Renaissance Poetry
CP British Lit
Introduction
The English Renaissance was a huge time for poetry. English tradition was taken over by powerful poets like John Donne, Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, and Sir Thomas Wyatt. The Renaissance marked the transition into the modern poetry that we hear now. It marked the revival of the sonnet which is now a very well known poetic form. Poetry found its pinnacle point during the English Renaissance.
John Donne
John Donne
John Donne
John Donne
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
"Spenser, Edmund."(Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc).
Portrait of Edmund Spenser and the Frontispiece to His Poem 'The Faerie Queene
"Vertue, George."(Portrait of Edmund Spenser and the Frontispiece to His Poem 'The Faerie Queene').
Amoretti and Epithalamion
"Grosart, Alexander."(Amoretti and Epithalamion).
Edmund Spenser was born in London in 1552. He was the son of John Spenser. Spenser grew up going to school of Merchant Taylors. Edmund attended Cambridge University as a sizar. The person who encouraged Spenser to start writing was Richard Mulcaster who was his headmaster at the school of Merchant Taylors. Between 1580 and 1589 Edmund Spenser began to write his romantic epic The Faerie Queene (Hager).
The Faerie Queene was divided into books being a total of over a thousand pages in length. In this epic, each book contains a hero, a knight who fulfills aristocratic deeds for a wondrous and beauteous fairy queen, which was based on Queen Elizabeth. An important person who lead and helped Spenser to publish this work was Sir Walter Raleigh who Spenser became friends with. Sir Walter Raleigh was also a favorite courtier of Queen Elizabeth. The first three books of this epic were published in 1590 due to Raleigh introducing Spenser to the court ("Before You Read Sonnet 30 and Sonnet 75”).
Edmund Spenser was a supporter of English rule and thus in 1591 faced another rebellion. Spenser was a target, and the rebels set fire to Kilcolman Castle. Luckily, Spenser and his family escaped returning back to England, yet many of his papers and work was destroyed. Some of the papers that were destroyed could have led to another book of The Faerie Queene.
A certain writing by Spenser is the Amoretti which talks about Spenser's romantic relationship with Elizabeth Boyle. In 1594 Spenser and Boyle got married. Spenser wrote another beautiful and complex poem, Epithalamion, which he celebrated their marriage. This work and also the Amoretti were published together in 1595. In 1599, Spenser died and it was probable that he was strained through too many commands and was suffering from anxiety, sorrow, and pain. Edmund Spenser was honored by being buried near Geoffrey Chaucer, who was the poet who he considered his master (Hager).
Sir Philip Sidney
Philip Sidney was born at Penshurst, Kent. He was the son of Sir Henry Sidney and Lady Mary Dadly. Sidney was educated at the Sshrewsburg School and at Christ Church was a humanist scholar. Sidney took diplomatic affairs, became an avid supporter of New World Explorations. He has been called the” Father of English Literary Critism”. Sidney always wrote for himself and for his friends/ family. He claimed the Acadia was a romance in five books whose muse was his sister; Mary in which she wrote, he was a master and crafter of the knowledge of chivalric romances in French and Italian as well as legends in English. During Sidney’s most profound years he wrote a sonnet sequence, Astophel and Stella who are considered a real lady of Sidney’s circle. The 180 sonnets are written in variations of the sonnet by Petrach. Sidney demonstrates the power of persuading and teachings of eloquence to his wide ranging examples which made the work popular. Sidney also undertook a new English version of the Old Testament, which he completed 43 of 150 psalms. Later in Sidney’s life he was appointed governor of Flashing, an important military fortress in France. During his reign as governor, he was shot by a musket that shattered his thighbone. Sidney succumbed to the infection and died twenty six days later.
The Fatal Wounding of Sir Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney
Astrophil and Stella
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Sir Thomas Wyatt
"The Many Lives of Thomas Wyatt by Nicola Shulman - Review." (Guardian News and Media).
Sir Thomas Wyatt
"Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Younger." (Sir Thomas Wyatt, the
Younger).
Sir Thomas Wyatt
"Charcoal Portraits." (Sir Thomas Wyatt Portrait at Charcoal-Portraits.com)
By:
J. Botelho
L. Saunders
J. Roy