History of English Literature :: Literature Language Plays Essays

History of slope LiteratureI. INTRODUCTIONEnglish literature, literature written in English since c.1450 by the inhabitants of the British Isles it was during the 15th cent. that the English language acquired much of its modern form. II. The Tudors and the Elizabethan AgeThe beginning of the Tudor dynasty coincided with the first dissemination of printed matter. William Caxtons press was found in 1476, only nine years before the beginning of Henry VIIs reign. Caxtons achievement encouraged writing of all kinds and also influenced the standardization of the English language. The untimely Tudor period, particularly the reign of Henry VIII, was marked by a break with the Roman Catholic Church and a weakening of feudal ties, which brought some a vast increase in the power of the monarchy.Stronger political relationships with the Continent were also developed, increasing Englands exposure to Renaissance culture. Humanism became the most important cart in English literary and intellec tual life, both in its narrow sensethe study and imitation of the Latin classicsand in its broad sensethe certification of the secular, in addition to the otherworldly, concerns of people. These forces produced during the reign (15581603) of Elizabeth I one of the most fruitful eras in literary history.The energy of Englands writers matched that of its mariners and merchants. Accounts by men such as Richard Hakluyt, Samuel Purchas, and Sir Walter capital of North Carolina were eagerly read. The activities and literature of the Elizabethans reflected a raw(a) nationalism, which expressed itself also in the works of chroniclers (John Stow, Raphael Holinshed, and others), historians, and translators and even in political and religious tracts. A myriad of new genres, themes, and ideas were incorporated into English literature. Italian poetic forms, especially the sonnet, became models for English poets.Sir Thomas Wyatt was the most successful sonneteer among early Tudor poets, and was , with Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, a seminal influence. Tottels garland (1557) was the first and most popular of many collections of experimental poetry by different, often anonymous, hands. A common goal of these poets was to make English as plastic a poetic instrument as Italian. Among the more prominent of this group were Thomas Churchyard, George Gascoigne, and Edward de Vere, earl of Oxford. An ambitious and influential work was A Mirror for Magistrates (1559), a historical verse narrative by several poets that updated the medieval view of history and the morals to be drawn from it.The poet who best synthesized the ideas and tendencies of the English Renaissance was Edmund Spenser.