Download History of English Literature II

History of English Literature II
Info: www.wwnorton.com/Nael
+ background from the introductions in Nael
Dealing with the English canon:
A canon = a selection of writings representative of a literary tradition,
combining high art and human interest.0
Literariness = a quality which makes a text a literary text.
reading:
Nael p.32-49 ‘Beowulf’
Nael p.100-102 ‘The Wanderer’
Nael p.105-109 ‘Battle of Maldon’
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Short historic outline:
In the 5th and 6th century, 3 Germanic tribes arrive in Britain, the Jutes,
Saxons and Angles (547).
The Jutes come to the rescue of the Britons. The Britons are a Celtic race
that has arrived in Britain 2000-500BC.
55 BC, the Romans under Julius Caesar arrived, under Claudius they subdue
England in 42 AD.
The Britons withdrew to the Scottish mountains and attacked the Romans
from there. The Roman leader Hadrian built a wall in 122 AD to protect his
soldiers from Briton attacks.
The cultural influence of the Romans was limited, in the Roman
encampments only Latin was spoken.
In 410 Rome was attacked by the Goths, in defence of their capital, all
Romans returned to Rome.
This left the Britons defenceless against the Scots.
They called in the Jutes, who settled in Kent and drove away resisting
Britons.
Later, the Saxons and the Angles arrived.
The Celtic dialects of the Britons were replaced by Germanic dialects!! This
was a direct impact on culture and language! It is from these dialects that
modern English descends.
Poetry was orally composed, it was only written down as part of music or
inscriptions. The people were mostly illiterate. There was a limited use of
runes.
Influence from Celtic and Roman missionaries: eg in 597AD, Roman
missionaries taught some of the population how to read and write. The first
Old English writings found date back to this period (7th century).
Under the influence of these missionaries, the greater part of England was
converted to Christianity. Through these conversions, there was an
influence of other cultures from the mainland on the peoples of Britain.
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In the 7th century there are 12 kingdoms in England, which merge from
North to South into Northumbria(supremacy during the 7th century), Mercia
(supremacy during the 8th century) and Wessex(supremacy during the 9th
century).
In the 9th century Egbert, the King of Wessex, is crowned king of England (in
name only).
At this time, there is no city life. There is no army, no organization and no
protection against the Northmen.
These Northmen are Vikings from Norway and Danes. They are raiders and
perform multiple invasions of England in the 9th century.
Alfred the Great(848-899) defends England and defeats the Northmen in
878, he drives the intruders back to the Danelaw in the North and East of
England, thus returning peace and order to England.
Alfred founds schools, rebuilds churches, brings over scholars from the
mainland and encourages translations of texts.
At the end of the 10th century under King Ethelred, England is in confusion
again. There are renewed attacks by the Danes, and for some time, England
is even part of the Danish empire.
In 1016 King Canute (from Denmark) is King of England.
In 1042 his sons die, England is independent again.
The new king is Edward the Confessor, then his brother in law, the Earl of
Wessex, Harold.
His reign is contested by the despot William of Normandy, who becomes
King William the Conqueror after the Battle of Hastings 1066.
His sons succeed him, Rufus becomes William the 2nd, then Henry the 1st.
Henry the 2nd is Henry Plantagenet (medieval period).
Anglo-Saxon (Old English) Poetry (prose came later)
A: Heroic Poetry (looks back to a heroic age)
Beowulf
The best-known Old English poem is Beowulf. It is an epic poem which
describes the adventures of the hero Beowulf in epic verse. At the time it
was written, Beowulf was already a hero. The first text was written around
1000 AD and had 3182 verse lines.
As a poem, it was an oral composition, which used to be recited to harp
music. The oral compositions date back to the 7th or 8th century, and the
text is set in the 5th or 6th century.
The text is set in Baltic, the home of the Saxons, Danes, Swedes and Geats,
it focuses on a common heroic past.
It is a combination of historic facts, secular legends, Christian legends and
folklore.
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Christianity was being introduced into a Pagan society (through
missionaries), this atmosphere can also be found in Beowulf. A good
example is Grendel, who is introduced as a relation to Cain, the first
murderer. At the same time, Grendel stems from the land of the monsters,
a reference to the Pagan past and mythology.
The fight with Grendel symbolises the fight of good against evil, of humanity
against its enemies.
It is not a too bloody fight, the emphasis is not on this fight. The
metaphorical and allegorical dimension is important here.
In the society of those days, there is a bond of protection and friendship
which is very important.
This bond disappears for Hrothger, he loses society, and security is replaced
by fear and death.
Beowulf restores order and the people (through the renewed bond) are
delivered.
The beginning describes the death and burial of the founder of Denmark,
the end describes the death of Beowulf.
Grendel causes havoc to the Danes for 12 years!! This means, that the Danes
resist him for 12 years, which puts them in a good light and keeps up their
image.
The poem is centered around 3 encounters with the supernatural world. As
an introduction there is a lot of information about Beowulf, the Danes and
their society.
A good example for this is the meadhall. It is the practical and emotional
meeting centre, it is where their feasts are held (mead=drink).
Through the introduction of Unferth, it is shown that society is indeed very
disrupted. Unferth cannot protect his lord, he is not keen or courageous.
Therefore an outsider is needed to restore peace and calm.
reading:
Nael p.110-112 ‘Obituary for William the Conqueror’
There are similarities to be found in the Edda’s and Beowulf. Did these texts
influence each other?
The Icelandic saga’s were usually more detailed, with more blood and
battles.
Christianity assimilated a lot of the Pagan myths. Often, pagan stories were
retold through times of growing Christian influence. However, Christianity
always sought to overthrow Paganism!
The Dream of the Rood
This the oldest dream vision poem. It deals with the passion (crucifixion) of
Christ through Germanic heroic context and code. It includes an old AngloSaxon cultural tradition, the riddle.
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In the text, an inanimate object (Christ’s cross), speaks. The text consists of
156 lines, it is preserved in the Vercelli (place in Northern Italy) documents.
The other version of the text consists of 50 lines of runes, carved in the
Ruthwell cross (=>Ruthwell text).
There is a definite relation between the two texts. It can be divided into
two parts, up to line 77 and beyond.
The cross deals with angels and blood, triumph and death or torture. The
text goes back to the beginning, a tree is felled and realizes that it will be
the death-tree of Christ. In this, it must obey god’s will, its duty.
There is a celebration of death, as it brings forgiveness to mankind. The
tree tells man to tell others of that vision, through this it brings
understanding and faith. This is, at the same time, the function of the
poem.
The poem can be seen as a biblical story seen through everyman’s eyes and
dreams. Christ, the Lord!, dies.
This means that the crucial lord-vasall relation is destroyed. However, the
protection remains !
B: Battle poetry
This poetry used to be recited before going into battle.
“Walldere” and “Finnsburgh”(a detailed battle account!) recall the time
before the Angles came to Britain in the 5th century, they are early battle
poems.
“Brunanburgh”, which was translated by Alfred Lord Tennyson, and “The
Battle of Maldon” survive from the 10th century.
The Battle of Maldon
The text was written shortly after the battle in 991. It shows the glory of
going on in a hopeless situation, how glorious it is to die in the service of
your lord or Christianity (“Lord grant my spirit grace” on p.107). The battle
in itself was not very important.
Nael p.105-109 ‘The Battle of Maldon’
C: Other types of poetry: the elegy(or lament)
The Wanderer
“The Wanderer”, like “The Seafarer”, is a heroic elegy. At first, the text
had no title, it was added later by the publisher. It is the first dramatic
monologue.
The speaker in the poem is nameless. He is a seafarer, an earthwalker in
exile. He has no lord and no companions or friends. He is in great distress
and suffering, as he is all alone, this is the motive for the poem. He
addresses the reader, saying that it is better not to talk about feelings, but
he himself has to.
An exile is to be distrusted by society. As such, he represents a symbol of
feat for the humans of that age: the wanderer symbolizes being without a
meadhall, a lord, companions and safety.
Also: in Celtic and in Latin literature.
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There is a marked contrast between the former, fortunate situation and the
present situation of misery.
Although the text is narrated in the first person, it is to be representative of
all of us: as the narrator remains nameless, it is easy for the reader to
identify with him.
The first part is recited “I..”, “I..”; then the poem is more about man in
general.
There are a lot of questions: Where? Where? What.. (ubi sunt motif = the
“where are they” motif), everything is gone! This represents the transitory
nature of life.
In the end, the remedy comes from the favour and comfort of the Father in
heaven. There, there is stability, this is a Christian element of the text.
D: Religious poetry
Of course the “Dream of the Rood” also falls in this category.
Caedmon’s Hymn to God (9 lines) is the base of religious verse in Old
English. This text is also the only one certain to have been produced by
Caedmon. Some other poems might as well have come from him, but we
cannot be sure. The historian Bede gives information about Caedmon.
Caedmon went from scripture to verse, his gift came through heavenly grace
and inspiration.
Nael p.24 from ‘An Ecclesiastical History of the English People’
Cynewulf is a name interwoven in the text of the same name. He was a
Mercian king of the 8th or 9th century, or maybe from Northumbria. It is
another good example of heavenly-based poetry based on latin sources.
All in all, Anglo-Saxon poetry is serious poetry. There is Christian dogma
being presented. There is no humor, as there used to be in the Anglo-Saxon
riddles, and there is no love poetry either, except for one puzzling
reference of two lines in a poem called “Wulf and Eadwacer”.
It is mostly anonymous poetry, the producers are mostly unknown.
It is also overall undateable poetry, manuscripts are dated, but not texts.
Often it is also unplaceable poetry, the source of a certain mix of dialects is
very difficult to make out.
Historically, little care was taken to preserve Old English poetry, only 4
manuscripts remain. More care was taken to preserve latin writings.
Anglo-Saxon prose
Most prose of this period was functional, recording what people needed to
know.
Latin prose
A good example of how serious Latin texts were taken is to be found in the
writer
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Bede (c.673-735)
He was a very productive writer, at the back of the Historia Ecclesiastica
Gentis Anglorum, there is a list of 90 of his own documents. Bede is mostly
remembered as a historian because of this work. It was completed in 731
and gives an account of Christianity in England from the beginning until his
own day.
Also, modern time keeping (=AD) was established by Bede. From age 7 to
59, his life was fully devoted to the church.
Bede described scholarship as being inferior to the study of the scriptures.
Bede was almost certainly the most learned man of his age. In the Historia,
there are notes of acknowledgement to his sources. In fact, it comes down
to a bibliography inserted into the text.
Earlier in the 7th century, the laws of the land were recorded in written
form. However, this does not count as prose. This only came later (although
there was already Anglo-Saxon poetry!).
Bede represents Anglo-Saxon prose in the Latin language.
Old-English prose
In the establishment of Old English as a literary language, King Alfred (king
in 871) is very important.
He defended his country against the Danes (Danelaw).
Alfred had Latin documents translated into Old English, such as Bede’s
Historia and Pope Gregory’s Pastoral Care.
He himself assisted in the translations, and was an active stimulus for others
to do the same. Alfred also sponsored the compilation of The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, the only vernacular history, apart from Irish annals, from 54BC up
to the Norman Conquest.
Aelfric (c955-c1010)
He also wrote Old English prose, he did so during the time of the cultural
renaissance of the 11th century.
He was trained at Winchester and became a teacher and a monk in Dorset in
978, then until his death he was an abbot in Oxfordshire.
He was concerned with the Christian truth. He wanted to give good
instruction through functional prose. He produced a grammar and glossary’s.
He also wrote 2 series of catholic ‘Homilies’ in an attempt to practically
explain Christian scripture for domestic use, and ‘The Lives of the Saints’
(his work = religious texts).
Wulfstan (d1023)
He was the bishop of London and then Worcester, and then the archbishop
of York. He was an advisor to the kings Ethelred and Canute. He was an
acquaintance to Aelfric and helped draw up laws.His works ‘Intutes of
Polity’ and ‘Sermo lupi ad anglos’ (=sermon of the wulf to the Anglo-Saxons)
are full of guidance.
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The ‘Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’ was begun during the reign of king Alfred and
continued into the Norman time. It therefore serves to show the influence
of the Northmen from Normandy (christianised!), and how their values differ
from those of the English.
The Northmen were a well-organized people, they created the ‘Domesday
Book’, which is the first piece of Norman writing. It lists the English
possessions of William of Normandy. He was the owner of the land and
everything on and in it.
He sometimes granted land to his lords, this can be seen as the beginning of
the feudal system. Anglo-Normans subdued the Anglo-Saxons, so that
culture gradually disappeared. It is the end of Old English literature, and
the beginning of the influence of Old French literature.
The Anglo-Norman Period
Obituary for William the Conqueror
This is a text in 3 parts, it is used as a good and as a bad example. The right
way will lead to heaven. William is also described as cruel and hungry for
power. Is the text part of a song? Criticism reigns in the text through the use
of satire eg. holds dear above humans.
Nael p.110-112 ‘Obituary for William the Conqueror’
During the Anglo-Norman period, French as a literary language crossed the
Channel into England. There was also literature in Latin, but a lot less in
English.
French and Latin were the languages used in schools, churches and for the
law.
The most flourishing literary time of the Anglo-Norman period lasted from
1100 until 1225.
Henry II Plantagenet(1133-1189) was the son of Matilda and Jeffrey
Plantagenet, he later married Eleanore of Aquitaine, the divorced wife of
king Louis VII of France.
He was a very learned man, and stimulated the production of literature (like
king Alfred in the Anglo-Saxon time).
He spoke Latin, French and other languages. Still, no new Old English verse
is produced, only some prose (Ang-Saxon Chronicle / sermons).
New literary forms emerge in French and Latin.
Romance = story in the French vernacular, a genre term for adventurous
tales of honourable deeds. It is not the same as Romanticism (late 18th
century)!
Chanson de Roland
It stems probably from the 11th century, it is an early romance. It is similar
to an epic, it wants to be a chanson de geste(song of deeds). There is a 12 th
century translation, the Roelandslied.
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Roland was one of the peers(=warriors) of Charlemagne, killed in battle in
778. The chanson tells the tale of his death.
The text is more elaborate than Beowulf. 3 Archangels accompany Roland to
heaven. When they tell his fiancé (la belle Aude) of his death, she dies of
shock. Emotions are important in romance.
Later, this importance would increase even further. In the 12 th and 13th
century, love becomes courtly love.
The story of Britain, namely the story of the Briton king Arthur, is perfect
for romance.
