Download 1 TOPIC - 1 RENAISSANCE The Meaning of Renaissance : The

TOPIC - 1
RENAISSANCE
 The Meaning of Renaissance :

The term seems to have been first used by the French historian, Jules
Michelet, in his „Historie de France, published in 1855.

It has been described as, “the birth of the modern world out of the ashes of
the dark ages.”

The period was notable for rapid expansion in commerce, new scientific
discovery, intense political nationalism and religious controversy.

The Renaissance denotes, in its broadest sense, the gradual enlightenment of
the human mind after the darkness of the Middle Ages. We use the term Renaissance
to cover the whole movement whose essence was, according to Taine, that man, so
long blinded, “had suddenly opened his eyes and seen.” Renaissance had its birth in
Italy and spread in Germany, France and England.

Renaissance colored thoughts and ideas of the people of the Elizabethan age.
"Men started to think for themselves and to question accepted beliefs. As men
gained this freedom they felt less inclined to assent to the medieval view that this
life should be sacrificed to the future, they turned more and more to the present
world, to the problems of gaining mastery in it through wealth of statecraft, of
discovering its secrets through exploration and scientific experiment..."
 The English Renaissance

The English Renaissance began with the accession of King Henry VII to the
English throne in 1485. But as a movement affecting the lives of the Europeans, it
began in Italy almost two centuries earlier, and the two most famous names associated
with its beginners are Petrarch (1304-74) and Boccaccio (1313-75). From Italy the
movement spread through Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and England.

The Renaissance began with a revival of classical learning which has come to
be called “Humanism”.

The English Renaissance Litt. is marled by four periods :
(i)
The period of preparation (1500-79) (Youth of Ren.)
(ii)
The Elizabethan period (1579-1602) (Manhood of Ren.)
(iii)
The Jacobean period (1603-1625) (Middle age of Ren.)
(iv)
The Caroline period (1620-1660) (Old age of Ren.)
 Characteristics of the Renaissance :
(1)
The New Learning :
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Revival of classical learning.
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Revived the knowledge of the Greek language.

“The classical writers of ancient Greece and Rome such as Plato, Aristotle,
Cicero, Virgil and Ovid had been reawakened. Most of the medieval ideas of
astronomy, medicine and chemistry were derived from the classical sources… The
rediscovery of classical authors and works provided the stock of ideas, materials,
literary forms and style of Renaissance writers".
(2)
Geographical Discoveries :
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Columbus sailed to find a new commercial route to the East and discovered
America in 1492
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(3)
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John Cabot discovered Newfoundland & Labrador in discovery of new trade
routes helped to establish the commercial prosperity of countries line Spain,
Portugal, & England. The new discoveries & explorations gave new materials
and stimulus to the literary imagination as we find in the Elizabethan plays.
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“New knowledge began to pour in from the East and new worlds were
opening in the West”.
Decline of Feudalism :
-
(4)
Humanism :
-
(5)
The discovery and reinterpretation of antiquity gave birth to a new culture that
of humanism. The Humanists led by Erasmus began to take interest in life and
in mankind. In England also the humanistic culture had its influence. Under
the new creed life no longer seemed a mere penance to be endured by good
Christians in preparation for heaven. People began to take interest in this life
and strove hard to make it larger and happier.
Printing and Education:
-
(6)
The social system in the Middle Ages was feudal in character. It was based on
the power of feudal peers and powerful ecclesiastiral figures. With the
Renaissance begins the modern age which saw the coming of a new merchant
class which was responsible for the general prosperity of England was
gradually coming into prominence at the expense of feudal barons.
Printing, which Caxton had introduced in the previous age, had now its full
effect. The new learning was popularized by the printing press. Previously
education had been in the hand of the church, but with the Renaissance began
secular education. A reading public was formed during the Elizabethan age
and the new literature was welcomed by the people.
An Age of Adventure:
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It was an age of adventure. The imagination of the people was stirred. The
new rich land opened to the sight and imagination created new forms to people
the new lands. “So dreams and deeds increase side by side and the dream is
ever greater than the deed. That is the meaning of Elizabethan literature.”
 Summing Up :

The efflorescence of the Renaissance spirit appeared in the Elizabethan
Literature which was marked by fullness of national life, a passion for knowledge, a
spirit of daring, adventures and an ambition to achieve great things. Gradually the
spell of Renaissance disappeared and people found their hopes dashed to the ground.
Life became “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Shakespeare chimed the note of disillusionment, the anarchy of the individual mind,
of man broken loose from the mooring of religions or social order.
TOPIC - 2
METAPHYSICAL POETRY
 The term ‘METAPHYSICAL’ :



The term „Metaphysical‟, as applied to poetry, was first used by Dr. Johnson,
who borrowed it from Dryden‟s phrase about Donne, „he affects the Metaphysics‟.
It deviated from naturalness of thought and style to novelty and quaintness
Dr. Johnson, “About the beginning of the 17th century appeared a race of
writers that may be termed the metaphysical poets… The Metaphysical poets were
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men of learning, and to show their learning was their whole endeavour…” The
most noticeable qualities of this type of Metaphysical poetry are the use of conceit,
obscurity of ideas & extravagance of expression. The poetry is intellectual, analytical,
psychological, it is absorbed in thoughts of death, love & religious devotion.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MATAPHYSICAL SCHOOL :
(a) DELIGHT IN NOVEL THOUGHT & EXPRESSION :

Dr. Johnson : “M. poets desired to say what they hoped had been never said by.
They endeavoured & singular in their thoughts & were careless of their diction.” Sir
Walter Scott : “They played with thoughts as the Elizabethans had played with
words,”
(b) FAR-FETCHED IMAGES :

