English Literature and American Literature

8/13/2019 English Literature and American Literature

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English literatureThe focus of this article is literature written inEnglishfrom anywhere, not just the literature ofEngland,so that iincludes writers from Scotland, the whole of Ireland, Wales, as well as literature in English from formerBritishcolonies, including the USA. But until the early 19th century, it just deals with literaturefromBritainandIrelandwritten in English; then America starts to produce major writers. In the 20th century

America andIrelandproduced many of the most significant works of literature in English, and afterWorld WaIIwriters from the formerBritish Empirealso began to produce major works of literature.

Old English literature,or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses literature written inOld EnglishinAnglo-SaxonEngland, in the period after the settlement of theSaxonsand other Germanic tribes in England after thewithdrawal of the Romans and "ending soon after the Norman Conquest" in 1066; that is, c. 110050.[1]Theseworks include genres such asepic poetry,hagiography,sermons,Bibletranslations, legal works,chroniclesriddles, and others.[2]In all there are about 400 survivingmanuscriptsfrom the period.[3]

Oral traditionwas very strong in earlyEnglish cultureand most literary works were written to beperformed.[4]Epic poemswere thus very popular, and some, includingBeowulf,have survived to the presenday. Much Old English verse in the extant manuscripts is probably adapted from the earlier Germanic wapoems from the continent. When such poetry was brought to England it was still being handed down orallyfrom one generation to another.

Old English poetry falls broadly into two styles or fields of reference, the heroic Germanic and the Christian.The Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity after their arrival in England.[5]The most popular and well-known of Old English poetry isalliterative verse, which usesaccent, alliteration, the quantity of vowels, andpatterns of syllabic accentuation. It consists of five permutations on a base verse scheme; any one of the fivetypes can be used in any verse. The system was inherited from and exists in one form or another in all of theolderGermanic languages.[6]

Theepic poemBeowulf, of 3182 alliterative lines, is the most famous work in Old English and hasachievednational epicstatus in England, despite being set in Scandinavia. The only surviving manuscript istheNowell Codex, the precise date of which is debated, but most estimates place it close to the year1000.Beowulfis the conventional title,[7]and its composition by an anonymousAnglo-Saxonpoet, who iscommonly referred to as the "Beowulfpoet",[8]is dated between the 8th[9][10]and the early 11th century.[11]In

the poem,Beowulf,a hero of theGeatsin Scandinavia, comes to the help ofHrogar,the king of theDaneswhosemead hall(in Heorot) has been under attack by a monster known asGrendel. After Beowulf slayshim,Grendel's motherattacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes hometoGeatlandinSwedenand later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, Beowulfdefeats adragon,but is fatally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants bury him in a tumulus,aburial mound, in Geatland.[12]

Found in the same manuscript as the heroic poem Beowulf, theNowell Codex,is the poemJudith,a retellingof the story found in the LatinVulgateBible'sBook of Judithabout the beheader of the Assyrian generaHolofernes.[13]TheOld English Martyrologyis aMerciancollection of hagiographies.lfric of Eynshamwas aprolific 10th-century writer of hagiographies and homilies.[14]

Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous: twelve are known by name from Medieval sources, but onlyfour of those are known by their vernacular works with any certainty:Caedmon,Bede,Alfred the GreatandCynewulf.Cdmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known.[15]Cdmon's only known survivingwork is Cdmon's Hymn, which probably dates from the late 7th century. TheHymn itself was composedbetween 658 and 680, recorded in the earlier part of the 8th century, and survives today in at least 14 verifiedmanuscript copies.[16]The poem is one of the earliest attested examples of Old English and is, withtherunicRuthwell CrossandFranks Casketinscriptions, one of three candidates for the earliest attestedexample of Old English poetry. It is also one of the earliest recorded examples of sustained poetry inaGermanic language.The poem,The Dream of the Rood,was inscribed upon theRuthwell Cross.[17]