Arthur was really a Briton king, who lived at the end of the 5 th century, and
who was a warrior chief of the celts.
The many, many stories in prose and verse about him are largely the
product of legends and literature.
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric of Welsh origin who lived in the middle
of the 12th century. He traced Arthur back to Brutus, the greatgrandson of
Aeneas.
Geoffrey wrote the History of the Kings of Britain in Latin prose (1136-8). It
was translated into French verse by Wace, a Norman from Jersey. Wace uses
8-syllable couplets, dedicates the text to Eleanor of Aquitaine, and calls it
Roman de Brut.
He adds details, eg the concept of the round table.
The characters gain a polite manner, rhetoric speech and general good
behaviour. Arthur and his court become the ideal mirror for other European
courts. For the first time, the idea of courtliness is introduced, but Arthur
and his men are still warriors.
In the romances of the 12th and 13th century, love becomes more important.
The key element of the story is that the knight woes his beloved lady.
Writers wrote for mixed audiences, men and women.
Romances reflect the rise and fall of the aristocratic ideal of chivalry as a
system of conduct expected of knights and noblemen. These were expected
to serve Christ and their king, to protect the weak and to avoid villainy.
The point of focus moves away from Arthur to his knights. A good example
for this is Chrétien de Troyes, who writes stories about Sir Perceval and Sir
Launcelot.
During the 13th century, a group of anonymous writers produce the ‘Vulgate
Cycle’, 5 very long prose romances that are critical of Arthur’s court.
- the History of the Holy Grail
- the Story of Merlin
- Lancelot
- the Quest for the Holy Grail
- the Death of Arthur
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The romances were probably written by clerics. There is critique on earthly
chivalry, by contrasting it with spiritual chivalry. Arthur is pictured as weak
and dependant on his knights and Queen Guinevere as adulterous (Lancelot).
The court is portrayed as degenerating and in decline.
Still, Arthur and his men are still national heroes until the late 15 th century
(Sir Thomas Malloy: la Morte d’Arthur), which is strange, because he was
really an enemy of the Anglo-Saxons.. he became an adopted hero.
Layamon in 1190 translates Wace’s ‘Roman de Brut’ into Middle English
alliterative verse, adding and expanding the original story even further.
Through the times, there is always infusing of contemporate ideas into the
story.
A lay is a narrative tale in verse.
Marie de France (fl.c.1180)
She is the author of a number of lays. There is no further information about
her at all. She is associated with the court of Henry II Plantagenet.
Her adventure stories are combined with magic, they have entertainment
value. Love is important in that it is often the fatal power and always
difficult to control.
Marie often sympathises with the women characters.
In the story of the knight Lavalle, this knight is approached by lusty Queen
Guinevere, but rejects her as he is promised to another woman. However,
he was not supposed to tell (the other woman is a fairy), but in the end the
fairy forgives him and all ends well.
In the 14th century, there is a flowering of Middle English literature.
Background Information:
The church played a very important part, promoting education and
literature. Before, education was only possible in the schools attached to
cathedrals (Westminster, Canterbury, Winchester..).
Part of the renaissance of the 12th century, however, was the emergence of
universities (Paris, Oxford).
There was a renewal in the interest for classical learning, and there was the
development of a new and systematic way of thinking (scholasticism).
“Schoolmen” studied at universities, which is the now orthodox way of
studying. It emerged in the 11th century, flowers in the 13th century, but
slowly declines in the 15th century.
The church also encourages art, it finances the production of art in eg
architecture,
woodcarving,
sculpture,
wallpainting,
illumination,
bookprinting and literature. The church in fact uses the arts to make known
the teachings of Christ to the illiterate masses.
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François Villon said that the ballad should be used as a prayer. Literacy
came through the church.
At first, everybody depended on clerks (etym. clericus) and monks to copy
texts. However, these clergymen take the original and devotional texts and
turn them into medieval drama and gospel to spread the faith. In time,
there would even be criticism of the representatives of the church
(standing, authority, behaviour), but not of the basic truths.
John Wyclif (c1330-1384)
He was an early (would be) reformer, a dissident and critical academic. He
criticized the misuse of papal power and the sale of indulgences. He was the
1st to call for a bible translation into English.
Finally, 2 of his disciples (Nicholas of Hereford and John Purvey) do the job.
His followers are generally known as the Lollards.
The 100-yrs war (1337-1453) came about as result of a dynastic quarrel.
William the Conqueror was king of England while still Duke of Normandy. In
the 12th and 13th century the kingdom grew in France through diverse
marriages. In the early 14th century the English still have Gascony and
Gyenne. Philip the Strong wanted these territories to be part of the French
kingdom again. He also presented himself as king of England. Edward III
protects his kingdom and the country.
Also there is the bigger picture.. Scotland..
The war of the Roses (1455-1485) is the English Civil war. The house of
Lancaster(red) fights the house of York(white). It ends with the death of
Richard III, who is defeated by Henry of the Tudors.
The Black Death (the plague) raged all throughout the 14 th century. From
1348-1350, one third of the population dies. A lot of land is not cultivated
anymore, prices rise, free labourers demand higher wages.. it is the
beginning of the Peasants Revolt against the government.
Still, there is a flowering of literature in the 14th century, also under Richard
III although through no personal influence of his own. There is great variety,
quality and quantity.
There is the appearance of a new social class: the middle class. This is
linked to a decline in monopoly of the church. In the middle ages, there are
three estates: the aristocracy, the clergy and the commoners. In the early
14th century, changes happen.
Cities become more important, they exert influence over life and become
centres of power and population. In 1370, London has 40000 inhabitants and
all sorts of craftsmen and traders. The appearance of the new middle class
has its impact on literature.
English as a language becomes a medium of general use (entertainment and
communication) and gains a literary status. A good example is Geoffrey
Chaucer, who writes his entire oeuvre in the English language.
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Since the end of the Peterborough Chronicle in 1154, English secular prose
was produced for practical purposes, English prose is mainly functional
prose. But in the reign of Richard II, English came into general use. There is
a reemergence of literary prose. There is travel literature (eg Sir John
Mandevilles Travels 1366) and the Paston letters. This is a Middle English
letter collection numbering over 1000 letters. It records the life of a mom
and dad (John and Margaret) and their 3 children (John, John and Margaret).
The mother is a businesswife who manages her husband’s estate. At the
same time, she is a loving mother and wife. (position of the women). [The
poetry written in that time is referred to as Ricardian poetry.]
Geoffrey Chaucer (c1344-1400)
He is called the father of English poetry. He perfected rhyme, though he
was not the first to use it. He is born in London(1340-1344?) the son of a
wine merchant (John). In 1357 he enters the household of prince Lionel. In
1359/60 he goes to France as part of the army of Edward III in the 100-yrs
war. He is captured and released after payment of ransom.
From 1370-78 he undertakes diplomatic missions on the continent. In 1372/3
he visits Italy, he will return in 1378.
In 1374 he spends time at the English court. He dies 25.10.1400 and is
buried in Westminster cathedral.
Chaucer’s literary career can be divided into 3 periods:
1.) until 1370: His writings are based on French models (French
dreamvisions). It is the poetry of Guillaume de Machant and the ‘Roman de
la Rose’, a Roman in 2 parts: the 1st written 1237 by Guillaume de Lorris and
the 2nd is written 1275 by Jean de Meung.
Chaucer makes a partial translation of the roman. He also writes the ‘Book
of the duchess’ on the occasion of the death of Blanche, the wife of John of
Gaunt, an influential son of Edward III and the duke of Lancaster.
2.) 1370-1378, the Italian period. He bases his literature on Dante and
Boccaccio. ‘House of Fame’ is about the adventures of Aeneas after the fall
of Troy.
‘The Parliament of Fowls’ is about the mating of fowls on St.Valentines Day.
The occasion is the betrothal of Richard II to Anne of Bohemia.
‘The book of good women’ is about nine classical heroines. It is written in
couplets in iambic pentameter.
‘Troylus and Cressaide’ is written in the rhyme royal, in 7-line-stanzas with
5-foot iambic rhyme.
3.) 1386/7 The Canterbury Tales (unfinished). Chaucer’s project was to
write down 120 tales, of which in the end only 22 were finished and another
2 begun.
Nael p.215-235 “General Prologue”
Nael p.253-281 “The Tale of the Wife of Bath”
The collection features a collection of tales told by a large group of pilgrims
coming together at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, London. They undertake a
journey to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Thomas A.Beckett. He had been
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murdered and was canonized only 32 days later, his shrine was glorious and
a popular goal for pilgrims.
This particular group of pilgrims is varied, there are different people from
all walks of life, men and women, secular and religious, so obviously there
are a lot of different tales told. The travellers don’t only represent their
classes, but are also represented as individuals, the narrator is also one of
the travellers, which brings the reader right into the narrative.
In the general prologue, the different travellers are introduced and the
scene is set. At the inn, the innkeeper holds a competition for a free meal,
which is to be won by the teller of the best story. It is springtime, which is a
peaceful setting when people are ready for change. This setting was used a
lot as a literary device at the time.
The characters: most of these are subtly criticized!
- the knight: he represents chivalry (crusades) and shows no regard for his
personal appearance.
- the squire: he is a young lover, he deeds are deeds of valour to impress his
lady.
- the nun: she is well dressed, her courteousness is her dominant feature. It
is criticized in between the lines, she cares only for mouse or dog, not for
poor or weak.
- the monk: he is typically characterized as a glutton and fond of huts,
clothes.. he is not greedy though.
- the friar: he is said to flatter people, especially women. He has pleasant
speech, musical talent and a taste for money (greed!).
- the merchant: he is fraudulous and dishonest.
- the clerk: he is an impoverished scholar with an unhealthy appearance who
is solely interested in learning.
- the lawyer: he is self-important and presents himself to be very important,
he is really a shady character!
- the franklin: he is a neutral character.
- group of 5: they are of the same social level (guildsmen), they are
ambitious, successful, worldly citizens, who are accompanied by a cook.
- the sailor: he is represented as rationally ruthless, and given to theft and
murder. Still, he is a man of expertise.
- the physician: this doctor is represented as an ambiguous figure, he
impresses with his knowledge but there is doubt whether he is rich through
exploitation.
- the wife of Bath: she impresses with her dominant vitality, she is loud and
boisterous and has had many lovers and 5 husbands. She wears a red dress.
Her character is based on two traditions: on is misogynistic, criticizing
women for their pride, and the other one is an elder character ready to pass
on her life’s experience.
- the parson: he is holy and learned, also patient.
- the plowman: he is generous and skilful. he and the parson are people who
help others. The plowman is seen as an ideal character and is therefore a
key figure.
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Through the descriptions of the individual characters, we are made to
accept the point of view of the narrator, not the point of view of one of the
conventional critics.
The tale of the Wife of Bath
In the general prologue, the wife of Bath is introduced as deaf but sexually
active. Her own tale has a quite long prologue, in which she tells of her 5
marriages (3 older, 2 younger men), so that eventually the prologue is
actually turn out to be longer than the tale itself.
Chaucer shows his humorous side in this tale, the preceding texts are all
religious.
The wife always finds shortcomings in her husbands, never in herself. She
asserts her individuality and the validity of her experience and thereby
challenges the authorities of the past!
The prologue:
Her first 3 husbands are old and rich, the fourth a young reveller (who has a
mistress?), and the fifth is a clerk from Oxford. He plays hard to get and is
good in bed, and she is so besotted with him that she writes her estate on to
his name on their marriage day. However, he keeps reading in a book that
she hates, so that she tears pages out of it. He hits her (she is now deaf),
but then they make up to the point that she regains possession of her
estate. He burns his book.
She is now on a so-called pilgrimage, but is the journey perhaps only meant
to find her another man?
The tale:
The central question of the tale is, what women want most. The answer is
simple: control.
A knight has to be beheaded for raping a girl. The king leaves this decision
to his wife, the queen, and her ladies. The queen sends the knight on a
quest for 12 months and a day, he doesn’t find the answer to her question,
however.
On the last dance he sees fairies dancing, they flee. An old woman tells the
knight the answer, in return she wants to marry him. He hates the idea,
they quarrel. She tells him that nobility and respect come from within and
have to be earned. He has the choice to be married to an ugly crone, who
will be his constantly, or to be married to a beautiful woman who will be so
only shortly. He responds: the answer is yours, honey! This is of course the
right answer. The old crone turns into a beautiful maiden.
In the tale, Chaucer has added a few elements to an already existing
exemplum.. love, nobility, faithfulness.
In the prologue, the wife is depicted as a self-conscious individual. She
attacks the bible and the scriptures, which say that chastity is better than
marriage.
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She argues:
L35: reference to Solomons many wives (700+300lovers) so that she must be
allowed 5 marriages.
L65: St.Paul’s counsel for chastity is not a commandment! She exercises the
right to make her own judgment.
L122: genitals are not only for functional use, but are also made to have
fun!
L148: chaste women and wives are compared to white and barley bread
(both are good).
In the tale of her husbands, it becomes clear that she pushes them around
and puts her foot down to protect herself. She accuses them instead of
letting them accuse her! These are all false or petty accusations, masking
all her own offences.
L385: she comes clear. She admits that she has made her husbands grovel,
believing that they have hurt her. She even makes them give her gifts in
exchange for sex! She is always in control.
At the same time, the reader is forced to admit that the misogynist writers
are right, in other words that women are devious, bad..
Under Richard II, mature poetic literature was written, so-called Ricardian
Poetry. Next to Chaucer, another example for Middle English texts is ‘Piers
Plowman’, a text supposedly originally written by William Langland (the
vision of PP). It is a dream poem in alliterative style. This version consists of
a prologue and a number of passus. The world is depicted as a fair field of
folks between heaven and hell. The dreamer learns, and the reader through
him. It is therefore an allegorical and didactic poem. It is a representation
of 14th century society. It is not an ideal society, in which the clergy is
shown to be corrupt and well-off people don’t help the poor.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain is King Arthur’s nephew. The poem is written in alliterative
verse, the theme is that of prowess, gallantry and chastity. It combines
praise and critique.
Nael p.256 ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’
The Green knight challenges the knights of the round table in a beheading
game. Gawain beheads the green knight. One year later, Gawain is on a trip
and enters a castle where the lord has gone hunting. He kisses the wife of
the lord, at the end of the day he kisses the lord. The second day he kisses
the wife twice and the lord twice. The third day, he gets three kisses and a
sash of invulnerability. He returns the three kisses and keeps the sash. The
next day, the lord returns, it turns out that he is the green knight.
