Preview

The English Renaissance- Its Philosophy, Literature and Art, the European Context, Major Characteristics and Representatives Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
9353 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The English Renaissance- Its Philosophy, Literature and Art, the European Context, Major Characteristics and Representatives Essay Example
The English Renaissance- its philosophy, literature and art, the European context, major characteristics and representatives

Periods of English Renaissance

1500-1660 The Renaissance

While the English Renaissnace began with the ascent of the House of Tudor to the English throne in 1485, the English Literary Renaissance began with English humanists such as Sir Thomas More and Sir Thomas Wyatt.

In addition, the English Literary Renaissance consists of four subsets: The Elizabethan Age, the Jacobean Age, the Caroline Age, and the Commonwealth Period (which is also known as the Puritan Interregnum).

1558-1603 Elizabethan Age
The Elizabethan Age of English Literature coincides with the reign of Elizabeth I, 1558 - 1603. During this time, medieval tradition was blended with Renaissance optimism. Lyric poetry, prose, and drama were the major styles of literature that flowered during the Elizabethan Age. Some important writers of the Elizabethan Age include William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Ben Jonson.

1603-1625 Jacobean Age
The Jacobean Age of English Literature coincides with the reign of James I, 1603 - 1625. During this time the literature became sophisticated, sombre, and conscious of social abuse and rivalry. The Jacobean Age produced rich prose and drama as well as the King James translation of the Bible. Shakespeare and Jonson wrote during the Jacobean Age, as well as John Donne, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Middleton.

1625-1649 Caroline Age
The Caroline Age of English Literature coincides with the reign of Charles I, 1625 - 1649. The writers of this age wrote with refinement and elegance. This era produced a circle of poets known as the "Cavalier Poets" and the dramatists of this age were the last to write in the Elizabethan tradition.

1649-1660 Commonwealth Period (or Puritan Interregnum)

The Commonwealth Period, also known as the Puritan Interregnum, of English Literature includes the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Elizabethan age was significant because religion, politics, fashion, government, and literature played a major role in the lives of the people. The life during this time period was not only very different, but also quite interesting. During the past two hundred years, the Elizabethan age received a great deal of attention.…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The golden age in English history is the Elizabethan era because during this era England experienced serenity and prosperity. The queen of this era, Elizabeth I, had a goal of bringing peace and order to England. She believed that no obstacle including her gender can stop her from achieving her goals. “Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    From the time William Shakespeare was first published on paper in 1592, to the time he died in 1616, was one of the worst and best time periods if you ask me. Ranging from the Black Death plague to the greatest love story of all time,”Romeo and Juliet,” made the Elizabethan Era very unpredictable.…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ·In contrast, W. T. Waugh found little evidence of a distinct period. Rather, he saw continual intellectual activity throughout medieval Europe. If there was a renaissance, it began in 1000, during the Middle Ages, not with the humanists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Medieval scholars read the Greek and Roman classics. Therefore the humanists have exaggerated their importance. The “renaissance” was no more than the high point of the Middle Ages.…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    - The arts flourished during Elizabeth's time with the creation of works by Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Elizabethan Period was the age of the Renaissance, of new ideas and new thinking. The introduction of the printing press during the Renaissance, one of the greatest tools in increasing knowledge and learning, was responsible for the interest in the different sciences and inventions and the supernatural! The new ideas and information increased knowledge about science, technology and astrology that led to a renewed interest in the supernatural including witches, witchcraft, and ghosts.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Renaissance is known at the "rebirth", the "new age". It began in Italy and spread throughout the rest of Europe. There was an increase in classical culture, increase of intellectual and artistic realms, art work became popular, and a reestablishment of power. Changes in religion, artwork, and general living standards occurred during the Renaissance. The new age had an admiration for human worth. This is the time when the humanist movement came along. There was a new appreciation for human beings and their needs. It was based on the study of classics and the literary works of Greece and Rome. This is where our subject humanities comes from.…