Chroniclescontained a range of historical and literary accounts, and a notable example is theAnglo-SaxonChronicle. This is a collection ofannalsinOld Englishchronicling the history of theAnglo-Saxons. Nine
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manuscripts survive in whole or in part, though not all are of equal historical value and none of them is theoriginal version. The oldest seems to have been started towards the end ofKing Alfred's reign in the 9thcentury, and the most recent was written atPeterborough Abbeyin 1116. Almost all of the material inthe Chronicleis in the form of annals by year, the earliest being dated at 60 BC (the annals' date forCaesar'sinvasions of Britain), and historical material follows up to the year in which the chronicle was written, at whichpoint contemporary records begin.[18]

The poemBattle of Maldonalso deals with history. This is the name given to a work, of uncertain date,celebrating the realBattle of Maldonof 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent aVikinginvasion

Only 325 lines of the poem are extant; both the beginning and the ending are lost .[19]

The Wandereris anOld Englishpoem preserved only in an anthology known as theExeter Book,a manuscripdating from the late 10th century. It counts 115 lines ofalliterative verse. As often the case inAngloSaxonverse, the composer and compiler are anonymous, and within the manuscript the poem is untitled. TheWanderer conveys the mations of a solitary exile on his past glories as a warrior in his lord's band of retainershis present hardships and the values of forbearance and faith in the heavenly Lord.[20]Another poem with areligious theme,The Seafareris also recorded in theExeter Book,one of the four surviving manuscripts, andconsists of 124 lines, followed by the single word "Amen". In the past it has been frequently referred to asanelegy,a poem that mourns a loss, or has the more general meaning of a simply sorrowful piece of writing.Some scholars, however, have argued that the content of the poem also links it withSapiential Books, oWisdom Literature. In his account of the poem in theCambridge Old English Reader, published in 2004

Richard Marsden writes, It is an exhortatory and didactic poem, in which the miseries of winter seafaring areused as a metaphor for the challenge faced by the committed Christian [] (p.221).

Classical antiquity was not forgotten in Anglo-Saxon England and several Old English poems are adaptationsoflate classicalphilosophical texts. The longest isKing Alfred's (849899) 9th-century translationofBoethius'Consolation of Philosophy.[21]TheMetres of Boethiusare a series of Old English alliterative poemsadapted from the Latin metraof the Consolation of Philosophysoon after Alfred's prose translation.

Middle English literature: 11001500[]

Main article:Middle English literature

After theNorman conquestof England in 1066, the written form of theAnglo-Saxonlanguagebecame less common, and under the influence of the new aristocracy,Law Frenchbecamethe standard language of courts, parliament, and polite society. As the invaders integrated, theirlanguage and literature mingled with that of the natives and theNormandialects of the ruling classesbecameAnglo-Norman. At the same time Anglo-Saxon underwent a gradual transition intoMiddleEnglish.Political power was no longer in English hands, so that the West Saxon literary language hadno more influence than any other dialect and Middle English literature was written in the manydialects that correspond to the region, history, culture, and background of individual writers.[22]

In this period religious literature continued to enjoy popularity andHagiographieswere writtenadapted and translated, for example,The Life of Saint Audrey,Eadmer's (c. 1060 c. 1126[23]

contemporary biography ofAnselm of Canterbury, and theSouth English Legendary.At the end ofthe 12th century,Layamon'sBrutadaptedWaceto make the first English-language work to discussthe legends of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

[24]It was also the first historiography

written in English since theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle.In this century a new form of English now knownasMiddle Englishevolved. This is the earliest form of English which is comprehensible to modernreaders and listeners, albeit not easily.