Gawain gets a slight cut on the neck for the taking of the sash. He is
ashamed, for he is blamed. He returns to the court and is laughed at, he is
now a different person.
John Gower(1330-1408) wrote in Latin, French and English.
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‘Le Miroir de l’homme’ is a long didactic poem written in the mid 1370’s.
‘Vox Clementis’ is written against the social evil of the times.
‘Confessio Amantis’ was very popular at the time. The text survives in more
than 50 manuscripts and in three different versions, the last was completed
in 1393.
The narrative is a dialogue between Genius, a priest, and Amans, a lover.
Genius hears the confession of Amans.
He takes him through the seven deadly sins, telling him what not to do. He
persuades him to give up courtly love and look for a higher love. Christianity
is questioned in a Christian world, this is the religious angle of the text.
John Gower knew Chaucer. Both are later called the fathers of English
poetry. Texts by both authors were printed by Paxton, who introduced
printing in England. Paxton himself only wrote translations. Through
printing, literacy in the general population increased.
Drama
In the early-12th century, there are Latin-craft miracle and mystery plays.
An example for these is the ‘Mystère d’Adam’ of the Anglo-Norman period.
English drama is catholic in origin. After the 10th century, religious drama
spreads across Europe. Biblical history is now accessible in Latin and the
vernacular. These are mainly serious plays, but still one has to remember
that comedies were to come out of these plays at a later stage.
These plays are at first performed by town guilds and crafts of performers.
The subjects are biblical: Adam, Noah, Isaac, etc. Analogue to the calendar
of the church, winter is the time of the Christmas plays. These are
traditionally performed on a pageant, a stage on wheels.
There is a tendency for the characters to be recognizable as human beings.
There is always comic potential to enlighten the theme.
Another kind of play is the morality play. This came at a later stage, into
the 16th century. It shows the fate of the individual and represents man in
general, in all his virtues and vices. The characters are sometimes
represented allegorically: they are called greed, truth, etc.
‘The castle of Perseverance’(1405) features 36 actors.
‘Everyman’ (=Elkerlijk) is translated in 1495, it is about everyman’s life in
the face of near death.
After the Stuart and Tudor age comes the Renaissance!
It is a golden age of creativity, which has its opposers (John Ruskin) and
people in favour of it(Jules Michelet).
Jacob Buckhardt’s definition as ‘the civilisation of the Renaissance in
Italy’(1860) is one with regard to individualism and modernism.
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However, there is an exaggeration of the ‘clash’ between the dark middle
ages and the early modern period. Also, Burckhardt exaggerates the
presupposed clash between Italy and Europe. He forgets the innovations of
the middle ages, and the fact that many of the ideas of the middle ages
survived into the Renaissance period.
It is only recently, that Burckhardt’s definition has been criticized (by
medievalists).
In total, the movement from one age into the next was much more gradual.
The term ‘rebirth’ is right, and from the 14th century onward this term was
used. But it was not a new term: it had been used before, by Virgil among
others. In other words: it was not the first that the people of one age
characterized their age as such.
It was the first time that the term was applied to a scholarly and artistic
movement instead of just to a politic movement.
Petrarch was an Italian humanist, he is defined by Burckhardt as the first
modern man. Still, Petrarch had many medieval ideas.
Castiglione’s ‘Book ofthe Courtier’ is defined as one of the pillars of the
Renaissance, Castiglione was however deeply indebted to the medieval
tradition of courtly love.
The evidence shows, that there have been earlier Renaissances, eg in the 9 th
century during the reign of Charlemagne, and during the 12 th century. Both
times there was a scholarly rise and a return to classicism.
The Renaissance is therefore only ‘a’ renaissance.
Key features of the Renaissance are humanism, the protestant reformation,
the invention of printing and moveable type, new philosophies, perspective
in the arts, polyphony and harmony in music.
Key features of the Renaissance:
Humanism
There is a return to classical standards in literature, philosophy, grammar,
the plastic arts, science. The term ‘humanism’ is in use since the 19 th
century.
There are broad cultural views, such as openmindedness, reasonableness
and refinement. These views are thought to be the outcome of the human
sciences.
There is the study of ancient Greek and Roman texts. Before, Greek and
Hebrew were neglected and the texts in those languages had to be
mediated by Latin translations.
Humanism, however, goes back to the original writings..
In that sense it is closely related to the protestant reformation, as the
protestant reformers wanted to return to the original Greek and Hebrew
bible texts and to interpret these in their vernacular languages. There was a
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lot of interest in these undertakings, combined with rising nationalist
feelings.
The protestant reformation
The bible became more important, more so than the church itself.
Humanism offered the tools to study the original bible texts, and their
original meanings.
The belief of the Protestants was that the original gospel and the epistles of
St. Paul should be justified by faith alone. The Catholics thought that this
should also happen by work, good deeds and the buying of indulgences.
The Protestants saw Christ as a mediator between god and man, whereas in
the Catholic faith Christ is the replacement for the Virgin Mary and the
Saints. In the Protestant church there is no transubstantiation (bread
becomes the body of Christ), in contrast to the Catholic religion.
The consequence of all this is that in the Protestant church, the believer has
to fall back on himself, at least in theory. In practice, the Protestant
churches had their opinions just like the Catholic churches.
Printing and moveable type
It helped to spread the new religious ideas.
In Europe Gutenberg, and in Britain Caxton advanced printing, and through
it new learning.
New philosophies
There was a conflict between the traditional way of thinking and the new
philosophies.
Traditionally, there is a great chain of order in being, everything is related
and there is the unity of creation.
This is challenged by among others in
Machiavelli ‘Il Principe’(1513):
Machiavelli’s strategy is to ignore the great chain of being. Be concerned
with yourself, life is not a unity. It is important to seem virtuous, not to be
virtuous.
Copernicus ‘On the revolution of the celestial spheres’(1543), in which he
criticizes Ptolemaeus.
Montaigne ‘Apology for Raymond Sebond’(1569) portrays a negative view of
culture, it alienates humans from nature. Culture only produces a dull,
mechanistic routine.
The poem ‘An anatomy of the world’ by John Donne illustrates the
pessimism of the period.
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The English Renaissance
The English Renaissance begins with Henry Tudor, a Lancastrian. He defeats
Richard III of York at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, this battle ends the
war of the roses. Henry marries Richard’s cousin Elisabeth of York and
becomes Henry VII.
Henry VII is a rich and unpopular king because of his heavy taxing and
because of the distance he keeps to his subjects. He has no trust for his
nobility, but gets a lot of respect because he has returned peace to the
land.
He dies 1509, leaving the throne to his son Henry VIII.
Henry VIII(1491-1547) is a patriotic Englishman, a merry and jovial monarch
who is loved by the people. Still, he is also cruel and ruthless, and has
inherited his father’s greed. He spends the treasure on his wars with France.
He is best known for his six marriages.
The 6 wives of Henry VIII:
I.) Catherine of Aragon was first married to his brother, Prince Arthur, who
died in 1502, and was Henry’s way of establishing a diplomatic relationship.
For Henry to be able to marry her in 1510, a special papal dispensation was
necessary. Catherine leaves Henry a daughter, who will later become Mary
I, but no son. As Henry wants a male heir to the throne, he decides to
divorce her after 18 years of marriage and look out for wife no.2.
II.) Anne Boleyn had caught the eye of Henry VIII, and he wanted to marry
her. However, to do this he needed a divorce, which had to be granted by
the pope. The pope was not willing to do so, however, since he had given a
special dispensation for the marriage to Catherine before. Henry VIII takes a
drastic step: he creates the church of England with himself as the Defender
of the Faith, which is now independent of the Catholic Church.
In 1533 he marries Anne Boleyn. She gives Henry his second daughter, who
will later become Elizabeth I, but no son. Henry decides to look for another
wife and has her executed for adultery and incest in 1536.
III.) Jane Seymour is finally able to provide Henry with a male heir, the
future Edward VI. She dies in that childbirth in 1537.
IV.) Henry marries Anne of Cleves in 1540, in an effort to tie relations with
the Protestant Germans on the continent. Later that year, he divorces her
again.
V.) The same year, 1540, he decides to marry Catherine Howard, but after
two years he tires of her, too. She is executed for adultery and treason in
1542.
VI.) Henry’s last wife is Catherine Parr. She survives him after his death in
1547.
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Henry VIII, the Renaissance Monarch
At his court, he is surrounded by poets such as Sir Thomas Wyatt, Henry
Howard (the Earl of Surrey) and John Skelton. There are also humanists
there, such as Thomas More, and artists, such as Hans Holbein. Henry has 55
beautifully decorated palaces built for him, one of them, Hampton Court, is
a present of Cardinal Wolsey.
Henry VIII is responsible for the dissolution of the monasteries in England.
He sells the land to his nobles to ensure their loyalty. The monasteries are
rich and important centres of the communities. The pope is not happy with
this, there are rebellions. Also, new schools have to be built afterwards.
Henry VIII dies in 1547, leaving Edward VI as king although he is only nine
years old. Edward VI is king from 1547 until 1553.
In effect, his uncle Edward Seymour, the brother of Jane Seymour and Duke
of Somerset, rules the country. He is later replaced by John Dudley, the Earl
of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland. Both men had their own agendas.
They make Edward draw up a will and appoint a successor, Lady Jane Grey.
She is a great-granddaughter of Henry VII and granddaughter of Mary Tudor,
sister to Henry VIII.
Lady Jane Grey succeeds Edward VI for nine days as an interim queen. She is
a protestant and married to the son of John Dudley, Gilbert Dudley.
After 9 days Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII, surfaces and has Lady Jane Grey
executed.
Mary I was a catholic and wanted England to return to catholicism again.
She is known as Bloody Mary for the great number of protestants she had
executed. She was married to king Philip II of Spain but lived with him for
less than a year as he died in 1548.
Mary I was queen from 1553 until her death in 1558.
Mary I is succeeded in 1558 by Elizabeth I, daughter of Anne Boleyn.
In 1568, Elisabeth I is visited by Mary Stuart, the queen of the scots and
catholic greatgranddaughter of Henry VII. Mary Stuart is fleeing from
scottish lords and needs help to get back on the throne. Elizabeth doesn’t
really want to help her, as Mary Stuart has stronger legal claims to the
throne! After all, Anne Boleyn’s marriage to Henry VIII had never been
recognized by the church, and Henry VIII had never officially recognized her
as his daughter. Elizabeth I ended up imprisoning Mary Stuart for 19 years,
after which evidence was found that there had been a plot between her and
Philip II, so that Elizabeth I finally had a reason for having Mary Stuart
executed in 1588.
Elizabeth I is queen from 1558 until 1603.
In 1568, England is already on the high road to prosperity. Sir Francis is
travelling the seas, and there is the exploration of the new world (Columbus
1493).
The Reformation in England can be divided into 2 phases:
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I.) The first is relatively short and focused, as it is driven by Henry VIII’s
desire to marry Anne Boleyn. It was the result of the secular motive for the
creation of the church of England. Church practices were not really
modified, and as Henry VIII was orthodox in his beliefs, the church of
England remained essentially catholic in its doctrine. The move away from
the catholic church meant that many protestants came to England. Henry
VIII didn’t like this, however, and made out six articles to stop the influx of
protestant ideas. He actively tried to stop the denial of the
transubstantiation and the clergy from marrying.
II.) The second phase lasted a lot longer, in fact up to the Glorious
(bloodless) revolution of 1688, which effected the deposition of king James
II and the accession to the throne of William III of Orange.
How far should the reformation proceed?
The catholics wanted toleration and the return of England to catholicism,
while the protestants (= all kinds of puritans) wanted to move away from
catholicism to complete freedom for protestantism in England.
Edward VI was a protestant with protestant advisors. Together they
reshaped the church of England along protestant lines, it effectively became
protestant.
At first these changes are moderate, but later extremists wanted all traces
of catholicism gone.
Mary I undoes everything Henry VIII and Edward VI have done. This goes to
show that Bloody Mary was a very determined woman. She wanted papal
authority reestablished in England, and had the divorce of king Henry VIII
and Catherine of Aragon annulled.
In the 5 years of her reign she had more people burned than Elizabeth I in
during her 45 years in power. She even had Elizabeth I - her half-sister –
locked up in the Tower, interrogated and spied upon constantly.
Many people flee England for Switzerland or Germany during her reign,
these are called the Marian exiles.
After the death of Mary I, these exiles return. In the meantime, they had
made contact with calvinists and lutherans, this would later influence the
church of England.
After the death of Mary I, her half-sister Elizabeth I takes the throne. She is
a moderate-minded protestant queen, and her reign can be characterized
by the Elizabethan settlement, which is basically a return to the later years
of the reign of her father, Henry VIII. She tries to reconcile the catholics and
protestants in England, she has her own ideas about the order of things. She
politically neutralized the factions and made them dependant on her. She
first definded the church of England as a blend of catholicism and calvinism
(Genevan Protestantism).
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Under the reign of Elizabeth I, religion is no longer a divisive issue, unlike
the rest of Europe, which suffers from religious wars.
Religions tensions only resurfaced during the reign of James I and Charles
I/II. Then, religion will be divisive issues again (+/-1630-40) as well as one of
the causes of civil war in England.
Bible translations
The bible was always extremely important to the protestants. The bible
incorporates the guidelines for christian behaviour, it is the single guide for
the faith and practice of the individual, instead of priest formerly. In that
respect, bible translations are extremely important. Also, not many people
at the time knew Latin.
Bible translations go back a long time, to John Wyclif and the Lollards in the
14th century and before that, Bede (Historia Ecclesiastica).
William Tyndale makes the first attempts in the 16th century. He only
managed to translate the New Testament, and did so in Germany, where he
met Martin Luther, as he received no support from the bishop of London.
Miles Coverdale had the first complete bible in English printed in Zurich in
1535. This was still during the reign of Henry VIII, when the church of
England was essentially catholic.
Later on, there were more bible translations, eg the Great Bible in 1540,
but all go back to Tyndale and Coverdale.
In 1560 the first Calvinist bible was produced in England, this was the
Geneva bible. It was a popular household bible, used among others by
Spenser and Shakespeare. It was not replaced until King James
commissioned the authorized King James Bible.
All these bibles tried to strip the catholic influence out of the bibles. There
was also a humanist impulse to do so (to study writings in their original
versions), and translations went back to greek and hebrew bibles.