    • 108 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    William Shakespeare mostly wrote his plays during the 16th century. This period is also known as the Elizabethan era. According to Asay (2013), Elizabethan era is characterized by male dominated marriage (p. 1). There are many instances in the story that supports this claim. For example, women cannot decide for themselves especially when it comes to…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In fact, The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia states that, Elizabethan literature was carried over to the reign of King James I. Themes and patterns were similar in both reigns. Jacobean literature, however, started to have a distinctive characteristic, which was drama. In Elizabethan plays and literature most of the work was focused on the idea of humour and the everyday human situations. In the jacobean era masques, and plays focused on the society they lived in, and dramatised stories, full of sex and violence.…

    • 1734 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Elizabethan Era was from 1558 through 1603, and it was also mentioned as the Golden Age. It was the time of the Renaissance when Shakespeare lived. The Elizabethan Era was named after Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth I became the Queen of England six years before Shakespeare's birth. Important dates and details effected the Elizabethans in everyday life. The Elizabethan Era was also known as violent times because all the punishments were so severe it could most likely cause death. The Elizabethans were divided into classes. There was the Upper Class, the Nobility, and the Lower Class. The Upper Class were well educated, wealthy and associated with royalty and high members of the clergy. The nobility were associated close to the kings, and…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Elizabethan Era

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Elizabethan era was an important era and laid down the foundation of the English drama.…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Renaissance began in the 1200’s and lasted through the Reformation of the 1500’s.This period in time marked the rebirth of humanism, and the revival of cultural achievements for their own sake in all forms of art, including music. The word "Renaissance" in itself is defined as a "rebirth"or a "reconstruction".(Law, John E. ) “Many aspects of this movement had some influence on American development. The Renaissance replaced a religious point of view with a secular one, making man rather than God the focal point wit reference to are, literature, and the government. “( pulliam, 21)The Renaissance was a really important turning point in Western thinking and cultural tradition. All of these changes centered on the idea of Humanism -- in which, people became less "God Centered" and more "Human-centered"."Renaissance Humanism was a European intellectual movement beginning in Florence in the last decades of the 14th century. The humanist movement developed from the rediscovery by European scholars of many Latin and Greek texts. Initially, a humanist was simply a teacher of Latin literature. By the mid-15th century humanism described a curriculum — the studia humanitatis — comprising grammar, rhetoric, moral philosophy, poetry and history as studied via classical authors. The early beliefs of humanism were that, although God created the universe, it was humans that developed and industrialized it".( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_humanism).…

    • 3123 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Use this outline (with a split screen) to take notes on the key ideas of the Unit 2 historical introduction. When you are done, upload your completed Word document so that it can be checked.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Jacobean Era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI (1567–1625) of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabethan Era and specifically denotes a style of architecture, visual arts, decorative arts and literature that is predominant of that era. It is agreed upon by many that an era's social, political and religious concerns are reflected in the literature of that era. Queen Elizabeth's reign was characterised by a nation which was expanding its powers, increasing its wealth and could therefore keep at bay its serious social and religious problems. This was therefore reflected in the literature of the age. Disillusion and pessimism followed, however, during the unstable reign of James I (1603–25). The 17th cent was to be a time of great upheaval—revolution and regicide, restoration of the monarchy, and, finally, the victory of Parliament, landed Protestantism, and the moneyed interests.…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In general, Elizabethan as well as Jacobean plays, not only those of Shakespeare, were more or less influenced by the tradition from which they had arisen, by the sources of information on which they were based, and also by the current political situation in which they were written. While scholars have disagreed about the direct influence of Seneca on Elizabethan drama. The Elizabethan era was a time of relative hope and confidence. In the early seventeenth century, however, the national mood seems to have become tense and anxious, partially because James was not as skillful a ruler as Elizabeth. This period, called Jacobean from the Latin form of James's name, also is known as the early Stuart era after James's family name. William Shakespeare…

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays