Cultural Influences

The Renaissance
Meaning "Rebirth or Revival"
Began in 14th century and quickly spread to Europe

The Renaissance Worldview

1. People became more interested in life on earth
2. "Renaissance man" was the ideal mean, he could do all types of things and had more than one special talent

Creativity and Exploration

1. Arts, Literature's, Beauty of Nature, Human Impulses, exploration and a new sense of mastery
2. Shakespeare, Galileo, and Columbus were men of the Era
3. Theater and literature reached new heights
4. James I commissioned a new translation of the Bible
5. Monarchy restoration in 1660, marked the end of the Renaissance

Renaissance Literature

Pastoral Poems and Sonnets

1. Glittering Elizabethan court was a focus of poetic creativity
2. Sir Phillip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Edmund Spenser, and Christoper Marlowe were great poets of the time
3. Pastoral: Poem that portrays shepherds, and rustic life
4. Used courtly language rather than the language of common speech

Improving Nature

1. Elizabethans admired intricacy and artifice
2. Sonnet: 14-line verse form, often published in sequences
3. Sir Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey were men of great sonnets
4. Shakespearean sonnets are still used today

Shakespearean Drama

1. Elizabethan Drama: medieval plays, interludes in Greek and Latin classics
2. Plays focused on human complexities rather than religion
3. "The Globe" most successful of many English Theaters
4. Marlowe and Jonson were popular playwrights
5. After 1649, Puritans closed theaters

Rise of Humanism

1. Humans studied art, history, philosophy, and literature
2. Christian humanists criticized society
3. Humanists disagreed on religious issues
4. Spiritual and Devotional Writings
5. Early translations of the Bible censured by Church
6. Kings James Bible: most influences English translation

The Metaphysical and Cavalier poets

1. Ben Johnson inspired "sons of Ben"
2. Poets were known as Cavaliers because they took the side of Charles I and his cavaliers
3. Charming, witty, deaths with themes of love, war and carpediem were characteristics of many poems
4. Poems characterized by themes of love, death, and religious devotion
5. Poets used elaborate metaphors