In the beginning, the Reformation wanted reforms, and they wanted reforms
without the interference of the catholic church. Luther, however, didn’t
want to change the catholic church or even start a new church. His 95
theses were an attempt to start a discussion.
Later reformists, eg the Calvinists, wanted a new church.
The Counter-Reformation took form in the order of the Jesuits (priests and
missionaries), and also there was an authorized catholic bible translation.
The Reims/Douai bible had the old testament translated in Douai and the
new testament translated in Reims, it was recognized by the catholic
church. Here, the humanist influence to study the original texts also played
its part.
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Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
He was trained as a lawyer. He is the author of ‘Utopia’.
From early on in life, he is part of the humanist circles with eg William Lyly
and John calet. He is a friend of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. Already
early in life, he is a courtier of Henry VIII. In 1515 he comes to Flanders as
part of a trade embassy, there he plans ‘Utopia’. In 1516, ‘Utopia’ is
published at Basel.
More is a convinced catholic. He has great difficulty accepting Henry VIII’s
flirtations with protestantism.
As he cannot accept the church of England (formed 1528), and the act of
defiance this meant to the pope, he resigns in 1532. In 1534 he is forced to
take an oath of supremacy (putting the king’s authority above that of the
pope), and refuses. He is subsequently imprisoned and executed in 1535.
‘Utopia’ is about an ideal society or commonwealth. It reflects More’s
fascination with the world, and criticizes the problems in England of the
time, eg regarding to the contemporary views on the education of women.
More himself had three daughters and one son. His daughters were all
educated in the same way as his son. At the time, protestantism urged
everybody to learn how to read and write, but otherwise there was no
education.
His eldest daughter Margaret writes many things in Latin and later marries
William Roper, More’s biographer.
Petrarchist literature
Francesco Petrarca(1304-1374) was an Italian. He had a great knowledge of
the classics and his own distinctive poetic style (the petrarchan sonnet). His
girlfriend Laura is to him the icon of divine perfection. He uses hyperbolec
language and paradoxical oppositions and writes love poetry. However, the
love relations he describes never develop into anything, since the man
always ends up rejected.
In the 16th century there are numerous imitations of Petrarch for more than
a century, his poetry is “in”.
Hans Wagner’s definition of Petrarchism:
Sex has no part in this poetry, although it is typically about love.
Man is a devoted slave. In his state of love he is close to death, truly
lovesick. He is a lost soul between fear and hope and thinking of death as a
result of rejection.
The woman is usually portrayed as a tyrant who doesn’t feel love. Love is
always bittersweet, a mixture of pain and joy.
In Petrarchan poetry, women and love are always in a fixed formula.
Sometimes, there are mythological aids being used, such as the angel Cupid,
or earthly comparisons (her eyes shone like diamonds).
Among the followers of Petrarch were Pietro Bembo (1470-1547) and Jacopo
Sannazarro(1456-1530).
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Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
Sir Thomas Wyatt was the first in Renaissance England to translate and
imitate Petrarch. Wyatt, and his contemporary Henry Howard, Earl of
Surrey, are credited with introducing the sonnet into English poetry; he
translated ten of Petrarch's sonnets, composed original sonnets, and worked
in other poetic forms, such as the lyric, song, and rondeau.
Furthermore, he introduced an innovation in the sonnet: whereas in Italy,
there was variation in the rhyme scheme of the sestett at the end of the
sonnet, Wyatt always used CDDCEE, which ultimately became the standard
English and Scottisch sonnet feature.
In translating poems, Wyatt used to recreate them and give them a new feel
instead of just translating them literally.
Nael p.527 ‘Whoso list to hunt’
This is Wyatt’s rewriting of ‘una candida cerva’. The poem is about a deer
hunt. This hunt will never be succesful, as the deer is already spoken for,
she is Caesar’s.
Petrarch describes her as a doe with golden horns and a collar which says:
let no one touch me, for it has pleased Caesar to set me free.
Wyatt turns this into ‘this deer is Caesar’s’, and the image of love is
replaced by the image of greed.
Is the wife Anne Boleyn? She was the wife of Henry VIII!
Henry Howard (c1517-1547)
The Earl of Surrey is another imitator of Petrarch.
In the 1560’s, however, petrarchan poetry goes out of fashion until the
1580’s/90’s, when there is a new phase of creativity and new leading figures
emerge.
Writers like Sir Philip Sidney, William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser
produced sonnet sequences which often had a common theme or the same
speaker as the connecting element.
Sidney produces a sonnet sequence called ‘Astrophel and Stella’ in 1591,
which he has written in the 1580’s and which is very influential.
The first sonnet sequence is written by Thomas Watson and called
‘Hekatompathia’ , passionate century of love.
This literary interest is the origin of a general renewal of interest in italian
things in the 1590’s, eg in clothing, music, manners (eg ‘The book of the
courtier’ by Castiglione). Sidney and Spenser are also educated by
humanism and grammar. There is also the reaction against protestantism
emerging.
English at that point is only an insignificant northern language spoken only
by the English! There is now an effort to give English some literary value,
the impulse to do so comes from an amalgam of renaissance ideas combined
with a nationalist urge.
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It is the time of the establishment of the church of England, and the
challenge of the Elizabethan legitimacy as rightful heir to the throne. In the
national literature, a moral and religious identity is being created, shaped
to support rennaissance ideas and protestant beliefs.
Sir Philip Sidney is not just an imitator of Petrarch, he does his own thing,
and expects others to do so as well.
Nael p.920 ‘Astrophil and Stella’
In this poem, Sidney is very critical of mere imitators.
Other petrarchan imitators include Samuel Daniel, Michael Drayton and
Edmund Spenser (Amoretti 1595).
Shakespeare (Sonnets 1609 but written 1590’s) and John Donne were critics
of Petrarch in the 17th century.
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
Born in 1554, his parents are both aristocrats. His dad is a courtier. In 1571
he leaves university and travels to the continent. He returns 1575 and wants
to gain prominence as a politician. Still, only once is he sent to Prague. This
does not turn out well for him.He decides he wants to be a poet. In 1583 he
is restored to favour and knighted, in 1585 he is made governor of
Vlissingen. In 1586 he succumbs to wounds received in a raid against the
Spanish in Zutphen, led by his uncle Duddley, the Earl of Leicester.
Sidney’s writings are directed at the queen and court (eg ‘The Lady of the
Lay’), others are closer connected to his family (‘The countess of
Pembroke’s Arcadia’ (1582) is for his sister Mary, the countess of
Pembroke).
He is in love with Penelope Deveraux, who marries someone else. ‘Astrophil
and Stella’ (starlover and star) reflects these emotions.
In 1578/9 he writes his ‘Defense of Poesy’ (aka ‘An Apologie for Poetrie’). It
is a reply for those who have said that poesy or imaginative literature is
immoral because it is literally untrue and does not reflect reality. A good
example for imaginative literature is Spenser’s ‘Fairie Queene’.
Nael p.936 ‘Defense of Poesy’
His text gives a religious and moral context and justification for such
literature in a protestant state.
Poetry offers skills and insights important to man, monarch and nation.
Sidney wants to make a new beginning with an important function for poetry
in culture. He wants to make English culture as important as the classic
European cultures.
According to Sidney, the role of the poet is to create a new world in which
to worship god.
Edmund Spenser (c1552-1599)
He was born presumably in London, the son of a clothmaker in the city. In
1561 he attends the Merchant Tailor’s school, a school with a fine
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reputation of which the headmaster is Richard Mulcaster, a famous
humanist. There, he produces his first literary texts.
He starts out with translations from the French (‘Het Theatre’ by Jan Van
der Not), published in ‘A Theatre for Wordlings’ He also writes a series of
epigrams, short poems which are republished in 1591 in his ‘Complaints’.
His poems are published in 1569, when he enters university at Cambridge,
where he will get his BA 1573 and MA in 1576.
Spenser is also interested in politics, especially the troubles in Ireland. In
1577 he makes his first trip to Ireland, and on his return in 1579 he enters
the services of the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley, where he meets Sir
Philip Sidney. Spenser becomes friends with Sidney and his circle of friends,
the Sidney circle.
In 1579 he publishes his first original text, ‘The Shepheardes Calendar’,
which he dedicates to Sidney. This work demonstrates the great poetic
flexibility of the English language.
‘The Shepheardes Calendar’ is a series of 12 pastoral poems written in a
variety of meters and employing a vocabulary of obsolete words and coined
expressions to give a suggestion of antiquity. It is highly innovative and also
looks back to Chaucer and the classics.
1580 Spenser was appointed secretary to the new lord deputy of Ireland.
Thereafter, Spenser lived mostly in Ireland, near Cork, where he completed
the first part of his great allegory, his masterpiece ‘The Faerie Queene’
In 1589 he was visited by the English poet, courtier, and explorer Sir Walter
Raleigh, who recognized the merit of the poem and brought Spenser to
England to publish it and to make the poet known to Queen Elizabeth I.
Spenser received an enthusiastic reception, and his poem was hailed on the
publication of its first three books in 1590. Accompanying the three books is
an introductory letter, specifying Spenser’s intentions, to Sir Walter Raleigh.
‘The Faerie Queene’ is Spensers masterpiece, it is a unique and complex
amalgam of a protestant religious political allegory with medieval chivalric
romance. Spenser brings in Prince Arthur, but also bases the work on Italian
writings by Torquato Tasso and Ludovico Ariosto. The poem is partly written
in praise of Queen Elizabeth I, who is called Gloriana in the poem and only
thinly disguised.
Unable to secure further patronage, however, he remained in England for
about a year and published a collection of short poems entitled ‘Complaints’
(1591), a collection of moral poems mostly dating back to the 1570’s, before
returning to Ireland.
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In Ireland he also writes ‘Colin Clout came home again’, which is published
in 1595. It is about his trip to England from 1589 to 1591, and an account of
his stay at the Elizabethan court.
1594 he gets married for the second time, to Elizabeth Boyle, for whom he
writes ‘Amoretti’, a group of love sonnets including ‘Epithalamion’. The
poems1 celebrate his marriage. Usually, an epithalamian is sung outside the
bridal room on the wedding day.
1596 Spenser returns to England, as he wants to publish books 4,5 and 6 of
‘The Faerie Queene’. However, King James VI of Scotland had taken offence
by some of the allegories towards his mum (Mary Stuart,Queen of Scots).
King James VI consequently refuses to let ‘The Faerie Queene’ be read in
Scotland and complains to Queen Elizabeth I about Spenser.
‘A view on the present state of Ireland’ reflects Spensers opinions on the
Irish cause. It was published in 1633 and only circulated in manuscript.
Spenser himself dies in 1599 in serious financial difficulties. His funeral was
paid for by He lies buried near to Chaucer in Westminster Abbey.
Together with Sidney, Spenser had created a new distinctive poetic style,
which was at the same time accessible and sophisticated.
Nael p.624-627 ‘The Faerie Queene’ (fragment at the top of p.625)
‘The Faerie Queene’
As originally planned, according to his introductory letter addressed to
Raleigh, the work was to consist of 12 books, each made up of 12 cantos;
only 6 books were completed, however, in addition to 2 cantos entitled
“Mutabilitie” (published 1609) that follow the sixth book.
As outlined in the introduction, Gloriana, the queen of Fairyland, represents
both glory and Queen Elizabeth I, in whose honor 12 knights, who
represented the qualities of the chivalric virtues, engage in a series of
adventures.
Throughout the narrative, the figure of Arthur, the perfect knight, also
appears. The six completed books relate the adventures of the knights who
represented the qualities of holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship,
justice, and courtesy. The fragment on mutability was to have been devoted
to the theme of constancy.
Spenser’s aim with this text was teaching, in his words “to fashion noble
gentlemen in noble virtues”, in the text he even explained how he wanted
to teach. He even considered to publish another 12 books if the first 12
were well received.
Spenser presents the reader with doctrine made palatable by delighting the
reader as well as educating him (instruction + entertainment). He refers to
Homer, Virgil, Ariosto and Tasso. It is enlightenment with epic tradition, in
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which the English language through ‘The Fairy Queene’ must now enter.
Sidney’s ‘Defense of Poesy’, shows the importance of such epic
poetry(p945).
Shakespeare (the poet) (1564-1616)
His early life is obscure. He was the son of a prosperous merchant in
Stratford-upon-Avon. He was probably born in April 1564. Some people put
the date on the 23rd, but since this is St.George day, who is the patron saint
of England, this is doubtful. The next document about Shakespeare is a
licence for marriage to Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a local farmer, in
November 1582. Since their first daughter Suzanna was born only 7 months
later, this was probably a forced marriage.
There is a possible reference to Shakespeare in 1581, but the name given is
Shakeshaft and the position referred to that of a tutor of a catholic family.
Since Shakespeare at the time would have been just 17 years old, this
reference is doubtful. On the other hand, it is consistent with John Aubrey,
a 17th century biographer, who states that in his early years, Shakespeare
had been a schoolmaster in the country.
Shakespeare probably went to London in the later 1580’s.
Shakespeare’s first texts are histories or plays, but there is no order or date
to the texts. Shakespeare is attacked in print in 1592 by his rival, Robert
Green.
In 1593 and 1594 most theatres remained closed due to the plague.
He also publishes a few poems, among which ‘The passionate pilgrim’, in a
collection of writings (he + others!) in 1590. Some of the sonnets are
republished later in ‘Sonnets’. He writes some other incidental poetry.
Shakespeare’s poetry around 1592/3 is mostly verse prose, eg ‘Venus and
Adonis’, although almost all of his work at this time is part of his minor
poetry. Like ‘Rape of Lucrece’ in 1594, it is static and heavily moralising.
Another example is ‘The phoenix and the turtle’, which is a cryptic and
allegorical poem, an adaptation of part of a poem called ‘Love’s Martyr’ by
Robert Chester. His texts are surely no bedside reading, they already reflect
his skills, but his plays are better.
The collection ‘Sonnets’ features part of his major poems. It is a sonnet
sequence devoted to love, and sometimes called the English languages
greatest collection of lyrics. It is said that ‘Sonnets’ is the text that has
gotten the most critical attention in the English language.
‘Sonnets’ is adressed to a man (the fair youth) and a woman (the dark lady).
There have been numerous attempts to identify these two people, but they
remain unsuccesful to date. The text needs to be placed in the social and
erotical context of the day.
Like Giorgio Melchiori said, sonnet writing is an activity typical for courtiers.
