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English Literature of the Renaissance
D. Mohammed Nour al-Naimi
‫جامعة الملك فيصل‬
‫عمادة التعلم اإللكتروني والتعليم عن بعد‬
‫عمادة التعليم اإلكتروني والتعلم عن بعد‬
1
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King Faisal University
Lecture 1
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Renaissance
‫نهضة‬
 Renaissance, the great flowering ‫ازدهار‬of art‫فن‬, architecturetk ‫فن العمارة‬, Politics‫السياسة‬, and the study of
literature‫االدب‬, usually seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern world,
which came about under the influence‫ تاثير‬of Greek ‫اغريقي او يوناني‬and Roman models‫نسخ‬. It began in
Italy in the late 14th cent., culminated‫ توجت‬in the High Renaissance in the early 16th cent, (the
period‫ دور اوفترة‬of *Michelangelo and *Machiavelli), and spread ‫انتشر‬to the rest of Europe‫ الى بقية اوربا‬in
the 15th cent, and afterwards‫بعد ذلك‬. Its emphasis‫ تشديد او توكيد‬was humanist‫انساني‬:
 that is, on regarding ‫فيما يتعلق‬the human figure‫ شخصية االنسان‬and reason‫ سبب‬without a necessary
relating‫ المتعلقة‬of it to the superhuman‫ ;وفوق طاقة البشر‬but much of its energy also came from the
*Neoplatonic‫ االفالطونية الحديثة‬tradition‫ التقليد‬in writers ‫الكتاب‬such as *Pico della Mirandola. The word
Renaissance has been applied in the 20th cent, to earlier periods which manifested‫تجلي‬a new
interest ‫ مصلحة‬in and study of the classics, such as the 12th cent, and the period of Charlemagne ‫تشارل‬
‫مان‬. But the Italian Renaissance is still seen as a watershed ‫تقطة تحول‬in the development of
civilization‫حضارة‬, both because of its extent‫ مدى‬and because of its emphasis ‫تشديد‬on the human,
whether ‫ سواء‬independent of‫ مستقلة‬or in association ‫جمعية‬with the divine‫الهي‬. See J. A. Symonds, History
of the Renaissance in Italy (1875-86); W. Pater, Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873); J.
Burckhardt,
Civilization
of the Renaissance in Italy (English trans.,
S. ‫الملك‬
G. C.
Middlemore,
‫ بعد‬The
‫والتعلم عن‬
‫حضارةاإلكتروني‬
‫عمادة التعليم‬
‫فيصل‬
‫جامعة‬
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1929). Deanship of E-Learning and Distance Education
King Faisal University
This course provides a concise introduction to the literature ‫ادب‬of Elizabethan
and Stuart England (1558–1649). It is aimed‫ تهدف‬chiefly ‫خصوصا‬at
undergraduate students‫ الطالب الجامعين‬taking courses on sixteenth and
seventeenth-century English literature, but will hopefully‫ امل‬be useful, too,
for taught‫ تدرس‬postgraduates‫ الدراسات العليا‬looking to refresh or consolidate ‫دمج‬
‫ اوتثبيت‬their knowledge of the period’s literature, and lecturers preparing or
teaching Renaissance courses.
