University of Sulaimani

College of Languages
Department of English
Second-year Poetry Class
Renaissance Poetry

A Look into Renaissance

Jutyar Salih March 2, 2022

 The Renaissance
Renaissance means re-birth.
It follows the Middle Ages (Dark Ages)- between the fall of ancient Rome in 476 A.D.
and the beginning of the 14th century, branded as a time of war, ignorance, famine and pandemics.
It began in Italy, especially in art and architecture.
From 14th to 17th century.
It involved the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature and art.
It was triggered by:
1. Humanism (a cultural movement in Italy): man was the center of his own
universe.
2. The invention of the Gutenberg printing press which allowed for
improved communication throughout Europe and for ideas to spread
more quickly.
3. Advances in international finance and trade impacted culture and set the
stage for the Renaissance.
 Some Great Renaissance Names
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Rene Descartes (1596–1650)
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)
Galileo (1564-1642)
Dante (1265–1321)
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527)
Raphael (1483–1520)
Michelangelo (1483–1520)
 The birth of the re-birth
started in Florence, a place with a rich cultural history,

Members of Medici family were famous backers of the movement.

Italian writers, artists, politicians and others declared that they were participating in
an intellectual and artistic revolution much different from what they experienced
during the Dark Ages.

expanded to other Italian cities-states, then, during the 15th century, to France and
then throughout western and northern Europe.

Although other European countries experienced their Renaissance later than Italy,
the impacts were still revolutionary.
 The Renaissance in England
From the late 15th to the early 17th century.
In 1485 with the end of Wars of the Roses (a series of civil
wars fought over control of the English throne in the
mid-to-late fifteenth century)

The Elizabethan era in the second half of the 16th century is

regarded as the height of the English Renaissance.

The dominant art forms: literature and music.

The period witnessed The English Reformation.
 The English Reformation
King Henry VIII made himself the head of the
Church of England.
He cut all contact with Catholic Church and the Pope
in Rome.
He dissolved most monasteries and confiscated their
lands and took their wealth.
Protestantism became more and more important and
gave a whole new vision of man’s relations with God.
 Queen Elizabeth(1533-1603)

Ruled from 1558 to 1603, but the great Elizabethan literary age
is not considered as beginning until 1579.
Symbol of the Golden Age.
Literature of her age is called Elizabethan Age.
She was an opponent of religious extremism.
Was devoted to the welfare of her people.
helped create a national self-confidence that bore fruit notably
in literature and in the works of such writers as Marlowe,
Spencer and Shakespeare.
 Periods of Literature in Renaissance

The First Period:

The end of the 15th and the first half of the 16th century.

The Second Period:

The second half of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century.

The Third period:

The time after Shakespeare’s death and up to 1640 (the forties of the 17th
century).
 THE FIRST PERIOD
Scholars and humanists appeared. Philosophy and
literature started to flourish.

Book printing developed.

Thomas More (1478 – 1535), was the most outstanding

writer of the first stage of English Renaissance. He
produced humanistic literature.
 THE SECOND PERIOD (Elizabethan Age)

English Renaissance literature flourished.

New literary forms were created.

Shakespeare’s masterpieces were written in this

period.
 THE THIRD PERIOD

The decline of the English Renaissance

literature.
 English Renaissance Poetry
Before and during Elizabethan age, the writing of poetry was part of
education of a gentleman.

The poems were not written in the voice of a common shepherd-

they used courtly language, formal poetic meter and rhymes.

The prominent date in the development of English poetry was an

anthology called Tottel’s Miscellany, published in 1557.
40 poems by Earl of Surrey
96 by Thomas Wyatt,
135 poems by the other poets.
 English Renaissance Poetry

Common themes were:

1. The nature of court life, the dishonesty of courtly flattery and
the inconsistent nature of the court women.
2. The idealization of the beloved, Platonic love or unrequited
love.
3. All forms of idealism, such as the ideal hero.
4. Idealizing poetry and the written word.
 Types of Poetry
Sonnets:

Italian or Petrarchan: consisting of an octave with the rhyme

scheme abbaabba and of a sestet with one of several rhyme
schemes, as cdecde or cdccdc.

English or Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains and

a concluding couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg.
 Types of Poetry
Epics: long poem about the adventures of a hero. Was
considered as the highest forms of poetry.
Pastoral: relating to the countryside; often used to draw a
contrast between the innocence and serenity of rural life and
the corruption and extravagance of court life
 Most Famous Renaissance Poets
Lyrical poetry:
Sir Thomas Wyatt.
Sir Henry Howard.
Edmund Spenser.
Sir Philip Sidney.
Christopher Marlowe.
William Shakespeare.
Metaphysical poetry 'School of Donne’:
John Donne
George Herbert.
Henry Vaughan
 Most Famous Renaissance Poets
Cavalier poetry 'School of Johnson':
Ben Johnson.
Sir John Suckling.
Richard Lovelace.
Robert Herrick.
John Milton.
Thank You