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Nael p.1042 ‘Sonnet Nr 147’ (of the ‘Sonnets’)
The subject of the speaker is his distress. He is like a patient in a fever, who
has been told he is past cure. He is also like a madman. He has no
understanding of his infatuation and cannot stop it, it is like a viscious
circle. Somehow he realises this woman is not for him, is even wrong for
him, but there is no escape from this hell. Is this poem adressed to the dark
lady?
Woman Writers in the Renaissance period
Isabelle Whitney (fl.1567-1573)
She was born in cheshire in a middle-class family.
Her brother was called Jeffrey, after their father.
Jeffrey the brother was a famous emblematist (EMBLEMATA) and published a
famous collection of emblems of continental style (“A choice of emblems
and other devices”), which was printed in Leiden by Christoph Plantijn.
Jeffrey had studied at Cambridge and later on joined the Earl of Leicester in
the Lowlands. His collection is published in 1586, it even influences
Shakespeare.
Isabelle had another brother, Brooke, an elder sister Anne, and two younger
sisters who later worked as servants in upper class London. The reason we
know so much about her family is, that she kept a lively correspondence by
mail going with her whole family.
1567 Isabelle had her first text published: “A copy of a letter, lately written
in meter by a yonge gentlewoman to her unconstant lover”.
This makes Isabelle Whitney the earliest woman British writer to haver her
own secular work published. She even earned money by her pen (first
woman to do so.).
There are a number of assumptions derived from this work:
that there was grief over a bad relationship, maybe caused by an
insufficient dowry. Also, that the text serves as a warning of a similar fate
to other maidens.
1573, she publishes her second work “A sweet nosegay” (=bouquet of
flowers or herbs). The work also contains a number of senecan aphorisms,
which are witty statements about youth, some adaptations of work from
1572, some words of conventional wisdom.
There are also her letters from/to family/friends, in which sometimes the
lucklessness of her situation is stressed, she is ‘but’ middle-class trying to
make money.
The last work which we are sure is written by Isabelle Whitney is her ‘Will
And Testament’. In it, a strong mixture of irony and complaint can be
found.
Nael p.606-614 ‘Will And Testament’
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A number of other unsigned texts are attributed to Isabelle Whitney, but on
circumstancial evidence only.
Will and Testament
There is bitterness, as the woman is too poor to live in the city and must
therefore move to the country. There is a description of London combined
with a lot of social critique, especially about the distinction between the
poor and the rich.
The relation between the woman and the city is that of a lover who cannot
depart, a bit like the petrarchan scheme in sonnet 147 by Shakespeare.
Also, in a normal testament, most people are not entirely whole in body and
in mind, and not weak in the purse either. Here, there is a reversal of that
situation.
Mary (Sidney) Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1562-1621)
She was an educated woman as she had had private tutors who had taught
her the modern languages as well as latin (though not greek). She joins her
mother as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth from 1575-1577. Then she
marries Henry Herbert, the second Earl of Pembroke. She is 15 years old at
the time, he is 40.
They live at Wilton House in Wiltshire, which is a stately house that Mary
turns into a safe haven for protestant poets. She acts as a patron and
encourages them in their work. Among the writers staying at Wilton House
are eg Edmund Spenser, Fulke Greville, Samuel Daniel and most importantly
her brother, Sir Philip Sidney. She is very close with him, they share their
poetic aspirations as well as calvinist ideas.
In 1586, Sir Philip dies, having completed 43 Psalm translations (from the
Songs of David) out of a planned set of 150. He took on this work at Wilton
House. There is good reason to believe that Mary was closely involved in this
work. After Sir Philip’s death, she decides to finish this project. It takes her
15 years to revise and complete the psalm translations.
She finishes the job in 1599 and dedicates it to her brother and Queen
Elizabeth. Still, the translations remain unpublished until 1823, but there is
strong evidence that they circulated in manuscript. Ben Jonson knew them,
John Donne praised them and George Herbert is influenced by them.
It is an amazing collection incorporating a wide range of meter and rhyme
stanzas. Sometimes, the form is over-emphasized, often there is a little too
much concern for technique, so that the psalms themselves are
overshadowed.
Mary’s other work includes a 1590 adaptation of the tragedy ‘Antoine’ by
Robert Garnier into blank verse (=unrhymed iambic pentameter).
In 1592, Mary publishes a translation of a version of Philippe de Mornay’s
“Discours de la vie et de la mort”.
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In 1593, she finishes ‘Arcadia’. This work was begun by her brother for
herself in 1582, published after his death as ‘New Arcadia’ in 1590, then
revised and added to by Mary.
In the early 1590’s, she invites Samuel Daniel as a tutor to her eldest son,
William. During his stay at Wilton House, she encourages him in his literary
work. As a result, there are many references to Mary Sidney in his work, eg
dedications.
There are many eulogies and dedications to Mary Sidney, eg by Christopher
Marlowe, Thomas Nash, Michael Drayton, Edmund Spenser, Fulke Greville,
Samuel Daniel etc.
When her husband Henry Herbert dies in 1601, she stops writing. She
occupies herself with family and estate matters until her death of smallpox
in London in 1621.
Nael p.958-960 ‘To The Angel Spirit of the Most Excellent Sir Philip Sidney’
(=introduction to the collection of translated psalms)
Elizabeth Tudor (1533-1603)
As an unofficial (bastard) child of Henry VIII, her mother was killed when she
was three years old and was locked in the Tower by her half-sister (Bloody
Mary) for her protestantism.
As a queen, she survived the small pox, several plots to kill her, she even
survived the spanish armada sent by King Philip II of Spain in 1588.
Elizabeth was a very prolific and eloquent writer, a 2000 collection of her
writings shows how productive she was.
It numbers 24 speeches, 15 poems, 39 prayers and 103 letters. At the time it
was common practice for the nobility to converse with each other in verse.
The fact that it took until 2000 to put together this vast collection is that
the material was scattered all over Europe. Also, the fact that literature by
women writers was until recently not thought very important, made things
more difficult.
Another difficulty is that the genres in which Elizabeth wrote wer not
thought to be major genres. There are no epics and no plays, and the few
poems that there are were thought to be mostly occasional pieces and too
much embedded in a political context.
Now, however, there is an interest in creating a canon of female authors.
The prayer has now gained a new literary status and perspective.
‘The doubt of future foes’
Most of Elizabeth’s poetry was never intended to be read beyond her court.
This one is a veiled threat to Mary Stuart, that was circulated by Elizabeth’s
courtiers as having been written by one of her servants, it was written in
1568. In 1568, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, visited Elizabeth to seek refuge
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from scottish lords. She was imprisoned for 19 years in the Tower and then
executed.
Nael p.594 ‘The doubt of future foes’
16th century Prose
John Foxe (1516-1587)
He studies at Oxford, where he achieves his BA in 1537 and his MA in 1539.
It is also where he develops his extreme protestant views. There were
complaints lodged against him while he is a fellow at Magdalen College, as
he protests against some of the college’s practises and rules. He objects in a
long letter to reject the required celibacy. In the end, he resigns and gets
married.
In the early 1550’s, there are a lot of troubles in England (bloody Mary 15531558). Foxe is, in fact, one of the Marian exiles, fleeing to Strassburg in
1554).
He writes a pamphlet in latin, he doesn’t want catholicism to be brought
back into England (Mary’s goal), he is against any change in religion.
He also writes ‘Acts and Monuments’, six books (732 pages) in latin
published in 1559, including stories of reformists being prosecuted by the
catholics. He starts out with the early reformers, Wycliffe and John Hus.
Still, the book is not fiction, as Foxe also bases himself on eye-witness
accounts of prosecuted protestants, viz. victims of bloody Mary.
At the death of Queen Mary, Foxe himself returns to England.
‘Acts and Monuments’ is translated into English in 1563, it is so succesful
that the second edition of 1570 had to be present in all churches in England
by court order. The impact for the protestants was enormous, influencing
the anti-catholic feelings and also nationalism.
Nael p.551 from ‘Acts and Monuments’
Sir Thomas Hoby (1530-1566)
He translates ‘the courtier’ by Baldassare Castiglione, a book that describes
the italian gentlemen of the Renaissance. It is a book on what constitutes
the perfect courtier, and it is published in 1528.
Hoby starts his translation in 1552, it is published in 1561.
The book will later become an enormous influence on Sidney and
Shakespeare, and also on life at court.
According to Sidney, the perfect courtier would be the perfect body to the
queen’s perfect soul.
The courtier is not purely dedicated to platonic love, he also has a body.
Through his body, he should also strive to reflect the goodness of the queen
or king he serves. A courtier should be, among other things: wellborn, not
fat, amiable, not womanish, not a babbler, not a liar, wellspoken, not
envious, sober, wise, just, good at drawing, dancing, painting, singing, he
should hunt, swim, and run well, and know chivalry with horse and arms. He
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should possess these qualities to love better the beauty of the mind, than of
the body.
At the end of the list, there is also a shortlist of the characteristics and
qualities required by the perfect gentlewoman.
Other 16th century prose includes Thomas More’s ‘Utopia’.
Sir Sidney’s ‘Arcadia’(1593) was written as entertainment for ladies.
It was very popular, there were 13 editions in the 17th century alone, 2
sequels and numerous imitations were written.
‘Arcadia’ was translated into all modern european languages. By 1725 there
had been a 14th edition and the book had been rewritten in modern English.
Through its popularity, it has a huge influence on the development of the
novel (eg on Richardson).
16th century Theatre/Drama
During the Middle Ages, there were mostly religious plays/drama such as
mystery plays or miracle plays. Still, there had also been secular drama, eg
the farce, and secularized moralities (eg taking classical gods and putting
them in political contexts). Examples of this secular drama were disguisings
and mummings (danced pantomimes), interludes and masques.
In drama, the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance was more
apparent in England than in the rest of Europe. English drama displays
characteristics both of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It has to be
seen in a national as well as an international context.
Elizabeth I outlawed religious drama, with the obvious result of a rise in
secular drama.
In the 1570’s, acting had a legal status, english theatre was under the
control of the government. An acting company had to have a licence to
perform. This required the patronage of a nobleman or aristocrat, who
sponsored the acting group with a fixed sum of money per year. Still, often
extra earnings were necessary (and made).
The performance of plays was not allowed within the city of London. This
led to a situation, where all theatre buildings were built outside the city,
mostly on the other side of the Thames in Soutwark.
The first permanent theatre building was ‘The Theatre’, it was built in 1576
by James Burbage, the head of the Earl of Leicester’s Men, a licenced group
since 1574.
The company for whom Shakespeare wrote his plays were the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men. These turned into the King’s Men, after a decree which
required all companies to be licensed to a member of the royal household.
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The theatre was well-liked by the aristocracy but disliked by the mostly
puritan merchant class, who considered imaginative literature to be
immoral.
In 1577, the preacher John Northbrooke publishes a treatise about the pros
and cons of theatre, in which the wisdom of age argues against youth. The
treatise was the ‘Treatise against Dicing, Dancing, Plays, Interludes and
other idle Pastimes’.
In the treatise, there are objections on moral grounds, as plays draw people
away from wholesome work they are led towards idleness, vanity and lust.
Plays are not condemned outright, though, they are all right as long as they
are used as a educational tool. The problem was, that not every play could
be used as an educational tool. A play might contain romantic scenes!
Furthermore, plays had to be in latin, and not for the public eye but private
sessions only.
The puritan influence was not to be underestimated, they often found ways
to keep even licenced theatre companies from performing, often using their
influence in the local government to prevent plays being put on.
Still, the theatre bloomed. As the interest grew, new plays were needed. In
the pre-Shakespeare era, there was a group called the University Wits,
consisting of university-educated people who introduced classical and
continental standards into English plays.
Members were Robert Green (1558-1592) (=the 1st to attack Shakespeare in
print, Thomas Kyd (1558-1594), John Lyly (1554-1606) and most importantly
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593).
Thomas Kyd (1558-1594)
Kyd is believed to have written a lost version of Hamlet, the Ur-Hamlet.
He also produced the “Spanish Tragedy” in 1589, based on Seneca. His
adaptation of the Roman playwright leads to the first English tragedies. At
the time, these were more popular than Shakespeare’s plays..
In the play, Horatio, the son of the Marshall of Spain, is in love with
Belimperia. However, he is killed by Belimperia’s brother Lorenzo and the
Prince of Portugal. The reason is, that Lorenzo has arranged for the Prince
of Portugal to marry Belimperia. Before Belimperia is taken away to be
married, she writes a letter in her own blood to Horatio’s father, explaining
the situation. Horatio’s father wants to avenge the murder of his son, and
feigns madness to cover up his moves.
This ‘madness’-theme also hints towards a lost Ur-Hamlet.
Kyd also writes “Cornelia”, an adaptation of the play by Robert Garnier. (≈
Mary Sidney)
In 1593, he is suspected of heresy and taken into custody.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
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He was born in Canterbury, the son of a shoe-maker. He is in fact only two
months older than Shakespeare.
He attends Kings College in Canterbury and goes to university in Cambridge
on a scholarship in 1580. (There is no evidence that Shakespeare ever
acquired an university education!)
In 1587 he receives his MA, because the Privy Council instructs the
Cambridge University to do so on the basis of good service to Queen
Elizabeth I. He was probably in the Secret Service.
In 1587, Marlowe settles in London and becomes part of the literary scene.
He is an outstanding playwright. By 1593 he has already written 7 amazing
plays, while in comparison Shakespeare has produced nothing during that
time, that could be called comparable to the intense and poetic style of
Marlowe’s tragedies.
The chronology of the 7 plays is not entirely clear.
1) Tamburlaine The Great Part One
2) Tamburlaine The Great Part Two
These plays were being performed by 1587/8,
indicating Marlowe wrote them while still at
Cambridge. Perhaps these are his first plays.
3) Dido, queen of Carthage. Idem Cambridge. This play was
written in collaboration with Thomas Nashe. (This
was a common practice, Shakespeare used to write
with a person called Fletcher.)
From 1589-1593 stem the controversial plays:
4) Massacre at Paris: This is a propagandistic
dramatization of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day
Massacre at Paris in 1572,when thousands of
protestants in France were slaughtered. Probably 1589/90.
5) The Jew of Malta. Probably written in 1589/90. This
play is critical of the leaders of the christian
community.
6) Edward II. This play brings up the homosexuality of
Edward II in a new way.
7) Dr.Faustus. This play deals with witchcraft, a current
topic at the time.
Marlowe was often called an atheist, and he was sometimes in trouble with
the government. On the other hand, he had powerful friends, eg Sir Walter
Raleigh and diverse connections in the Secret Service.
