as Lucifer the Devil and Mephistopheles.
Thomas Dekker worked on about forty plays between 1598 and 1602, usually collaboratively. He is particularly remembered for The Shoemaker's Holiday (1599), and he seems to be the sole author. Decker is known for his "realistic depiction of everyday life in London" and "his sympathy for the poor and oppressed".
William shakespeare
Shakespeare stood out as a poet and playwright during this period. Shakespeare wrote plays in various genres, including history, tragedy, comedy and late romantic stories or tragicomedies. His early classical and Italian comedies, such as The Comedy of Error, contained a tight double plot and precise comedy sequences that in the mid-1590s gave way to the romantic atmosphere of his greatest comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream, All Rejoicing, Nothing Wrong, and Twelfth Night. After Lyrical Richard II, written almost entirely in poetry, Shakespeare introduced prose comedy into the history of the late 1590s, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. This period begins and ends with two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar, based on the parallel life of Plutarch, translated by Sir Thomas North in 1579, introducing a new kind of drama.
Shakespeare's career continued into the Jacobian period, and in the early 17th century, Shakespeare wrote what he called "drama of problems," including Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, and Antony and Cleopatra. The plot of Shakespeare's tragedies often depends on these fatal mistakes or flaws that upend the order and destroy the hero and his loved ones. In his final period, Shakespeare turned to romance or tragicomedy.
After Shakespeare's death, the poet and playwright Ben Johnson (1572-1637) was a major literary figure in Jacob's time. Jonson's aesthetics date back to the Middle Ages, and his characters embody a theory of humor based on contemporary medical theories. Johnson's comedies include Walpen (1605 or 1606) and Bartholomew Fair (1614). Other followers of the Johnson style included Beaumont and Fletcher, who wrote the popular comedy The Knight of the Burning Pestle (probably 1607–08), which satirized the rising middle class.
Jacob's period
poetry
Shakespeare also popularized the English sonnet, which made a major change to Petrarch's model. A collection of 154 sonnets, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty, and death, was first published in 1609.
John. Dorne
In addition to Shakespeare, the major poets of the early 17th century included the metaphysical poets John Dorne and George Herbert. Influenced by continental Baroque styles and with Christian mysticism and erotic themes, Dorne's metaphysical poetry uses unconventional or "non-poetic" figures, such as compasses or mosquitoes, to achieve unexpected effects.
George Chapman was a successful playwright who was mainly known for translating Homer's Iliad and Odyssey into English poetry in 1616. It was the first ever to translate the poem into English in its entirety, and it had a profound impact on English literature.
prose
The philosopher Sir Francis Bacon wrote the utopian novel Neo-Atlantis and coined the phrase "knowledge is power". Francis Godwin's 1638 the Man in the Moone, about a fictional voyage to the moon, is now considered the first science fiction novel in English literature.
During the Reformation, the translation of liturgy and scripture into vernacular language provided a new literary model. The Book of Common Prayer (1549) and the authorized version of the Bible by King James were of great influence. The King James Bible was one of the largest translation projects in the history of the English language at the time, beginning in 1604 and completed in 1611. It continues the tradition of translating the Bible into English from the original language, which began with the work of William Tyndale. It became the standard Bible of the Anglican Church, and some consider it one of the greatest works of literature of all time.
Late Renaissance
Metaphysical poet (The term metaphysical poet was coined by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of 17th-century English poets whose work was characterized by the creative use of conceit and a greater emphasis on the colloquial rather than lyrical qualities of their poetry. These poets had no formal affiliation until the attention of the 20th century established their importance, and few were highly valued. ）
Continued writing during this period. Both John Dorne and George Herbert died after 1625, but there were also second generations of metaphysical poets: Andrew Marvell (1621–1678), Thomas Trahern (1636 or 1637–1674) and Henry Vaughan (1622–1695). Their style is witty, metaphysically conceited – far-fetched or unusual metaphors or metaphors.
Sir John Sacklin
Another important group of poets at that time was the knight poets. They were an important group of writers from the class that supported King Charles I during the Three Kingdoms War (1639-51). (King Charles ruled from 1625 and was executed in 1649).) The most famous of these poets were Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelac, Thomas Carew and Sir John Sacklin. They were "not a formal group, but all influenced by Ben Johnson". Most of the poets of the Order were courtiers, but there were notable exceptions. For example, Robert Herrick was not a courtier, but his style marked him as a knight poet. The chivalric works utilize allegories and classical allusions, and are influenced by the Latin writers Horace, Cicero, and Ovid.
John Milton was one of Britain's greatest poets, and his work coincided with periods of religious upheaval and political upheaval. He is widely regarded as the last major poet of the English Renaissance, although his major epics were written during the Restoration, including Paradise Lost (1671). Milton's work reflects a deep personal belief, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the pressing issues and political upheavals of his time. Writing in English, Latin, and Italian, he gained international fame during his lifetime, and his famous Areopagitica (1644), which denounced pre-press censorship, was one of the most influential and fierce defenses of freedom of speech and the press in history. William Haley's 1796 biography calls him "the greatest English writer", and he is still widely regarded as "one of the preeminent writers of the English language".
Title page of the first edition of Paradise Lost (1667)
Thomas Urquhart translated Rabelais's Gagantua and Pantagruer into English, describing it as "the greatest Scottish translation since Gavin Douglas's Eniados".
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