Middle English Bible translations, notablyWyclif's Bible, helped to establish English as a literarylanguage.Wycliffe's Bibleis the name now given to a group ofBible translationsintoMiddle English
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that were made under the direction of, or at the instigation ofJohn Wycliffe.They appeared betweenapproximately 1382 to 1395.[25]These Bible translations were the chief inspiration and chief cause oftheLollardmovement, a pre-Reformationmovement that rejected many of the distinctive teachings oftheRoman Catholic Church. The term "Lollard" refers to the followers ofJohn Wycliffe, aprominenttheologianwho was dismissed from theUniversity of Oxfordin 1381 for criticism oftheChurch.[26]In theMiddle Agesmost Western Christian people encountered the Bible only in theform of oral versions of scriptures, verses and homilies in Latin (other sources were mystery playsusually conducted in the vernacular, and populariconography). Though relatively few people could

read at this time, Wycliffes idea was to translate the Bible into the vernacular, saying "it helpethChristian men to study the Gospel in that tongue in which they know best Christssentence".

[27]Although unauthorized, the work was popular and Wycliffite Bible texts are the most

common manuscript literature in Middle English and almost 200 manuscripts of the Wycliffite Biblesurvive.[28]

Another literary genre, that ofRomances, appear in English from the 13th century, withKingHornandHavelock the Dane, based on Anglo-Norman originals such as theRomance oHorn(ca.1170),[29]but it was in the 14th century that major writers in English first appeared. TheseareWilliam Langland,Geoffrey Chaucerand the so-called 'Pearl Poet', whose most famous workisSir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Langland'sPiers Plowman(written ca. 13601387) or Visio Willelmi de Petro Plowman(William'sVision of Piers Plowman) is aMiddle Englishallegoricalnarrative poem, written inunrhymedalliterative verse.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knightis a late-14th-centuryMiddle Englishalliterativeromance.It is one ofthe better-known Arthurian stories of an established type known as the "beheading game".Developing from Welsh, Irish and English tradition, Sir Gawain highlights the importance of honourand chivalry. It is an important poem in theromance genre,which typically involves a hero who goeson a quest that tests his prowess. "Preserved in the same manuscript with Sir Gawayne were threeother poems, now generally accepted as the work of its author. These are two alliterative poems of

moral teaching, "Patience" and "Purity", and an intricate elegiac poem,Pearl. The author of SirGawayneand the other poems is frequently referred to as 'the Pearl Poet'. "[30]The English dialect ofthese poems from theMidlandsis markedly different from that of the London-based Chaucer andthough influenced by French in the scenes at court in Sir Gawain, there are in the poems also manydialect words, often of Scandinavian origin, that belonged to northwest England.

[31]

Middle English lasts up until the 1470s, when theChancery Standard, a form ofLondon-basedEnglish, became widespread and the printing press regularized the language. The prolific GeoffreyChaucer (c. 13431400), whose works were written in Chancery Standard, was the first poet to havebeen buried inPoet's CornerofWestminster Abbey.

[32]Among his many works, which includeThe

Book of the Duchess, theHouse of Fame, theLegend of Good WomenandTroilus and Criseyde

Chaucer is best known today forThe Canterbury Tales.This is a collection of stories written inMiddleEnglish(mostly written inversealthough some are inprose), that are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey fromSouthwarkto the shrineof SaintThomas BecketatCanterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal attheTabard InnatSouthwarkon their return. Chaucer is a significant figure in developing thelegitimacy of thevernacular,Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages inEngland were still French and Latin. The first recorded association ofValentine's Daywithromanticloveis in Chaucer'sParlement of Foulesof 1382.[33]

At this time literature was being written in various languages in England, including Latin, Norman-French, English, and the multilingual nature of the audience for literature in the 14th century can be
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illustrated by the example ofJohn Gower(c. 1330 October 1408). A contemporary ofWilliamLanglandand a personal friend ofGeoffrey Chaucer,Gower is remembered primarily for three majorworks, theMirroir de l'Omme,Vox Clamantis, andConfessio Amantis, three long poems writteninAnglo-Norman, Latin and, Middle English respectively, which are united by common moral andpolitical themes.

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Significant religious works were also created in the 14th century, including works by an anonymousauthor in the manuscript called theKatherine Group,and byJulian of Norwich(ca.1342 ca. 1416)

andRichard Rolle. Julian'sRevelations of Divine Love(circa 1393) is believed to be the firstpublished book written by a woman in the English language; it chronicles, to some extent, herextensivepilgrimagesto various holy sites in Europe and Asia.