Marlowe dies in 1593 in suspicious circumstances, he is killed in a pub brawl
over the payment of a bill. There are many theories concerning this highly
unlikely death, some doubting his death, some suggesting he lived on as
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Shakespeare. The men arrested in connection with his stabbing were briefly
held and then quietly released after a few days.
General info on drama in the 16th and 17th century:
Plays were at first mostly performed in the courtyards of inns and taverns.
Later, proper theatre buildings were constructed, the first one in 1576.
There were public outdoor theatres and private indoor theatres. The
outdoor (arena) theatres could hold up to 2000-3000 people, which goes to
show how popular drama was at the time. Theatre buildings came in all
shapes and sizes (round, octagonal, rectangular..).
The pit or the yard was were the groundlings stood. At the time it was usual
to watch a play while standing in the pits, these standing spectators were
called groundlings. The stage was roofed, this roof was named the heavens.
The yard was not roofed. The galleries were roofed and held seats. Some of
the galleries were owned or rented by the aristocracy.
At the rear end of the stage was the tiring house, were the actors retired to
change costumes and to wait for their cue to come on stage. There were
usually two doors to the tiring areas, these could represent places far away
from England. Above the tiring house was the musicians’ gallery, and on the
third level, there was a hut containing machinery or storage space for the
instruments. On top of the hut was a flag to indicate whether there was a
play on that night or not.
As for the setup of the private indoor theatres: these were generally smaller
and therefore couldn’t hold as many people. They were fully roofed. They
were the place for acting companies to show their plays during the winter,
when it was too cold to perform outside.
A good example of an indoor theatre is Blackfriars’, which opens in 1576. It
was a former monastery, hence the name.
Blackfriars’ is the first indoor theatre in England. It closes in 1584 and is
reopened in 1596. From 1610 on, the Kings’ Men(Shakespeare), use it for
their winter performances.
William Shakespeare (the plays)
Shakespeare arrived in London in the late 1580’s, pursuing a theatrical
career. He started out writing histories, eg the 3 parts of Henry VI, and
comedies, such as ‘The comedy of Errors’, ‘The 2 gentlemen of Verona’ and
maybe also ‘The Taming of the Shrew’.
We only know that by the early 1590’s he is popular enough to be attacked
in print by critics. In 1592, Robert Green writes a critique on Shakespeare:
‘A Grope’s worth of witt’. In it, it says that Shakespeare was known as a
poet to bombast out a blank verse, and as a playwright.
There is a direct reference to a line of the third part of Henry VI (‘the only
Shakescene in the country’).
In 1593, the theatres close due to the plague.
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In 1594, the theatres reopen. Shakespeare joins the ‘Lord Chamberlains’
men’. and continues to write plays for them for the rest of his life. He
writes more comedies, histories and also tragedies, at an average of 2 plays
per year.
Comedies: “Love’s labour lost”(1599-1600), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”,
“The Merchant of Venice”, “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, “Twelfth Night”,
“As you like it” and
“Much Ado about nothing”.
historical plays: “Richard II Part 1/2”,
“Henry IV Part ½”, Henry v”
tragedies: “Romeo & Juliet”, “Julius Caesar”, “Hamlet”.
All this is written in the Elizabethan period (-1603).
Shakespeare continues his effort in the Jacobean era, the era of King James
I.
tragedies: “Othello”, “King Lear”, “Macbeth”,
“Anthony and Cleopatra”.
comedies: there are no successors to the comedies of the final year of the
Elizabethan era. Instead, there are problem plays, these go beyond the
limits of the genre of comedy. They have a darker tone and deal with
serious moral issues. Good examples are “Measure for measure” and “All’s
well that ends well”.
These tendencies (of the problem plays) continue also in the romances of
1609-1611. “The Tempest”, “The Winter’s Tale”, “Cymbeline”. They have a
mixture of comedy, folk tale and masques in them.
There are now also plays with magical qualities, as eg Prospero in “The
Tempest”. This is especially noticeable if one compares Shakespeare’s later
plays with his early ones.
1613 A cannon used in a play sets the roof of the ‘Globe’ on fire. This was
probably the reason why Shakespeare stopped writing. He dies in 1616.
In 1623 there appears the first publication of the First Folio (posthumous) of
Shakespeare’s plays. They are published by two former colleagues of
Shakespeare, two actors named Hemmings and Condell. They are
responsible for the edition of the texts in the first folio.
There is an argument that all these plays could never have been written by
this bard from Stratford-upon-Avon.
There is after all not one single piece of evidence to link this man to any
literary text or activity whatsoever. All the evidence is posthumous, and
most comes from the First Folio.
Scholars have come up with names, who they deem capable of producing
this big volume of texts and plays:
Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, Edward de Vere (the 17 th Earl of
Oxford), William Stanley (6th Earl of Derby).
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In the 16th and 17th century, when a writer was popular, there were many
people who wrote eulogies about them to praise them for their work (≈ Mary
Sidney). There is not a single eulogy about Shakespeare or about his work.
There is one poem that survives, and this is the one that Ben Johnson wrote
as a preface to the first folio.
Another problem is, that the writer of this huge volume must have had a
really broad and wide knowledge about a number of subjects: classics, law,
foreign languages, aristocratic manners, sports, etc. There is no evidence
that Shakespeare had access to all this information.
There is only unspecified evidence, like the text fragment from Robert
Green, linking Shakespeare to the theatre, but nothing direct from his
lifetime to prove he was indeed an actor. The first folio is the first source to
put him in the acting business, and it is posthumous!
Shakespeare’s will and testament are known. They contain a list of furniture
and a detailed description of his belongings. There is no library mentioned,
neither are books or manuscripts.
The will bequests Shakespeares belongings to 3 actors.
The only evidence of Shakespeare’s handwriting are six almost illegible
signatures. Three of these are on his will. None of them are from before
1612, and they are all different. The common thing is that the first syllable
of his name is always spelled ‘Shak’, not ‘Shake’-speare.
There exist no autographed versions of his plays.
There are no texts of his in his own handwriting, just printed editions of his
texts of his own lifetime, that is to say before 1623.
At the time, there was no copyright, printers could publish almost anything
and do so without having to pay anybody. The texts to popular plays were in
great demand, but they were hard to get. Usually, only one text existed per
play, and that one copy belonged to that actors’ group themselves. It was
usually kept behind lock and key to prevent other theatre companies from
getting their hands on it and cashing in on other companies’ plays.
Printers used to bribe actors, so that usually one part would be correct,
another mostly correct and the rest guesswork. The texts were
fundamentally unreliable, there was often little resemblance with the plays
as they were being performed on stage.
Another method for obtaining texts was to pay somebody to go and watch a
play several times, so they could learn parts of it by heart, or take notes, to
be used as the base for the reproduced texts.
Hamlet exists only in three printed texts and not one autographed version.
The three printed texts are from 1603 (1st quarto), 1604/5 (2nd quarto),
1623 (first folio). These versions are all different!
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The conclusion we must draw is, that Shakespeare may have written a
‘Hamlet’ play, but we don’t know what it looked like.
Extract of the commemorative poem by Ben Johnson.
Guest lecture by Rod Lyall, about literature in the
17th century.
Important dates:
1603: James I becomes King at the death of Elizabeth I
1625: death of James I, outbreak of civil war
1642: Start of the first civil war, theatres are closed.
1649: the execution of Charles I, England=republic
1660: Charles II is invited back from exile, restoration
1688: the Glorious Revolution, England is protestant.
Nael p.1273 John Donne ‘Good Friday, 1613.Riding Westward’
In Donne’s poem, there is an emphasis on the contrast between the death in
the West and the Promised Land represented by the East(in the after-life!)
but both are really one. There is a merging of the old images of Christ and
the new images of mapping the world.
John Donne (1572-1631)
He is often identified as a Jacobean Poet. On the other hand, there are
many arguments to contest this.
A lot of Donne’s love poetry and his satires were written before 1603. Even
though it might not have been published until 1633, a lot of his poetry
circulated in manuscript. This was at the time an accepted method of
letting ones poetry become known, instead of the vulgar method of simply
publishing it.
Another argument is, that the term ‘Jacobean’ is very anglo-centric. James
the first had been king James VI in Scotland since 1567, although he may not
have been fully in control before 1585 or 1579, when he took an official
function in Edinburgh.
James I himself was a published poet (in verse and prose), a lot of his work,
including his instructions to his son Henry on how to be king, was
republished in 1603 in London, when he became king! In fact, that
particular piece was the best-seller of 1603.
Furthermore, the Jacobean period took place before 1603 aa well, in
Scotland! When James I became king of England, there was a convergence
of cultures, two court cultures merged.
The question must also be asked, how much continuity there was at the
time, as well as when Charles I became king, as the Nael mainly emphasizes
the differences between the periods. The changing of the monarchies was
perhaps a more subtle process.
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What is described in the Nael as “metaphysical poetry” (eg by Donne,
Herbert) is perhaps poetry created by a minority of the poets of the period.
This term focuses on one specific aspect of poetry, its approach to
metafore, and the fact that the emphasis is first on the intellectual
understanding, and then on the emotional grasp.
However, there is no metaphysical period, this poetry is just a phenomenon
that occurs at that moment/period in time.
The difficulty in characterizing a period lies in the fact that by
differentiating, one distorts reality.
There is a definite relation between public life and politics on the one hand,
and art on the other hand.
Public preferences and the circumstances, under which a text is published,
all come under outside influences.
In 1642, under the influence of the protestant government, all theatres are
closed until 1660. This means, that for almost twenty years, no plays may
be performed, including Shakespeare, and all this because the protestants
considered plays to be immoral.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
He was the most widely read author at the time.
He was first a dramatist, and - like Shakespeare - he was not a university
man. He sought his opportunity to be a writer through theatre, and made his
name through writing court masques with spoken texts, against a
background of music and ballet, and with elaborate scenic arrangements.
He was largely sponsored by the wife of James I, queen Anne of Denmark,
and Inigo Jones.
The problem was that there were three courts.
There was the court of James I (a protestant), who had a limited literary
interest, the court around queen Anne (a secret catholic), and the court of
the eldest son, Henry (the hope of all puritans and nationalists).
Through him, the influence of the group around Sidney and Spenser
continues.
Jonson chose for the gentlemanly way of circulating his manuscripts, instead
of publishing them. In 1616, however, he publishes a collection of his works.
In the same year, king James also publishes a collection of his writings, it
was almost king against commoner.
Jonson’s style was very different from that of John Donne. It was plain,
urbane, civilized and followed latin models like Horace. It could sometimes
be satirical, too, though in another manner than John Donne’s poetry. His
satire tended towards that of the Cavalier poets (royalists) such as Suckling
or Loveless.
His works were published during the 1620’s and 30’s, up until and even
during the civil war.
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In the middle of the 17th century, the great writers included Andrew
Marvell(1621-1678) and John Milton (1608-1674), both of whom were on the
side of the republic and Parliament. This counted especially for Milton, who
was a civil servant under Cromwell.
Both Marvell and Milton were ambiguous figures, as neither supported the
more repressive side of the regime.
Milton even wrote some important work on tolerance and against
censorship, which didn’t hold with protestant views. Both men had to deal
with the failure of the revolution.
Marvell’s work was written and published before those times, and there is
no surviving reaction on the failure of the revolution.
Milton, however, in 1667 wrote Paradise Lost, which was first published in
1667 in ten books, and in 1674 in twelve books. John Milton was a blind man
later in life, still he had an amazing epic vision of the whole of human
history. At the same time, he was able to conceive a very enigmatic Satan
figure. Satan had failed to rebel against God (since god had to win!), but
was very attractive even in failure.
Nael p.1832 ‘Paradise Lost’ (book 1)
Milton wrote this text after the collapse of the republic, like Donne’s work
it represents a vision of human experience. In a way, Paradise Lost can be
compared to a baroque cathedral (eg St.Paul’s), which was built on the
burnt-down building which stood in its place before.
The Baroque Period
The term was first used by an art historian called Heinrich Wölfflin in
“Renaissance und Barock” in 1888. It stems from the Portuguese word
“Barocco”, meaning misshapen pearl. It is used for the stylistic phase
following the Renaissance.
The Baroque period is said to have begun in Italy as early as 1580
(H.Wölfflin). The term is used as a period classification covering the art
forms of music (Vivaldi), architecture (churches in Southern Germany,
Austria, Bernini), painting and sculpture, but the application of the term to
literature proves to be more problematic.
Features and characteristics of the baroque period can be found in poetry in
the writings of Marino (1569-1625), and the Spanish authors Luis de Gongora
(1561-1627) and Lope de Vega (1562-1635). In France, there was Francois de
Malherbe.
In the baroque influence in literature, there was a high degree of
theatricality and a very elaborate use of rhetorical devices. There is a
preoccupation with appearances over reality. There is also a concern with
the outer over the inner.
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In the English literature, there has always been a preference of indigenous
terms for description (eg elizabethan, jacobean, metaphysical literature).
The baroque approach is international in its angle.
In 1955 a scholar called Sypher found two English poets as exemplifying the
baroque period, John Milton and Richard Crashaw (1612-1649).
In 1974, Harold Segal wrote a book on the baroque poem, including a list of
English baroque writers, featuring: John Donne, George Herbert, John
Milton, Richard Crashaw, Andrew Marvell and Anne Bradstreet.
Some even attribute baroque features even to some of the works of
Shakespeare.
The international baroque approach compares similarities in Italian, English,
Spanish and other national literatures, implying the two way influences
between them. The indigenous classifications are of course still workable.
Terms as Cavalier and Elizabethan literature can still be useful to point out
cultural polarities.
Cavalier was the name of the supporters of the king in the war against
Parliament. They represented court culture under Charles I and his son,
Charles II. Cavalier was a term originally used by the parliamentary
opposition in the 1630’s to the 1650’s. Among the Cavalier poets were
Thomas Carew, John Suckling and Richard Lovelace.
The Cavalier poetry was usually witty, musical, often sung with musical
accompaniment. It was the time of the famous English composers, eg.
Nicolas Lanei, or Henry and William Lawes.
Nael p.1670-1671 Richard Lovelace ‘To Lucasta, Going to the Wars’
Popular themes for Cavalier poetry were love, sex and music. Many of the
Cavalier poets actually went to war!
Nael p.1676 Edmund Waller ‚Song’
This poem is an invitation to love, a rose is used to persuade a woman into
having sex.
This directness is very different to the poetry of Sidney and Spenser and
poets of their time.