The beginnings of what we now describe as ‘Renaissance’ or ‘Early Modern’
English literature precede ‫تسبق‬the accession‫ االنضمام‬of Elizabeth I (1558), but
Renaissance literary‫ ادبي‬culture only became firmly established ‫انشات‬in
England in the second half of the sixteenth century. Similarly, while the
literature produced‫ انتج‬between 1649 and the Restoration‫ استعادة‬of the
Monarchy (1660) could be said to belong‫ تمي‬to the Renaissance, the unusual
historical context in which it was produced marks the Interregnum ‫فترة خلو‬
‫ العرش‬as a distinctive‫ مميز‬literary era‫عصر ادبي‬. This is why this book
‫بعد‬
‫اإلكتروني والتعلم عن‬
‫ جامعة‬seventeenth
concentrates
on‫التعليم‬
the‫عمادة‬
literature of[ the] late sixteenth ‫فيصل‬
and‫الملك‬
early
Deanship of E-Learning and Distance Education
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Renaissance Definition:
The period in European history that marked the end of the Middle
Ages. It began in Italy in the late fourteenth century. In broad
terms‫مصطلحات واسعة‬, it is usually seen as spanning‫ تمتد‬the fourteenth,
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, although it did not reach Great
Britain, for example, until the 1480s or so. The Renaissance saw an
awakening ‫ايقاض‬in almost every sphere of human activity‫نشاط‬,
especially science and philosophy‫ فلسفة‬and the arts. The period is best
defined by the emergence‫ ضهور‬of a general philosophy that
emphasized‫ وشدد‬the importance of the intellect‫عقل‬, the individual and
world affairs‫شؤون‬. It contrasts‫ التناقضات‬strongly with the medieval ‫القرون‬
‫الوسطى‬
worldview, characterized‫ تميز‬by the dominant‫مهيمن‬
concerns‫ المخاوف‬of faith‫االيمان‬, the social‫اجتماعي‬, collective‫ جماعي‬and
spiritual‫ روحي‬salvation‫خالص‬. Prominent‫ بارز‬writers during the
Renaissance include Niccolo Machiavelli and Baldassare Castiglione in
Italy, Miguel de Cervantes and Lope de Vega in Spain, Jean Froissart
and Francois Rabelais in France, Sir Thomas More and Sir Philip
Sidney in England and Desiderius Erasmus in Holland.
‫عمادة التعليم اإلكتروني والتعلم عن بعد‬
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Renaissance
The beginnings of what we now describe as ‘Renaissance’ or ‘Early Modern’ English literature precede‫تسبق‬
the accession‫ انضمام‬of Elizabeth I (1558), but Renaissance literary culture only became firmly‫بحزم‬
established in England in the second half of the sixteenth century. Similarly, while the literature
produced between 1649 and the Restoration ‫استعادة‬of the Monarchy (1660) could be said to belong to
the Renaissance, the unusual historical context‫ السياق‬in which it was produced marks the
Interregnum‫ فترة خلو العرش‬as a distinctive‫ مميز‬literary era. This is why this book concentrates on ‫مركزات‬
‫على‬the literature of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
The beginnings of what we now describe as ‘Renaissance’ or ‘Early Modern’ English literature precede the
accession ‫انضمام‬of Elizabeth I (1558), but Renaissance literary culture only became firmly
established‫ راسخة‬in England in the second half of the sixteenth century. Similarly, while the literature
produced between 1649 and the Restoration of the Monarchy (1660) could be said to belong to the
Renaissance, the unusual historical context in which it was produced marks the Interregnum as a
distinctive ‫مميز‬literary era. This is why this book concentrates on the literature of the late sixteenth and
early seventeenth centuries.
Following chapters focus on the major literary genres: drama, poetry and prose.
‫عمادة التعليم اإلكتروني والتعلم عن بعد‬
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This century‫هذا القرن‬, like a golden age, has restored ‫استعادة‬to light the liberal‫ الليبرالية‬arts . . .
achieving‫ تحقيق‬what had been honoured ‫تكريم‬among ‫بين‬the ancients‫القدماء‬, but almost forgotten
since. (Marsilio Ficino, 1482)
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT:‫السياق التاريخي‬
The ‘Renaissance’ (meaning ‘rebirth‫ )’والدة جديدة‬describes the movement which saw renewed
European interest‫ الفائدة‬in classical culture between the late fourteenth and mid-seventeenth
centuries. Having initially ‫البداية‬sought to ‫سعى‬emulate ‫محاكاة‬the achievements‫ انجازات‬of the
Greek and Roman empires‫امبراطوريلت‬, Renaissance scholars‫ العلماء‬and artists later sought to
out-do their ancient ‫قديم‬predecessors‫اسالف‬, and therefore engaged ‫تصدت لها‬in fresh intellectual
and artistic exploration.‫العذوبة في التنقيب الفكري والفني‬
The origins ‫االصول‬of the ‘Renaissance’ have been hotly debated ‫نقاش ساخن‬but most scholars
‫العلماء‬agree that it originated‫ نشات‬in late fourteenth-century Italy, where it was fostered
‫عززت‬by a new generation ‫جيل‬of humanist scholars. Its influence was gradually felt‫ شعر‬all
across Europe, reaching England by the early sixteenth century.