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A major work from the 15th century isLe Morte d'Arthurby SirThomas Malory,which was printedbyCaxtonin 1485.[36]This is compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances, and wasamong the earliest books printed in England. it was popular and influential in the later revival ofinterest in the Arthurian legends.

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Medieval theatre

Main article:Medieval theatre

In theMiddle Ages,drama in the vernacular languages of Europe may have emerged from religiousenactments of theliturgy.Mystery playswere presented on the porch of the cathedrals or by strollingplayers onfeast days.Miracleand mystery plays, along withmoralitiesand interludes, later evolvedinto more elaborate forms of drama, such as was seen on the Elizabethan stages. Another form ofmedieval theatre was themummers' plays,a form of early street theatre associated with theMorrisdance, concentrating on themes such asSaint Georgeand theDragonandRobin Hood. Thesewerefolk talesre-telling old stories, and theactorstravelled from town to town performing these fortheir audiences in return for money and hospitality.

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Mystery playsand miracle plays(sometimes distinguished as two different forms,[39]

although theterms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formallydevelopedplaysinmedievalEurope. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representationofBiblestories inchurchesastableauxwith accompanyingantiphonalsong. They developed fromthe 10th to the 16th century, reaching the height of their popularity in the 15th century before beingrendered obsolete by the rise of professional theatre. The name derives frommysteryused in itssense ofmiracle,[40]but an occasionally quoted derivation is from misterium, meaningcraft, a playperformed by thecraft guilds.[41]

There are four complete or nearly complete extant English biblical collections of plays from thelatemedieval period; although these collections are sometimes referred to as "cycles," it is now

believed that this term may attribute to these collections more coherence than they in fact possess.The most complete is theYork cycleof forty-eight pageants. They were performed in the city ofYorkfrom the middle of the fourteenth century until 1569. There are also the Towneley playsof thirty-twopageants, once thought to have been a true 'cycle' of plays and most likely performed aroundtheFeast of Corpus Christiprobably in the town ofWakefield, England during the lateMiddle

Agesuntil 1576.[42]Besides theMiddle Englishdrama, there are three surviving playsinCornishknown as theOrdinalia.[43]

These biblical plays differ widely in content. Most contain episodes such as the Fall of Luciferthe Creation and Fall of Man, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood,Abraham and Isaac, the Nativitythe Raising of Lazarus, the Passion, and theResurrection. Other pageants included the story
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p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_(theatre)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medievalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medievalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_(building)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_(building)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_(building)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_vivanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_vivanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_vivanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiphonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiphonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiphonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-40http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-40http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-40http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crafthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crafthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crafthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craft_guildshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craft_guildshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-41http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-41http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-41http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Mystery_Playshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Mystery_Playshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Mystery_Playshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefield_Cyclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefield_Cyclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefield_Cyclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Christi_(feast)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Christi_(feast)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Christi_(feast)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-42http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-42http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-42http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinaliahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinaliahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-43http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-43http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-43http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-43http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinaliahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-42http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Christi_(feast)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefield_Cyclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Mystery_Playshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-41http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craft_guildshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crafthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-40http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiphonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_vivanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_(building)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medievalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_(theatre)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-39http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_playshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_playshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-38http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folklorehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hoodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_dragonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Georgehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_dancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_dancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_Playhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality_playhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_playhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_of_saintshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_playhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_theatrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-37http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-autogenerated182-36http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Caxtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Maloryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Morte_d%27Arthurhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-ec-35http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrimagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelations_of_Divine_Lovehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rollehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwichhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Grouphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature#cite_note-34http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Normanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessio_Amantishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_Clamantishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Langlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Langlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gower


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of Moses, the Procession of the Prophets, Christ's Baptism, the Temptation in the Wilderness, andtheAssumption and Coronation of the Virgin. In given cycles, the plays came to be sponsored by thenewly emerging Medievalcraft guilds.[44][45]

Having grown out of the religiously basedmystery playsof the Middle Ages, themorality playisagenreofMedievalandearly Tudortheatrical entertainment, which represented a shift towards amore secular base for European theatre. In their own time, these plays were known as "interludes", abroader term given to dramas with or without amoraltheme.