The poetry is written in simple stanzaic forms, it has no intricate sonnets
but a more common and simple style.
A Major Poet of the time, who was influential in that he preferred a simple
and straightforward style, was the poet and playwright Ben Jonson.
Together with John Donne, he had the greatest influence on the Cavaliers.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
He was born in 1572/3: that means that he was born before the 25 th of
March 1573, which was the start of the new year in England. For our time
count it was 1573, in theirs it was still 1572. (Julian vs Gregorian calendar).
41
His father died before Jonson was born, he was raised by his stepfather, a
master bricklayer in London. Ben is educated at Westminster School, and
there receives a secondary school education. Afterwards, he works as an
apprentice to his father for a short while, and then leaves to join the army
in the Netherlands. In the early 15950’s, he is a wandering player, a
strolling actor. In 1597 he is back in London, where he joins the Earl of
Pembroke’s Men.
Jonson often ran into trouble with the law. In 1598 he is imprisoned and
accused of killing a fellow actor. He was very lucky that he wasn’t hanged, a
friend used his influence to get him off.
In 1598, he also writes “Every Man in his humour”, the same year it is
performed. It is the first time that one of his plays is performed on stage.
Together with “Everyman out of his humour”(1599) and “Cynthia’s Revels”
(1600), the play belongs to the ‘war of the theatre’s’.
That was the name used for an exchange of insults started by a colleague of
Jonson, John Marston. He had included a funny portrait of Jonson in one of
his plays. Jonson was not amused and reacted in “Every Man out of his
humour” in 1599. Marston replies, Jonson reacts in “Cynthia’s Revels” in
1600, a third party (Thomas Dekker) is involved… the dispute continues until
1604. It illustrates the rivalry present in professional theatre.
In 1603, Jonson writes “Sejanus, his Fall”, a roman play, for the occasion of
James I becoming king of England, he dedicates the play to his king as a
welcome. The theme of the play is conspiracy. This proves to be a bad
choice. He is even suspected of treason by the privy council. Jonson is
subsequently imprisoned and questioned.
In 1604, Johnson writes “Eastward Hoe” together with Marston and
Chapman. It is a play full of political allusions, a parody on the Scottish men
and their manners. As James I became king of England, he brings some
noblemen with him from the North. These are all successful at court, a fact
Jonson makes fun of. Again, Jonson is imprisoned.
Still, his work is so successful, that in 1605, the King himself becomes
Jonson’s patron. Jonson continues writing plays and masques (with Inigo
Jones). The actors in these masques are often members of the nobility, not
layman actors. Sometimes, they are even members of the royal household.
One of them even featured the “winter queen”, Elizabeth of Bohemia, a
daughter of Charles I.
The productions of these masques was usually very costly. The nobility
sometimes even lent their houses for money. Jonson wrote a remarkable
series of masques: (these are all comedies)
“Volpone”(a comedy, the basis for his reputation today),
“Epicoene, the silent woman”, “The Alchemist”, “Bartholomew Fair”
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Jonson had a remarkably large and diverse oeuvre of satires, epigrams,
elegies etc., and all were published within his own lifetime, which goes to
show how popular he was.
In 1616, he published “The Worckes”, a collection of all his writings. The
publication was a scandal, as it was generally taken that to publish one’s
work was to vulgarise it. For Jonson, however, it was a conscious attempt to
reach a wider audience, and to take his writings out of the courts and to the
people. His collection was not spectacularly well received at the time, but
surely must have influenced Cordell and Hemmings by serving as a model for
the First Folio of Shakespeare.
In 1616, Jonson was given a pension by the king for life. It was a sign of his
approval and his patronage, and it meant that Jonson could keep on writing
without having to worry about money any more.
By 1616, Jonson had already written his best work. The play “The devil is an
ass” of the same year was not very successful. Jonson subsequently stopped
writing for a number of years, but stayed in the literary scene. He had his
own literary circle, Cavalier poets who proudly called themselves the ‘Sons
of Ben’.
In 1618, Jonson went to Scotland on foot, to visit a fellow (baroque) poet,
Sir William Drummond of Hawthornden. Drummond recorded his
conversations with Jonson. It is not known, whether Jonson was aware of
this at the time.
In 1619, Jonson returned to England, where he writes “My picture left in
Scotland”, which he sends Drummond as a present.
Back in England,he continued writing masques. In 1631, he had a falling out
with Inigo Jones and stopped writing masques.
Nael p.1409 Ben Jonson ‘My Picture Left in Scotland’
After the death of King James I, Jonson returns to the theatre and starts
writing plays again, without ever returning to his peak level of writing
again. Jonson provided the plays, whereas Jones supplied the rest of the
set: the costumes, the stage effects, etc.
Jonson dies in 1637, a further collection of his poetry is published after his
death in 1640, it is called “The Underwood”. A further collection of his
notes “Timber or discoveries” is also published.
Jonson is an example of the growing professionalization of writing. He starts
out from humble origins, but is able to gain high social status on the basis of
his literary reputation! This is remarkable, especially when considering the
times he was imprisoned.
John Donne (1572-1631)
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John Donne is known for his metaphysical poetry, which is obscure, but also
subtle and passionate.
He was born as a child of catholic parents. At the time, it was physically
dangerous to be a practising catholic, it was even difficult for a catholic to
hold on to a job. Donne entered Oxford University, but was not allowed to
take a degree. The same thing happened when he continued his studies at
Lincoln Inn, one of the four Inns of Court, the Law Schools. He was again not
allowed to take a degree.
He was known to be active in cultural life, as a theatregoer. He also wrote a new kind of worldly, erotic poetry.
In 1601 he married An More, who was related to his employer. The marriage
took place in secret, but his employer found out and Donne lost his job.
For a while he and his wife led a life in disgrace and went through a period
of financial insecurity, but soon Donne rehabilitated himself, drawing the
attention of the king.
In time, Donne converted to the Church of England, he was even ordained to
be a priest in 1615, and was made Dean of St.Paul’s Cathedral in 1621,
where he wrote sermons and meditations.
Donne’s life is often regarded in two separate periods: that of the young,
daring Elizabethan poet, versus that of the learned Jacobean religious
doctor. This view is too oversimplified! Often a combination of both sides of
his personality can be found.
Donne was extremely popular in the early 17th century, reports of
circulation of his manuscripts show that he might easily be called the most
popular, even. After his death in 1631, his work was printed and a first
edition appeared in 1633. However, since it was very untidy and full of
mistakes, a second edition appeared already in 1635.
Nael p.1236 John Donne ‘The Flea’
This is a seduction poem. The speaker is interested sexually in a woman and
uses metaphors, images and general persuasion to get her into bed. This
appears to be a feeling that is not reciprocal, and the reason for that is that
she is still a virgin.
The flea has already sucked blood from the woman, but the man is denied
access (blood on loss of virginity). The flea has the advantage on him, since
it has not been refused. The man now tells the girl, that the blood is
unimportant (while it is to him!).
At the same time, the flea has also sucked the man’s blood. The mingling of
their blood inside the flea recalls sex (mixing of bodily fluids). The man
argues that, since this has already happened inside the flea, it might as well
happen in the outside world!
The blood of innocence that appears when the flea is killed shows that she
is still a virgin. Maybe, the killing of the innocent insect also means that
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since this is the way in which she deals with innocence, why not lose her
virginity as well, then?
In a way, Donne reshapes the petrarchan sonnet tradition, he uses known
images (the flea) in his own special way.
George Herbert (1593-1633)
Herbert is a distant relative of Sir Philip Sidney. He studies at Cambridge
University, where he is a brilliant student, who is clearly destined for a
career in public life.
In 1615 he takes on the job of orator at Cambridge University, where he
composes speeches and adresses in latin for official occasions (royal visits
...), in fact he holds a kind of PR-job there.
For unclear reasons Herberts decides to resign his post in 1627. He becomes
a priest, a country parson. He is parish priest in Bemerton near Salisbury
until his death of TB in 1633.
Herbert is regarded as technically the most accomplished poet in English
literature. His entire poetry in religious in content. Herbert has always been
read for that reason, though since the beginning of the 20 th century, his
poetry is also praised for the poetry itself.
There is a huge collection of 170 poems, known as “The Temple”. It was
published after Herbert’s death in 1633. His poetry often appears
deceptively simple, yet it is very skillfully composed. He was the first poet
to come up with his own title’s for his poems. Normally, poems got their
names or titles from the publisher or editor.
The fact, that Herbert himself titled his poetry, is important in that way,
that the title of his poetry often gives the reader a clue on how to approach
his poetry.
Herbert’s poetry is different from Donne’s in that it is more characterized
by quiet surprises and insights, it is more subtle but like Donne, Herbert
helped create a new petrarchan tradition. Often, Herbert characterizes the
church or god like an unresponsive mistress.
Nael p.1609 George Herbert ‘The Collar’
The title is like an emblematic image, the speaker is likely a priest. He
wants to get rid of the collar, maybe he is thinking about leaving the
church. The collar might be seen as the collar of a slave, who finds it hard
to serve a demanding and unfair lord. Is it perhaps an animal’s collar? An
animal knows only passions, so the poem has now gained an extra dimension
apart from the ratio one.
The man can no longer think rational, he is angry.
Choler refers to being choleric (angry). He is in a state of rebellion. A caller
could mean that it is a calling poem, the man receives has lost his calling
and needs another call from god. When that call comes, “Child”, he turns
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from an angry man into one ready again to enter the life of service and
submission. He needed that one word (not slave but child) to put everything
back in perspective.
The term “metaphysical” was first used by John Dryden in an essay about
dramatick poesy (about Donne).
Samuel Johnson also uses the term ‘metaphysical’ in 1779 in “Life of
Cowley”, which is about the life of Abraham Cowley, but the term is used in
an unflattering way. People didn’t think highly of metaphysical poetry then.
Nature and art are ransacked for images, the reader is seldom pleased,
according to Johnson. Abraham Cowley is another metaphysical poet, as are
Donne, Herbert, Richard Crashaw and Henry Vaughan.
John Milton (1608-1674)
Milton is the most important poet of the 17th century.
He is born in London in a protestant household. His father is a convert from
Catholicism, Milton’s family is now allied to the puritan cause. Milton’s
father is a succesful businessman.
Milton has private tutors, then goes to St.Paul’s school, and graduates a
bachelor at Magdalin College in Cambridge in 1629.
Nael p.1774-1781 ‘On The Morning of Christ’s Nativity’ (= This is Milton’s
first major work in English instead of latin.)
By 1629 he has written a lot of latin verse already. Milton also wrote in
Greek and Italian and had an active reading knowledge of 6 more languages,
including Hebrew.
In 1632 he returns home to his family in London, where he doesn’t work, but
does the things he loves best: studying and reading.
Milton has a great memory: he knows the entire King James Bible by heart.
He reads everything he can get his hands on.
In 1638 he embarks on his Grand Tour through Europe, a customary
undertaking to round off one’s education. He meets famous scholars and
members of the royalty. In his alba amicorum he collects other people’s
writings / notes / drawings, it serves as a diary and as a sort of passport,
and at the same time as a reminder of the things he has accomplished.
His Grand Tour only lasted 15 months, he only gets to tour France and Italy,
where he meets Galileo Galilei. In 1639 he feels that he has to go back to
England because of the political situation there. The war of the bishops has
begun. Milton felt it his duty to serve the republican cause back home. He
becomes a public secretary.
In 1642 he marries Mary Powell, who leaves him after six weeks on the
grounds of incompatibility. She returns, however, and will be the mother of
his 4 children. Milton is a little embittered by this episode. In the years
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1643-1645 he publishes a series of pamphlets in favour of divorce on the
grounds of incompatibility.
Milton, in other words, is not just a poet, but also a pamphleteer.µ
His most important pamphlet is called the Arepagitica (in Nael!), which he
writes in 1644. It is in favour of free speech and against censorship. It is
written in response to public condemnation of his arguing for divorce on
grounds of incompatibility.
During the 1640’s, he gradually loses his eyesight. By the winter of 1651/2
he is completely blind. He still had to produce his major works by then!
‘Paradise Lost’ is written at that stage. He dictates the work to his
daughter. His loss of vision is often referred to in his oeuvre, also in
Paradise Lost.
Nael p.1814 “When I consider How My Light Is Spent” (=blindness)
Milton approved of the killing of Charles I in 1649 (regicide).
He still opposed the monarchy upon its restoration in 1660.
Nael p.1813 ‘To the Lord General Cromwell, May 1652’
In the early 1650’s, he is a supporter of Oliver Cromwell(=sonnet).
He changes his attitude, however, when Oliver Cromwell is Lord Protector,
he feels that the king is gone only to be replaced the new tyranny of
Cromwell. When Charles II is brought back to England, Milton is imprisoned,
but soon manages to get out with the help of friends who intervene on his
behalf. He was lucky in that respect, many regicides died in prison.
Mary Powell dies in 1652, his second wife dies in childbirth.
It is a very black period in his life, but it is his most productive.
In 1667 ‘Paradise Lost’ is published a first time in 10 books.
In 1674 it is published a second time, in 12 books (=today version).
Milton also publishes ‘Paradise Regained’, a brief epic on the temptation of
Christ by the devil in the wilderness.
‘Samson Agonistes’ si a closet drama, which means that it is a play only
meant to be read, and not performed. It is about the bible hero Samson, he
with the long hair and the bitch girlfriend Delilah.
In 1674 Milton dies.
‚Paradise Lost’ is about man’s first disobedience. It is the story of Adam and
Eve as they are driven out of Eden (story from the book of Genesis). It is a
long and detailed narrative poem.
It is at the same time the story of Satan, who once was the brightest angel
in heaven. Satan rebelled against God and even led his supporters in a war
against God. He loses and is punished and kicked out of heaven. As a
revenge he seduces Eve in the disguise of the infernal serpent to eat of the
sacred fruit, and to persuade Adam to do so also.
Nael p.1818 ‘Paradise Lost’ (the first verses of book 1)
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All in all, the civil war is a very important period in the history of Great
Britain.
Charles I
Charles I is the son of James VI. In 1625 he marries Henrietta Maria, the
catholic sister of the French king Louis XIII. It is the year that he first comes
to the throne of England.
He firmly believes in the divine right of kings, who should have absolute
power. He was supposed to govern England with the assistance of
Parliament, however. The first Parliament of 16+25 lasts 4 years.
