4) English Renaissance poetry and prose in its historical background

**The House of Tudor**

A royal dynasty reigning in England from 1485 to 1603, consisting of monarchs who built a wealthy nation-state, initiated the English Reformation, and oversaw the golden artistic age of the Renaissance.

**Henry VII**

The founder of the Tudor dynasty who was crowned in 1485 after defeating Richard III, consisting of a peaceful political approach that strictly avoided wars with Scotland and France to make the Crown financially independent.

**Henry VIII**

A Tudor king famous for having exactly six wives, consisting of breaking away completely from the Roman Catholic Church to divorce Catherine of Aragon, thereby making himself the supreme head of the newly established Church of England.

**Edward VI**

The only son of Henry VIII, consisting of a very short reign as he died strictly at the age of 16.

**Mary I**

The Catholic daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, consisting of an unpopular five-year reign strictly characterized by the burning of Protestants.

**Elizabeth I**

A Protestant Queen and the second daughter of Henry VIII, consisting of bringing immense glory to England by defeating the Spanish Armada, establishing the East India Company, and overseeing one of the greatest artistic periods in English history.

**William Caxton's printing press**

A technological innovation introduced to England strictly in 1476.

**The end of the Wars of the Roses**

A historical milestone occurring exactly in 1485, consisting of Henry Tudor defeating King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field.

**The English Renaissance**

An intellectual and artistic cultural movement originating in Italy, spreading to England in the 16th century, consisting strictly of revitalizing classical Greek and Roman learning, fostering individualism, focusing on the human body, and triggering a massive explosion of literature, drama, and natural sciences.

**Stages of the English Renaissance**

A chronological division consisting of exactly three phases: The Early Renaissance/Humanism/Reformation (first half of the 16th century), The High Renaissance (second half of the 16th century to early 17th century), and The Decline of Renaissance (up to 1660).

**Foreign inspiration in the Renaissance**

A literary phenomenon consisting of English authors borrowing heavily from classical models, such as Vergil's Aeneid (inspiring Spenser and Surrey), pastoral poetry of Vergil and Horace (inspiring Sidney), Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence (inspiring Shakespeare and Jonson), and Senecan tragedies.

**The English Reformation**

A religious movement stemming from Henry VIII's divorce, consisting of breaking from the Catholic Church, introducing Protestantism, emphasizing the authority of scripture (sola scriptura) and salvation by faith alone (sola fide), and heavily influencing literary themes of morality, sin, and redemption.

**Modern English**

A linguistic period starting after 1500, consisting of the stabilization of the English language.

**Early Modern English**

An expressive literary language developed by 1600, consisting of massive vocabulary borrowing from Latin, Greek, Italian, and Arabic, and heavily affected by the Great Vowel Shift.

**The Great Vowel Shift**

An important phonetic change in Early Modern English consisting strictly of the alteration of vowel pronunciation, while leaving their spelling completely the same.

**William Tyndale**

A Renaissance translator consisting of completing the very first English translation of the New Testament strictly from Greek in 1525.

**Miles Coverdale**

A Renaissance translator consisting of completing the translation of the Old Testament strictly from the Latin Vulgate in 1535.

**The King James Bible**

An authorized English translation of the Bible published strictly in 1611, consisting of exerting a massive influence on the stylistic development of English literature.

**Sir Thomas More**

A Renaissance lawyer, philosopher, and Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII, consisting of being imprisoned and executed for disagreeing with the king's divorce, and authoring "Utopia" and "The History of King Richard the Third".

**The History of King Richard the Third**

A prose work by Sir Thomas More (1513-1518) consisting of depicting the king strictly as a tyrant and heavily criticizing his immoral behaviour.

**Utopia**

A philosophical prose work published in 1516 by Sir Thomas More (originally in Latin), consisting of describing a completely non-existent ideal society with absolutely no private ownership, which directly resulted in creating a completely new literary genre.

**John Lily**

A highly fashionable prose writer of the 1580s consisting of authoring two prose romances told in letters: "Euphues, Or the Anatomy of Wit" and "Euphues in England".

**Euphuism**

A short-lived, artificial, and excessively elegant Elizabethan literary style inspired directly by John Lily, consisting of the exact arrangement of words, frequent use of classical mythological similes, and complex rhetoric.

**Robert Greene**

A popular late 16th-century professional prose writer and early autobiographer, consisting of acting as Shakespeare's most successful predecessor in blank-verse romantic comedy, whose style was strictly influenced by euphuism.

**Renaissance poetry genres**

A literary classification consisting strictly of sonnets, epithalamia, pastoral poetry, and epics.

**Pastoral poetry**

A poetic genre inspired by Greek poetry consisting of celebrating the beauty and simplicity of rural life, shepherds, and nature.