[46]Morality plays are a type ofallegoryin

which theprotagonistis met bypersonificationsof variousmoralattributes who try to prompt him tochoose a Godly life over one of evil. The plays were most popular in Europeduring the 15th and 16thcenturies.

[47]

The Somonyng of Everyman(The Summoning of Everyman) (c. 1509 1519), usually referred tosimply asEveryman, is a late 15th-century Englishmorality play. LikeJohn Bunyan'sallegoryPilgrim's Progress(1678), Everymanexamines the question ofChristian salvationthroughthe use of allegorical characters. The play is the allegorical accounting of the life of Everyman, whorepresents all mankind. All the characters are also allegorical, each personifying an abstract ideasuch as Fellowship, (material) Goods, and Knowledge and the conflict between good and evil isdramatized by the interactions between characters.

[48]

English Renaissance: 15001660

Following the introduction of a printing press into England byWilliam Caxtonin 1476,vernacularliteratureflourished.

[36]TheReformationinspired the production ofvernacularliturgywhich led to

theBook of Common Prayer,a lasting influence on literary language. TheEnglish Renaissancewasaculturalandartistic movementin England dating from the late 15th and early 16th centuries to the17th century. It is associated with the pan-EuropeanRenaissancethat is usually regarded asbeginning in Italy in the late 14th century. Like most of northern Europe, England saw little of thesedevelopments until more than a century later. Renaissance style and ideas, however, were slow inpenetrating England, and theElizabethan erain the second half of the 16th century is usuallyregarded as the height of the English Renaissance.

[49]

Elizabethan and Jacobean period (15581625)[]During the reign ofElizabeth I(15581603) and then James I (160325), in the late 16th and early17th century, a London-centred culture, that was bothcourtlyand popular, produced great poetry anddrama. English playwrights combined the influence of theMedieval theatrewith theRenaissance'srediscovery of theRoman dramatists,Seneca, for tragedy, andPlautusandTerence, for comedyItaly was an important source for Renaissance ideas in England and the linguist andlexicographerJohn Florio(15531625), whose father was Italian, was a royal language tutor at theCourt ofJames I,had furthermore brought much of theItalian languageand culture to England. Hewas also the translator of FrenchmanMontaigneinto English.[50]This Italian influence can also be

found in the poetry ofThomas Wyatt(15031542), one of the earliest English Renaissance poets. Hewas responsible for many innovations in English poetry and, alongside Henry Howard, Earl ofSurrey(1516/15171547), introduced the sonnet from Italy into England in the early 16thcentury.

[51][52][53]Wyatt's professed object was to experiment with the English tongue, to civilise it, to

raise its powers to those of its neighbours.[51]While a significant amount of his literary output consistsof translations and imitations of sonnets by the Italian poetPetrarch,he also wrotesonnetsof his ownWyatt took subject matter from Petrarch's sonnets, but his rhyme schemes make a significantdeparture. Petrarch's sonnets consist of an "octave", rhyming abba abba, followed, after a turn (volta)in the sense, by a sestet with various rhyme schemes, however his poems never ended in a rhymingcouplet.Wyatt employs the Petrarchan octave, but his most common sestet scheme is cddc ee. Thismarks the beginnings ofEnglish sonnetwith 3 quatrains and a closing couplet.