Parliament was very critical of him and distrusted him. It believed him to be
strongly influenced by his favourite and chief minister, George Velliers, the
duke of Buckingham.
In 1629 Charles I dissolves Parliament and decides to rule by himself. He
does so for 11 years. He appointed people who were loyal to him to assist
him, such as William Land (bishop). England was governed by an absolutist
clique.
In 1637 Charles has the idea of trying to force Episopalianism on Scotland.
Scotland was hitherto Presbyterian country, church elders were lay people
appointed by a committee of other laymen, a very democratic system of
church rule. Episcopalians had bishops, that were appointed by the king of
England.
The scots didn’t take this sitting down, they were prepared to fight almost
immediately. They defeated the royalist army.
The problem for Charles I was that he had to ask Parliament for money to
fund his wars. This left Parliament in a very powerful position.
Charles went ahead anyway and called forth Parliament once again.
The first time this happens is known as the Short Parliament, everybody got
together, but no agreement was reached, so the Parliament was dismissed
again.
The second one, the Long Parliament, was called together in 1640.
The Parliament offered the king money in return for some constitutional
changes. Charles I refused. The conflict was at first political, and later on
became military.
The first civil war was from 1642-1645 saw the roundheads (supporters of
parliament with a characteristic hairdo) defeating the cavaliers (royalists).
The final battle was at Naseby.
1646 saw the surrender of Charles I to the Scots. He was put in the hands of
Parliament in 1647, who considered his return to power, but Charles refused
the offer they made. This was the cause for the outbreak of the second civil
war, which lasted only for a few months during 1648.
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During the First Civil War, a strong leader of the Parliamentarians emerged
out of nothing. It was Oliver Cromwell, whose earlier life remains a mystery.
He united the Parliamentarian forces. His regiment was known as the
ironsides (yzervreters). He was soon second in command to the new model
army of the Parliamentarians, a military man who had become politically
active.
After 1648, Parliament had become tired of negotiations with Charles, so
they decided to abolish the monarchy. By the end of 1648 they had also
abolished the privy council, the courts of the exchequer, the courts of
admiralty and other institutions. These were replaced by a Council of State
and committees and subcommittees.
Parliament wanted to put Charles on trial, they accused him of high
treason, and he was executed the 30th of January 1649.
His son had left England and returned to Scotland in 1650, they had him
crowned Charles II in defiance of England. He even had Scottish support to
invade England, but he couldn’t recover the monarchy quite so easily. The
first time he tried to do so, thousands died at the battle of Dunbar. His
second try was also unsuccesful. As he wasn’t very popular at home by now,
either, he went to seek refuge with his mother in France. He roamed
through Europe for 9 years, until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
Charles II stayed in Flanders, then part of the Spanish Netherlands, for
about five years. This meant, that his court and entourage were also moved
here. Reputedly he visited the Rubenshuis, which was then the home of
William Cavendish, the Duke of Newcastle.
Many of Charles’ entourage were literary active here, eg Margaret
Cavendish, wife to the Duke. She wrote “The life of William..”, an account
of the civil war from a royalist point of view out of Flanders. She
complained, that William was not rewarded for his services in any way.
Several such accounts exist. Another one is by Lucy Hutchinson, who wrote
her account from a Parliamentarian point of view. The text shows that she
had a very clear idea about what was going on, and was able to trace the
origins of the civil war. She finds causes all the way back to the reign of
Henry VIII. It is –like many such accounts- an ego-document. This means,
that the target audience is her own family.
Lucy Hutchinson wanted her children to know the events that had happened
in those turbulent times, and how her husband and she were motivated to
do the things they did. This was clearly very important to her, since her
husband, Colonel Hutchinson, was persecuted during the restoration for
being a regicide. Her children should be able to find out, why their father
was being treated that way.
Nael p.1726: ‘Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson’
The biography was a popular genre at the time. John Aubrey even collected
them, publishing a collection of them called ‘Brief Lives’.
John Aubrey: see also Shakespeare.
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Another literary genre popular in the 17th century is the diary.
Samuel Pepys (1638-1703)
He is the son of a tailor. He goes to St.Pauls School and attends Magdalen
College at Cambridge. In 1656 he is employed by his cousin, Sir Edward
Montague, the Earl of Sandwich. Both of them started out as supporters of
Parliament, then later turned royalist. After the restauration, this proved
advantageous to them.
For Pepys it means that he becomes a civil servant. He moves steadily
upward, starting out as a clerk of the king’s ships and ending up as secretary
to the admiralty, a very important job.
On 1/1/1660 he starts his diary, which he keeps up until May 1669. He only
stops writing in it because he wrongly fears that he is going blind. The diary
presents the reader with a day-to-day account of life in London, eg at the
time of the great fire of 1666. There are a lot of Pepys’ personal views on
his job, religion (comments on sermons etc.), but also on theatre. Pepys
loved the theatre and went there often. His diary presents us with a
calendar of which play was staged where and when, and even of who was
present at which shows.
Due to his function, Pepys met a great number of important people, a lot of
his conversations with them are written down in the diary.
Pepys was a married man, but he had lots of affairs. His hanky panky is
described in a combination of French and English.
As Pepys’ account was written in shorthand, a very common practice at the
time, and only the names and references to places were originally in
longhand, it took a very long time to decipher all of the diary.
A first edition could only be published in 1825.
Nael p.2127: ‘October the 25th,1668’
Theatre in the 17th century
Jacobean Theatre started with the accession of James VI to the throne of
England, when he became James I of England in 1603. This date was of
great importance to the organization of London Theatre. James had always
been interested in theatre, even when still in Scotland (in opposition to the
calvinists there). Within a few weeks of his arrival in London, he patronized
the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
This means that he became their patron, they were now the King’s Men.
His wife patronized the Lord Worcester’s Men, ergo the Queen’s Men.
Even their 9-year-old son had his own Theatre company.
In fact, this means that there was conscious support of the theatre by the
entire royal family and household.
The theatres all prospered during the reign of James I. New Theatres were
built, eg 1604 the ‘Red Bull’, where the Queen’s Men performed next to
their attendances at ‘The Curtain’. In 1608, the indoor ‘Blackfriar’s
Theatre’ was first used by the King’s Men.
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From that moment on, there were regular indoor performances.
This meant that the conditions of the performances were now different.
Artificial lighting had to be used instead of daylight, and the situation was
advantageous to the use of scenery and effects. This in turn proved to have
an impact on the writing process.
Another important aspect was that tastes changed in theatre.
The court masque becomes popular, and scenery and scenic effects are
more widely used and on a grander scale. These changes are already visible
in Shakespeare’s later oeuvre. In ‘Measure for Measure’ , which is the first
play performed by the King’s Men, there is even a direct reference to King
James I.
In Shakespeare’s tragedies (Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Antony and
Cleopatra) the author concentrates on power and possible abuses of power,
this may also be seen as an indirect reference to kingship.
The theme is taken up by his younger contemporaries.
Shakespeare also reconceptualizes the comic genre, introducing the
problem plays and removing them from romance. Comedy becomes troubled
and a problematic genre.
There is also a new kind of tragedy, centered on the theme of revenge.
Hardly anybody survives this new kind of play, which was very popular
during the Jacobean age, so that many were written.
A very violent and corrupt society is represented in these plays.
A good example is George Chapman ‘Bussy d’Ambois’(1604) or John
Webster’s ‘The White Devil’(1612) or ‘The Duchess of Malfi’(1614).
Incest is also a popular theme in Jacobean and Carolinic theatre.
John Ford writes ‘The broken Heart’ and ‘T’is a pity she’s a whore’, both of
these plays are centered on incest.
Comedies also underwent changes: satire becomes more important.
The foremost playwrights of the genre are Ben Jonson, John Marston and
John Middleton. Mostly, they wrote ‘city comedies’ which were mostly set in
London, except for ‘Volpone’ by Jonson, which is set in Venice. In these
comedies, the manners of the middle class are ridiculed. These people are
mainly well-to-do businessmen that are fakers and pretend to be a better
kind of people by use of a thin veneer of politeness.
Theatre-wise, the Jacobean and Carolinic period are not very different.
In 1642 the Carolinic period ends (civil war) and Parliament decides the
closure of the theatres. At that time, there were 6 public theatres, 7
private theatres, 3 court theatres and lots of inns and public places where
plays were being performed.
In 1632, William Prynne (a puritan) publishes an attack on the immorality of
theatre, dancing and other such pastimes called ‘Histrio-Mastix’. Basically,
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all who perform plays are pagans, and all those who go to see them are
whores and whore-masters.
As some of his remarks seem to be aimed at the wife of Charles I, Henrietta
Maria, he is not very popular at court. He is imprisoned, and part of his ears
are cut off. He doesn’t desist, however, and so the whole of his ears are cut
off and his cheeks are branded. He still doesn’t give up, however, he even
gets out of prison on the eve of the civil war!
In 1642 one of the first decrees of Parliament is the closure of all theatres.
But even though the theatre buildings themselves were demolished not all
theatrical activity was stopped. From 1646 onwards, all dramatical
performances that Parliament found out about (spies!) were raided and
everybody present fined on the spot.
Still, Parliament didn’t manage to stamp out all english theatre. Plays were
still being performed in secret, and Parliament had forgotten to forbid the
publication of plays! Therefore, there exist dramatic links between the pre1642 and the post-1660 situation, eg the folio edition of Beaumont and
Fletcher.
When Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, there were changes for
the better. He issued a payton to William Davenant and Thomas Killigrew,
he gave them the permission and exclusive right to stage plays in London.
This meant also that there were new theatre companies. Killigrew helped
set up the King’s Men, and Davenant helped set up the Duke’s Men (James,
the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II). New locations were needed for
the theatres to be performed at, too. Plays had been performed at tennis
courts and riding schools, until there were two new venues: the Duke’s
Theatre and the Royal Theatre.
Another spectacular innovation was the introduction of women actresses! It
was the first time that women were allowed on stage. Charles II had seen
this phenomenon during his stay in Europe and in 1662 decreed that all
female roles had to be performed by women from that moment on.
The audiences after 1660 were generally much more homogenous and
sophisticated. They were noblemen, gentlemen of the courts and their
wives, the country gentry (squires) and their ladies, highly placed civil
servants and businessmen. The theatre had become a thing for the wealthy
classes.
An acting troop would consist of about twenty people and there would be
performances every afternoon, six days out of seven. Since in general a play
was expected to run only about three days, the mornings would be spent
rehearsing the following plays. There would be a lot of adapted or rewritten
plays, and also many new ones. In the summer, the court moved to the
countryside.
The 18th century
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In this century, there were many radical changes in every aspect of life for
the common man. There is a clear break between the medieval world and
the modern world. At the time, the Renaissance was considered to have
such a break (opinion of Burkhart), but looking back now, the break in the
18th century is even more prominent.
In the beginning of the 18th century, British society was mostly agricultural,
and there was the feudal system. Towards the end of the century, the
country was definitely heading towards the Industrial Revolution, and the
landowning aristocracy had definitely lost power to the trading middle
classes.
In 1603, there had been the union of the crowns between Scotland and
England, in 1707 there was the Union of the Parliaments, the Scottish
Parliament was united with the English Parliament in Westminster.
1776 there was the loss of 13 colonies to the USA.
There were other colonies gained, however. These were to be the
foundation for the later empire.
The monarchy had the house of Hannover. It loses its absolutist ambitions
and yields power to Parliament. The power went to the Cabinet Government
with a powerful prime minister at its head.
There was the rise of the Tories and the Whigs, which meant that there
were clearly defined political factions.
It was a period of Aufklärung, Enlightenment. The relationship between man
and god was reconsidered, it was no more of prime concern. Man’s relation
to his fellow man became more important.
Society was seen to be crucial to man’s survival.
Civilized behaviour was seen to be very necessary in this. Politeness, refined
tastes, propriety, manners became important.
People are taught to behave in a refined and decent manner.
Empathy is admired as an important moral characteristic.
Addison and Steele and their followers stress these factors.
Nael p.2481: Steele: “The Gentleman; The Pretty Fellow”
They stress the importance of politeness and manners.
The periodical essay is now the literary form par excellence to stress the
importance of empathy.
Feelings become important, it is the very early beginnings of what will
result in the Romantic period. Feelings were even considered to be more
important than reason by some. To be able to express and share these
feelings was important, and this in the age of reason!
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It is also the age of the utopian beliefs (≈ Thomas More), it is the age of
John Locke. Utopian visions resurface and lie at the basis of the revolutions
(USA, France).
Locke was of the opinion that the human mind is a clean slate at the time of
his birth. It is then filled in by the sum of experiences during the human
life. This puts enormous importance on the matter of education. Children
can be turned into good human beings by steering them using correct
education, all this in the purpose of creating a better world.
It is also the age when women demand more freedom and education.
An important figure in this is Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797).
There is “The vindication of the rights of Woman” in 1792, it is the earliest
earliest substantial work in the history of the women’s movement in Great
Britain.
There is also the rise of the novel, which started out as a didactic
instrument to teach manners and good taste.
Scotland is part of the UK now, the people there are now trained to speak
proper English, they take allocation lessons to be able to be part of the new
world. There are always the two extremes: the nationalists and the ones
with the desire to join the important cultural movements in the UK. An
important question eg is whether to write in Scottish or English.
Still, the Scots were by no means backward, they played an important part
in the Enlightenment, even. Important figures were Francis Hutchison, David
Hume, Adam Smith, William Robertson and Adam Ferguson.
There is also the cult of the sentiment. ‘Virtuous Sensibility’ !
This is not to be confused with sentimentalism! The origins are to be found
in the writings of the Earl of Shaftesbury (=theory).
He stresses the importance of feelings in bringing about virtuous actions in
man. He believes that man is naturally disposed to appreciate the beauty of
feelings and right actions (≈ Sidney), through the exercise of moral sense.
Observing natural beauty and experiencing art will ultimately lead to
virtuous behaviour. The response to this theory was put into practice for the
first time by James Thomson, who wrote a poetic cycle called the ‘Four
Seasons’. In it are a lot of detailed descriptions of landscapes and stories of
positive of positive workings of emotions.
More significantly, the importance of feelings can be found in the
sentimental novels. Examples are Richardson’s “Pamela”, which Fielding
parodizes in “Shamela” and “Tom Jones”.
The peak of this movement comes in the second generation, a good example
is Mackenzie’s “The Man of Feeling”. By the time the parodies started, the
vogue was over.
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Feelings were an important feature of this age of rationalism; they weren’t
a reaction, however, but just something that happened at the same time.
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