‫عمادة التعليم اإلكتروني والتعلم عن بعد‬
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 The specific ‫معين‬term‫‘ شعر‬Renaissance’ (or rinascita‫ )والدة جديدة كلمة ايطالية‬was first used by Italian art
historian ‫تاريخي‬Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Most Eminent ‫بارز‬Painters‫(الرسامين‬1550) to describe the
achievements ‫انجازات‬of recent ‫االخيرة‬artists; achievements he saw as marking a revival‫ احياء‬in the arts,
after a period of long decay‫اضمحالل‬
 following the fall of the Roman Empire. H‫بعد سقوط االمرطورية الرومانية امراطورية‬Not until the nineteenth
century was the term used more broadly to describe the period and culture of early modern Europe
(1500–1700); and only in the twentieth century did the term come to be a standard label‫ التسمية القياسية‬for
the era.
 Some modern scholars have questioned ‫شك‬the use of the term ‘Renaissance’, arguing‫ مجادلة‬that it
overstates ‫يبالغ‬the break with the past and downplays‫ تقلل‬Medieval ‫من القرون الوسطى‬knowledge of classical
learning.
 Such scholars often prefer to describe the period as ‘early modern’; but this label has its
drawbacks‫عيوب‬, too, potentially‫ يحتمل‬overemphasising ‫التاكيد المبالغ‬the similarities between Renaissance
and modern culture. The more traditional term ‘Renaissance’ is favoured ‫يحبذ‬for the title of this guide,
but appears‫ يبدو‬alongside ‫يبدو جنبا الى جنب‬the phrase ‘early modern’ in the text. Although Elizabethan and
Stuart writers did not refer to their era as the ‘Renaissance’ it was a concept‫مفهوم‬they understood, and
highlights ‫يسلط الضوء‬the fact that it was an era of new advances in European knowledge, akin‫ قريب‬to
those associated ‫يرتبط‬with the great classical civilisations.‫حضارات‬
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 Religion :‫دين‬
 Religion was central to life in Renaissance England. Officially, everyone was
Christian‫مسيحي‬. In such a culture religion was not simply an ideology it was a way of life,
and to write about any aspect of life was almost inevitably ‫حتما‬to touch on religion. The
importance of Christianity in
 early Renaissance Europe was reinforced by the strength of the Catholic Church‫( كنيسة‬led
by the Pope‫)بقيادة البابا‬. In 1500 all the major Western European states and their people
belonged to it; but there had long been discontent within the Catholic community
‫مجتمع‬about perceived ‫المتصورة‬clerical‫ الكتبة‬corruption.‫فساد‬
 In 1517 … Martin Luther (an ex-monk), nailed ninety-five theses to the door of the church
in Wittenberg that questioned the authority and doctrines ‫المذاهب‬of the Catholic Church
Luther and
 his fellow campaigners ‫الحمالت‬sought‫ سعى‬the reformation ‫االصالح‬of the Church from
within‫ضمن‬, but, faced with intransigence‫عناد‬, criticism ‫انتقاد‬soon hardened into
opposition ‫معارضة‬and the reformers ‫المصلحين‬came to believe that the only way to reestablish‫ اعادة تاسيس‬God’s ‘true’ church was to break away and found their own
‘Protestant’ Church. This movement became known as the Protestant. Reformation‫اصالح‬
 At first Protestantism was a fringe religion ‫هامش الدين‬but it grew in power as a number of
Northern European states became Protestant.
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Henry VIII (1509–47) declared ‫اعلن‬himself ‘Supreme Head’‫ الرئيس االعلى‬of the Church of
England. Henry’s reasons for challenging ‫التحدي‬the authority of the Pope and the
Catholic Church were political‫ سياسي‬and personal, rather ‫باالحرى‬than doctrinal‫مذهبي‬.
Little more than a decade )‫سنوات‬10( ‫عقد‬earlier the Pope had awarded him the title of
Defender of the Faith ‫ ايمان او ثقة‬after he attacked Luther’s views (1521); but by 1527
Henry was considering divorcing ‫ طالق‬his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, so that he
might marry Anne Boleyn.