**The Sonnet**

An aristocratic lyric poem developed in 13th-century Italy and popularized by Petrarch, consisting exactly of 14 rhyming lines traditionally written in iambic pentameter, strictly portraying a lovesick man desperately seeking the affection of a cold-hearted woman.

**Petrarchan conceit**

A conventional literary device heavily used by Elizabethan poets, consisting of highly imaginative and unusual metaphors strictly comparing dissimilar things, such as comparing a beloved woman directly to a flower or a garden.

**Petrarchan sonnet**

A sonnet structure consisting strictly of an octave and a sestet, utilizing the rhyme scheme "abbaabba" followed by a varying scheme like "cdcdcd".

**Spenserian sonnet**

A sonnet structure consisting strictly of three quatrains and a final couplet, utilizing the linked rhyme scheme "abab bcbc cdcd ee".

**Shakespearean sonnet**

A sonnet structure consisting strictly of three quatrains and a final couplet, utilizing the rhyme scheme "abab cdcd efef gg".

**Sir Thomas Wyatt**

A poet and diplomat consisting of being the very first to introduce the Italian sonnet strictly into English literature, completely preserving the 8+6 composition while innovating it by adding a final rhyming couplet.

**Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey**

An aristocratic poet consisting of establishing the strict division of sonnets into quatrains, and being the very first English poet to publish blank verse during his translation of Virgil's Aeneid.

**Blank verse**

A poetic form introduced by the Earl of Surrey consisting strictly of unrhymed iambic pentameter.

**Sir Philip Sidney**

An ideal Elizabethan courtier, scholar, and soldier consisting of authoring "The Defence of Poesy", the prose romance "The Arcadia", and kicking off the boom of sonnet sequences with "Astrophil and Stella".

**Astrophil and Stella**

A sonnet sequence by Sir Philip Sidney consisting exactly of 108 sonnets and 11 songs, where each poem essentially expresses the exact same thing ("I love Stella") but strictly in a completely new way.

**An Apology for Poetry (The Defence of Poesy)**

A theoretical work by Philip Sidney consisting strictly of justifying poetry against accusations that it is a waste of time, the mother of lies, and the nurse of abuse.

**Sir Edmund Spenser**

A Renaissance poet strictly modeling his work on Chaucer and Virgil, consisting of authoring "The Shepheardes Calender" and the epic allegory "The Faerie Queene".

**The Shepheardes Calender**

A pastoral work by Edmund Spenser consisting of exactly 12 eclogues representing the 12 months, strictly drawing parallels between nature and human life.

**The Faerie Queene**

An allegorical epic by Edmund Spenser consisting of praising Queen Elizabeth I and embodying human virtues, where each book focuses strictly on the adventures of a different knight representing exactly one virtue (Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, Courtesy).

**Spenserian stanza**

A specific verse form invented by Edmund Spenser consisting exactly of 9 lines.

**William Shakespeare**

The greatest English dramatist and poet born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, consisting of working as the primary playwright and actor for The Lord Chamberlain’s Men (holding a 10% share of the Globe theatre), and authoring exactly 38 plays and 154 sonnets.

**Shakespeare's plays**

A dramatic portfolio consisting exactly of 14 comedies (e.g., Midsummer Night's Dream), 10 histories (e.g., Richard III), 10 tragedies (e.g., Macbeth), and 4 romances (e.g., The Tempest).

**Shakespeare's Sonnets**

A sequence published in 1609 consisting exactly of 154 sonnets, where exactly 126 sonnets are addressed to a young male (Fair Friend) and the rest are explicitly addressed to a Dark Lady.

**Ben Jonson**

A 17th-century dramatist and strict proponent of neoclassicism who completely rejected the sonnet form, consisting of authoring "masques" and "comedies of humour".

**Masques**

A specific stage entertainment form written by Ben Jonson (like "The Masque of Queens") consisting of dramatic passages, rich costumes, scenery, music, and dance, strictly acting as the basis for later opera and ballet.

**Comedies of humour**

A dramatic genre written by Ben Jonson consisting of one-dimensional and allegorical characters, strictly accommodating the three Aristotelian unities (unity of time, unity of place, and unity of action).

**The Alchemist**

A comedy of humour by Ben Jonson consisting of characters like Mammoth, strictly describing the moral that money is the absolute root of all human foolishness.

**John Donne**

A great metaphysical poet consisting of strictly rejecting the traditional love sonnet and instead addressing his "Holy Sonnets" entirely to God.

**Lady Mary Wroth**

Sir Philip Sidney's niece consisting of publishing in 1621 the absolute only sonnet sequence of the period written strictly by a woman.