Dr. Johnson : “A characteristic feature of all Metaphysical verse is indulgence in
„dissimilar images or discovery of occult resemblance in things apparently unlike.”
“...two heterogeneous ideas yoked by violence together.”
Hast thou not found each woman‟s breast / (The land where thou hast travelled)
Either by savages possest, / Or wild, and uninhabited ?
What joy could‟st take, or what repose / In countries so uncivilized as those
- Cowley.
(c) ARTIFICIALITY OF THOUGHT AND HYPERBOLICAL EXPRESSION :

No effect of real emotion.
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Something unexpected and surprising.
„By every wind that comes this way, / Send me at least a sigh or two,
Such and so many I‟ll repay / As shall themselves make winds to get to you‟. - Cowley.
(d) OBSCURITY :

Difficult uo understand because of dissimilar ideas without attempting to unite
them – Poetry of intellect and appealed to the intellectuals only.
(e) DISPLAY OF LEARNING :

Metaphysical verse is laden with the scholarship of its authors. A whole book
of knowledge might be compiled from the scholarly allusions in Donne and
Cowley alone.
(f) POETIC STYLE :

Metaphysical Poets made the poetic style unduly rugged, coarse and hard.
(g) POETRY OF MYSTICISM :
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Mystical poets. In the poetry of Donne, Herbert Crashaw, Vaughan and
Traherne, there is an expression of a communion with god. They believed that
spiritual alone is the real world and that the things of this world are mere shadows.
(h) Prominent Metaphysical Poets :
(1) John Donne (1572-1631), (2) George Herbert (1593-1633), (3) Richard Crashaw
(1613?-1649), (4) Henry Vaughan (1623?-1695), (5) Thomas Traherne (1634-1704), (6)
Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), (7) Andrew Marvell ( 1621-1678)

Summing up the characteristics of M. poetry, it can be said that in the poetry
of this school, there is very little that makes an appeal to the heart. It is the poetry of
the intellect indulging in far-fetched expressions and conceited thoughts. Wit
predominates. One who can not see through their witty expressions, can not enjoy
Metaphysical poetry. Most Metaphysical poetry remains obscure and vague.
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TOPIC - 3
COMEDY OF HUMOURS (Realistic Comedy)
 Meaning :

A special type of realistic comedy developed in the closing years of the 16th
century by Ben Jonson and George Chapman.

Comic interest is derived largely from the exhibition of “humorous”
characters; that is, persons whose conduct is controlled by some one characteristic
of “humour”.

According to Hippocratic theories of physiology, the four chief liquids
(“humours”) in the human body were – BLOOD, PHLEGM, YELLOW BILE,
(choler) & BLACK BILE (Melancholy). These liquids were closely allied with the
four elements : BLOOD = AIR, PHLEGM = WATER, YELLOW BILE = FIRE,
BLACK BILE = EARTH.

An individual's personal characteristics were explained by the state of his
humours. Ben Jonson defined the term „Humour‟ :
“As when some one peculiar quality / Doth so possess a man, that it doth draw
All his effects, his spirits, and his powers, / In their conflictions, all to run one way,
This may be truly said to be a humour.”
(- „Everyman Out of His Humour.‟)
 CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS :
(1) IS MARKED OFF FROM THE ROMANTIC DRAMA BY ITS INTENSE
REALISM :
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Ben Jonson made fun of Romantic comedy.
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In the introduction to „Eeveryman Out of His Humour' he laughed at the
conventions of Romantic comedy : "of a duke to be in love with a countess and that
countess to be in love with the duke‟s son, and the son in love with the lady‟s
waiting-maid; some such cross-wooing with a clown to their serving man.”

Ben Jonson advocated the practice of realistic comedy with a marked accept
on satire

Ben Jonson introduced classicism in contrast to the romantic extravagance of
the Elizabethan comedy.
(2) BEN JONSON MADE IT ‘IMAGE OF TIMES’:
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He „sought to sport with human follies and not with crimes.‟
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Instead of the „Forest of Arden, he kept his gaze confined to London of his
times.
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Thorndike : “Instead of lawless and fantastic translations from romance and
history, Ben Jonson planned comedy based on a rational and ordered study of life
of his own time….instead of haphazard selection of story, scene and persons, he
proposed to base his carefully constructed plots on an analysis of society into
humour or dominant characteristics…. The duty of comedy was to satirize and
reform.”
(3) UNITY OF TIME, PLACE AND ACTION OBSERVED :
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Ben Jonson strictly adhered to rules and regulations, doctrines and principle.
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His creative impulse was crushed and remained a doctrinarian.
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His love of rules has played have with his claim to b a master realist.
(4) SIMPLE CHARACTERIZATION :
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They are stagy and theatrical.
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Percy Simpson : “…His (Ben Jonson‟s) portraits are firmly and clearly
drawn, but they lack warmth and the soft play of life.”
(5) LITTLE IMPORTANCE TO WOMEN CHARACTERS :
(6) LACKS THE SENTIMENTAL APPEAL :
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Because the outlook was always keenly intellectual.
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Little romance or love element. For head, not for heart.
 CONCLUSION :
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In spite to the fact that Johnson‟s comedies are called the comedy of Humours,
they lack humour and fun. There is the absence of the true spirit of comedy in there
comedy of humours. They revel in wit and satire rather than the true mirth of
comedy.

To correct English comedy of its extravagance and romantic ardour was the
aim of Ben Jonson‟s art as a writer of comedy. Ben Jonson overdid the correction He
put his whole strength in the direction of this realistic comedy and struck a blow at the
romantic comedy of extravagance and improbable plots and unconvincing characters.
 References : (1) Thorndike : „English Comedy‟. (2) Percy Simpson :- „Studies in
Elizabethan Drama‟. (3) S.P. Sengupta : „Advanced Literary Essays.' (4) Dictionary
of
Literary
Term
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