Renaissance
rebirth/renewal; focus on nature, art, and individual
Humanism
humans can make their own destiny (not relying on God)
Utopia
"no place"/"nowhere" - ideal society
Reformation
Martin Luther's theses - wanting to get rid of corruption in the Church
Pun
play on words
Sonnet
14 line poem
Octave
8 line stanza
Sestet
6 line stanza
Quatrain
4 line stanza
Couplet
2 line stanza
Paradox
statement that contradicts itself but is actually true
Syntax
order of words
Conceit
extended metaphor with complex logic; confusing at first but after an explanation
Hyperbole
exaggeration for dramatic effect
Understatement
making something less important than it actually is
Figurative Language
when the words differ from their literal meanings
Rhyme Scheme
the rhyme pattern of the last word in each line
Scansion
the act of analyzing a poem
Iamb
stressed, unstressed (U /)
Image
elements in a poem that speak to the five senses
Motif
a reoccurring image that normally reinforces a theme
Meter
the pattern of the stressed or unstressed
Foot
basic unit of the pattern
Iambic Pentameter
a poem with lines each having 5 iamb feet
Plutarch
Shakespeare’s source of Roman history
Johannes Gutenberg
Invented printing press
William Caxton
First printer in England
Sir Thomas More
Came up with the idea of a utopia
Erasmus
“prince of humanists”
Martin Luther
One of the leaders of the Reformation
Henry VIII
Married sister in law, got into fight with the Pope over the divorce, created the Church of England
Elizabeth I
Kills Mary Queen of Scots because people thought Mary should rule, tried to keep peace during her reign
Mary Stuart
Queen of Scots, inspired Spanish Armada
King Phillip of Spain
Sent Spanish Armada in 1588, its defeat led to England becoming the leading naval power
James I
Kept Elizabeth’s rules in order to keep peace
Spenserian Sonnets
AB AB BC BC CD CD EE
Shakesperian Sonnets
English Sonnets, AB AB CD CD EF EF GG
Petrarchian Sonnets
Italian Sonnets, ABBA ABBA CDE CDE
Amoretti 30
-My love is like to ice, and I to fire -The more he tries, the more she rejects him yet this makes him want to try harder -why do the rules of science not apply to the rules of love? -his desire is fire and she is ice -Spenser
Amoretti 75
-One day I wrote her name upon the strand -writes her name on the beach twice, but the waves wash it away -lover tells him this is futile, besides she herself is mortal and will not live forever -she and their love will live forever in poetry -Spenser
Whoso List to Hunt, I Know where is an Hind
-Sir Thomas Wyatt -the hind is Anne Boleyn -wears a diamond necklace that says “for Caesar’s I am” -wild for to hold, though I seem tame -he is coming in last, but no one else can win anyway
Sonnet 29
-Shakespeare -When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes -Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, haply I think on thee; and then my state -For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings -when he feels alone, poor, and depressed, he thinks of her
Sonnet 116
-Shakespeare -Let me not to the marriage of true minds -love is not love which alters when it alteration finds -love is constant and never leaves -a checklist for true love
Sonnet 130
-Shakespeare -My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun -if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head -she is ugly but he loves her anyway
Sonnet 90
-Petrarch -She used to let her golden hair fly free -unearthly voices sang in unison -well, though the bow’s unbent, the wound bleeds on -he remembers a woman who has left him, but has more emphasis on her
Sonnet 292
-Petrarch -The eyes I spoke of once in words that burn -And yet I live, grief and disdainto me -he remembers a woman, but has more emphasis on grief
A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
-John Donne -As virtuous men pass mildly away -for his wife, Anne -no tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move -thy firmness makes my circle just, and makes me end where I begun
Death Be Not Proud
-John Donne -thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men -death needs poison, war, and sickness while poppy and charms make people sleep -rest and sleep do not scare anyone -our best men die too -one short sleep past, we wake eternally -death, thou shalt die
Meditation 17
-John Donne -no man is an island -each is a piece of the continent, if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less -ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee -each man’s death diminishes me
To Althea From Prison
-When love has unconfined wings -know no such liberty -kings do not know more liberty than he when he thinks of her -stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage -only angels enjoy such liberty because he has freedom in his love -Lovelace
On my first son
-Johnson -farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy -seven years tho’ wert lent to me, and I thee pay -will men lament the state he should envy? -“Here doth lie Ben Johnson his best piece of poetry” -he promises to never love anyone as much ever again
Song to Celia
-Johnson -Drink to me only with thine eyes -looking at each other is as good as drinking wine -a rose he sent her that she sent back smells of her
Passionate Shepherd to His Love
-Marlowe -come live with me and be my love -offers valleys, hills, fields, woods, rocks, rivers, and birds -and I will make thee beds of Roses -“and be my love” refrain -offers temporal things
The Nymph’s Reply
-Raleigh -if all the world and love were young, and truth in every shepherd’s tongue, these pretty pleasures might me move -all these pleasures will grow old -the rest complains of cares to come -in folly ripe, in reason rotten
To His Coy Mistress
-Marvell -had we but world enough and time, this coyness, lady, were no crime -if we had all the time in the world, we would do things slow, and our love would grow -but at my back I always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near -your beauty will soon disappear, and we may die so we should get together -thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
-Herrick -Anglican cleric -Gather ye rose-buds while ye may -this same flower that smiles today tomorrow will be dying -then be not coy; but use your time, and while ye may, go marry; for having lost but once your prime, you may forever tarry -you are more beautiful young