Given the reasons behind Henry’s conflict ‫صراع‬with Rome, it is perhaps not
surprising ‫ مفاجئ‬that the English Church did not alter substantially ‫ جوهريا‬during his
reign ‫ ملك‬.
James did not grant ‫ منح‬Catholics greater tolerance ‫تسامح‬, as some Puritans ‫ المتشددون‬had
feared ‫خشي‬he might, and encouraged‫ شجع‬the preparation ‫االعداد‬of a new English
translation of the Bible ‫(من الكتاب المقدس‬published in 1611 as the influential ‫ سلطة‬King
James Authorised Bible).
Such would-be reformers ‫ المصلحين‬came to be known as ‘Puritans’ ‫ المتشددون‬because of
their desire‫ رغبة‬to further ‫‘مزيد‬purify’ ‫ تنقية وطهر‬the Church and their favouring of an
ascetic ‫ زاهد‬religious culture.
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 Western Europeans were generally Christian ‫ مسيحي‬but recognised
‫اعترفت‬the
existence ‫ الوجود‬of at least two other religions: Judaism ‫ اليهودية‬and Islam. The followers of
both faiths ‫ االديان‬are conventionally ‫ تقليديا‬stigmatised in the period’s literature ‫وصم في‬
‫االدب في تلك اللحظة‬. Jews ‫ اليهود‬are associated ‫ يرتبطون‬with avarice ‫ جشع‬and usury ‫االربا‬, while
Islamic figures‫ شخصيات‬are stereotyped‫ في قالب نمطي‬as barbaric ‫همجي‬, untrustworthy ‫غير‬
‫موثوق به‬, lustful pagans‫شهوانية الوثنين‬. Yet most English people would have had little
knowledge of either religion. This was especially true of Islam. Although Christians were
accustomed ‫معتاد‬to regard ‫الصد‬Islam as a false‫ زائف‬faith‫ايمان‬, most had to rely ‫االعتماد‬on
second-hand accounts for their knowledge of it because the only Europeans who had
much contact‫ اتصال‬with the Islamic East were traders ‫ التجار‬and diplomats. Opposition
to ‫ معارضة‬Islam and the countries associated ‫يرتبط‬with it was deep-rooted ‫عميق الجذور‬,
finding its origins ‫ اصول‬in the Medieval ‫في العصور الوسطى‬Crusades ‫الحروب الصليبية‬to recover
the Holy Land from the Muslims, but Western antipathy ‫كراهية‬was fuelled in the sixteenth
century by the growing power of the Ottoman (or Turkish) Empire ‫امراطورية‬and its
extension westwards with the Turks laying ‘claim ‫ مطالبة‬to pivotal ‫لمحوري‬territory ‫ اقليم‬in
the eastern Mediterranean ‫ البحر االبيض المتوسط‬and North Africa, including Cyprus in 1571
and Tunis in 1 574’.3 Such was the perceived threat that the Spanish, the Venetians
‫البندقية‬and the Pope formed ‫ شكلت‬a league ‫ دوري‬to fight against the Turks, famously
defeating them‫هزيمة‬in the Battle of Lepanto (1 571).
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The Jews ‫ اليهود‬had long been persecuted‫ اضطهاد‬in Europe but were a more
familiar religious minority ‫اقلية‬than Muslims, living within (as well as
beyond ‫ )فضال عن بعده‬Europe. Jews were expelled‫ طرد‬from England in 1290 but
returned in small numbers during subsequent‫ الحق‬centuries‫قرون‬. By the late
sixteenth century there were small Jewish ommunities in London and Bristol,
although those involved were obliged to ‫ملزمة‬conform ‫تتدفق‬outwardly‫ ضاهريا‬to
Protestantism, both because other religions were not tolerated ‫ التسامح‬and
because of the strength of contemporary‫ معاصر‬anti-Jewish feeling. Such
antipathy ‫كراهية‬had a long history: the association ‫ الرابطة‬of the Jews with the
death of Jesus‫ يسوع‬and with money lending (which the Bible ‫الكتاب المقدس‬
condemned‫ )ادان‬had long encouraged‫ تشجيع‬European Christians to look down
on the Jews as an ungodly ‫الفجار‬sect‫طائفة‬, while their status as an ‘alien ‫’اجنبي‬,
homeless ‫ مشرد‬people made them a perennial ‫المعمر‬object of suspicion‫اشتباه‬.
