5.1RenaissancePoetry.pptVIP

Part Four The English Renaissance and the English Literature Part Four I. The English Renaissance II. The English Literature: 1. Poetry: Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare 2. Novel: Lyly, Deloney and Nashe 3. Drama: University Wits, Greene, Marlowe, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson 4. Prose: Moore and Bacon I. The English Renaissance 1. Background: the rise of the English bourgeoisie and the Protestant Reformation (新教改革) 2. The Renaissance and Humanism The Renaissance and Humanism 1. ~ is the reflection of the rise of the bourgeoisie in the cultural life. 2. ~: an intellectual movement known with the meaning of the rebirth of letters which sprang first in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. ~ was slow in reaching England. In the latter half of the 14th century, Chaucer visited Italy, and Italian influence is to be traced in his “Canterbury Tales”. The Renaissance and Humanism The introduction of printing to England by William Caxton (1476) brought classical works within reach of the common multitude. Oxford Reformers: in the days of Henry VIII, there were a group of scholars called ~, who introduced the classical literature to England and strove to reform education on a humanistic line. These English humanists were all churchmen themselves, but they sought to permeate their old faith with new thought. the Renaissance and Humanism 3. Two striking features of ~: a thirsty curiosity for the classical literature in Greek and Latin; the keen interest in the human activities, esp. for human beauty and human achievement 4. Humanism: a philosophical idea that man could mould the world according to his desires and attain happiness by removing all external checks (束缚) by the exercise of reason. II. The flowering of English literature 1. the prose: Thomas More (1478-1535): Utopia, Francis Bacon (1561-1626): Essays 2. the poetry: Sidney, Raleigh, Spenser, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson 3. the novel: Lyly, Deloney and Nashe 4. the drama: the playwrights: the “uni