[54]
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Edmund Spenser(c. 15521599) was one of the most important poets of this period, author ofTheFaerie Queene(1590 and 1596), an epic poem and fantasticalallegorycelebrating theTudordynastyandElizabeth I. Another major figure wasSir Philip Sidney(15541586) was an Englishpoet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan

Age. His works includeAstrophel and Stella,The Defence of Poetry, andThe Countess oPembroke's Arcadia. Poems intended to be set to music as songs, such as byThomasCampion(15671620), became popular as printed literature was disseminated more widely inhouseholds. SeeEnglish Madrigal School.

The earliest Elizabethan plays includesGorboduc(1561) bySackvilleandNortonandThomas Kyd's(155894)The Spanish Tragedy(1592).Gorboducis notable especially as the firstversedramainEnglishto employblank verse, and for the way it developed elements, from theearliermorality playsandSenecan tragedy, in the direction which would be followed by laterplaywrights.[55]The Spanish Tragedy,or Hieronimo is Mad Again [56]is anElizabethantragedywrittenbyThomas Kydbetween 1582 and 1592. Highly popular and influential in its time, The SpanishTragedyestablished a newgenrein English literature theatre, therevenge playor revenge tragedyItsplotcontains several violent murders and includes as one ofitscharactersapersonificationofRevenge.The Spanish Tragedywas often referred to, or parodiedin works written by other Elizabethanplaywrights, includingWilliam Shakespeare,Ben Jonson

andChristopher Marlowe. Many elements of The Spanish Tragedy,such as theplay-within-a-playused to trap a murderer and aghostintent on vengeance, appear inShakespeare'sHamlet.Thomas Kyd is frequently proposed as the author of the hypotheticalUr-Hamletthat may have been one of Shakespeare's primary sources for Hamlet.

[57]

William Shakespeare(15641616) stands out in this period as apoetandplaywrightas yeunsurpassed. Shakespeare was not a man of letters by profession, and probably had only somegrammar school education. He was neither a lawyer, nor an aristocrat, like the "university wits" whomonopolised the English stage when he started writing. But he was very gifted and versatile, and hesurpassed the "professionals", likeRobert Greene, who mocked this "Shake-scene" of loworigins.[58]Shakespeare wrote plays in a variety of genres, includinghistories,tragedies,comediesand

the lateromances, or tragicomedies. His early classical and Italianate comedies, likeA Comedy oErrors,containing tight double plots and precise comic sequences, give way in the mid-1590s to theromantic atmosphere of his greatest comedies.

[59]A Midsummer Night's Dreamis a witty mixture of

romance, fairy magic, and rustic comic scenes.[60]Shakespeare's next comedy, the equallyromanticMerchant of Venice, can be problematic because of how it portraysShylock, a vengefuJewish moneylender.

[61]The wit and wordplay ofMuch Ado About Nothing,

[62]the charming rura

setting ofAs You Like It, and the lively merrymaking ofTwelfth Nightcomplete Shakespeare'ssequence of great comedies.[63]After the lyricalRichard II, written almost entirely in verseShakespeare introduced prose comedy into the histories of the late 1590s,Henry IV, parts 1and2andHenry V.His characters become more complex and tender as he switches deftly between comicand serious scenes, prose and poetry, and achieves the narrative variety of his mature work .[64]This

period begins and ends with two tragedies:Romeo and Juliet, the famous romantic tragedy ofsexually charged adolescence, love, and death;

[65]andJulius Caesar, based on SirThomas

North's1579 translation ofPlutarch'sParallel Lives,which introduced a new kind of drama.[66]

In theearly 17th century, Shakespeare wrote the so-called "problem plays",Measure for Measure,Troilusand Cressida, andAll's Well That Ends Well, as well as a number of his best knowntragediesincludingHamlet,Othello,Macbeth,King LearandAnthony and Cleopatra.

[67]The plots of

Shakespeare's tragedies often hinge on such fatal errors or flaws, which overturn order and destroythe hero and those he loves.

[68]In his final period, Shakespeare turned

toromanceortragicomedyand completed three more major plays:Cymbeline,The Winter'sTaleandThe Tempest, as well as the collaboration,Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Less bleak than thetragedies, these four plays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s, but they end with
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English Literature and American Literature

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