The curiosity‫ فضول‬and anxiety‫ قلق‬aroused ‫اثار‬by religious and cultural ‘aliens’
in the period is reflected in the ambivalent‫ متناقض‬representation ‫تمثيل‬of Jews
in late sixteenth-century plays such as Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of
Malta and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.Ghubeer
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Magic : ‫السحر‬
In Renaissance Europe faith in Christianity co-existed ‫تعايش‬with a
widespread‫ انتشار واسع‬belief in magic. Even monarchs‫ حتى الملوك‬and religious
leaders took magic seriously. Elizabeth I famously consulted ‫استشارة‬
contemporary‫ معاصر‬magus John Dee for advice about the most auspicious‫ميمون‬
date for her coronation‫الموعد الميمون لتتويجها‬, while her successor, James ‫في حين‬
‫خليفها جمس‬I participated‫ شاركت‬in a series of witchcraft‫ سحر‬trials ‫محاكمات‬and
published his own study of the subject, Demonology‫( الشياطين‬1597). The extent‫مدى‬
of popular ‫ شعبي‬interest ‫الفائدة‬in magic is reflected in the proliferation‫ تكاثر‬of texts
about magic in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In England
such literature included non-fiction‫ غير روائية‬books about witchcraft, accounts of
witchcraft trials‫محاكمات السحر الحرفية‬, and a large body of poems‫قصائد‬, plays and
prose romances ‫نثر الرومنسيات‬featuring‫ ويتميز‬magicians and witches‫الساحرات‬. Such
literature appears‫ يبدو‬to have proved ‫اثبتت‬especially popular ‫ شعبي‬in the Jacobean
period‫فترة يعقوبيان‬, when the accession ‫انضمام‬of James I generated fresh interest in
the subject. One of the best known examples of Jacobean ‘witchcraft’ literature,
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (performed c. 1606) (which features‫ مالمح‬a
chorus ‫مجموعة من المنشدين‬of witches who predict the future) is thought to have
been written to cater‫ تلبية‬for this fashion.‫موضة‬
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 Perceptions ‫ التصورات‬of what constituted‫ شكلت‬magic varied.‫ متنوعة‬Some
contemporaries‫ المعاصرون‬distinguished ‫الموقر‬between ‘black’ and ‘white’ magic,
categorizing ‫ تصنيف‬magic used to hurt or injure people, animals or property‫ ممتلكات‬as ‘black’
and magic used to help or heal ‫شفاء‬as ‘white’. Contemporaries, likewise‫ كذالك‬distinguished
‫الموقر‬between different types of magician, such as witches, magi‫المجوس‬, and cunning
‫مكر‬men and women. Witches were generally understood to be people ‘who either by open or
secret league ‫الدوري السري‬, wittingly‫ بذكاء‬and willingly‫عن طيب خاطر‬, consenteth to [give help]
and assistance … in the working of wonders‫ ;’عجائب‬while a magus was believed to be a
‘great magician who by dint ‫جهد‬of deep learning, ascetic ‫زاهد‬discipline, and patient skill
could command ‫ امر‬the secret forces of the natural and supernatural ‫خارق‬world’ (like
Shakespeare’s Prospero). Far humbler ‫تواضعا‬was the figure of the ‘cunning‫ ’مكر‬man or
woman, who was believed to possess ‫ تملك‬knowledge that allowed him or her to heal‫شفاء‬
animals and people. Some contemporaries, including James I, condemned ‫ ادان‬all kinds of
magic as demonic,‫ شيطاني‬but anecdotal‫ القصصية‬evidence ‫ دليل‬suggests that others were not
opposed ‫عارض‬to those who practiced ‘white’ magic; and the witchcraft laws, first
introduced in the sixteenth century, focused on those who practiced ‘black’ magic’
 Ghubeer
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‫بحمد هللا‬
‫عمادة التعليم اإلكتروني والتعلم عن بعد‬
Deanship of E-Learning and Distance Education
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‫جامعة الملك فيصل‬
King Faisal University