EnglishRenaissance.doc

English Renaissance: 1500–1660 I Background information： ---The introduction of a printing press into England in 1476 brought about the flourish of vernacular literature. ---The Reformation inspired the production of vernacular liturgy which had a lasting influence on literary language. ---The English Renaissance as a cultural and artistic movement is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century. Renaissance style and ideas, however, were slow in penetrating England, and the Elizabethan era in the second half of the 16th century is usually regarded as the height of the English Renaissance. II Renaissance literature (the Pre-Elizabethan period/Early Renaissance 1509-1558, the Elizabethan period 1558-1603, and the post-Elizabethan period/1603-1660): poetry/sonnet, verse drama (blank verse), essay. ---Some Poetic Terms: Foot: a specific sequence of syllable types—such as stressed/unstressed (the norm for English poetry) or long/short (as in most classical Latin and Greek poetry). Meter: In poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure /unit of a verse. In most Western classical poetic traditions, the meter of a verse can be described as a sequence of feet, each foot being a specific sequence of syllable types. Iamb（抑扬格）: A metrical foot of two syllables, one short (or unstressed) and one long (or stressed). The iamb is the reverse of the trochee (扬抑格). iambic pentameter：the most common meter in English poetry, a sequence of five iambic feet or iambs, each consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. (The prefix penta- means “five,” as in pentagon, a geometrical figure with five sides.) rhyme: The occurrence of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words. rhyme scheme (韵式): the formal arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or a poem. The rhyme scheme is usually notated with lowercase letters of the alphabet (as abab bcbc, etc), each different letter