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The Renaissance Period:

Though renaissance began in 1453, its effect on English life and literature was felt after 1500. For that reason it is generally accepted that the renaissance period began with the beginning of the 16^th century and continued till the Restoration in 1660. This period is called the Renaissance Period because renaissance spirit was the main force that characterized the literature of this time. This period of 160 years is subdivided into four shorter ages according to the names of the political rulers.

1. The Elizabethan Age (1558-1603)

This age is named after Queen Elizabeth I who reigned over England from 1558 to 1603. This is the most glorious age of English literature. The important events of the age were:

1. With the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, dynastic problems and political chaos came to an end. Stability was attained and national prosperity began.
2. Elizabeth 1 introduced Anglicanism to settle religious problems. It has a long history. In the 16^th century Martin Luther of Germany and Zwingli and Calvin of Switzerland protested against the autocracy of the then Pope. Those who supported them were called Protestants and those who still supported the Pope were called the Papist or Catholics. Henry VIII who was the king of England during those years supported Protestantism for personal advantage. He wanted to divorce his first wife, Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn, his fiancée, but the Pope did not approve it. So he denied Pope’s authority and introduced Protestantism in England. Some of the people accepted king’s religious authority but the rest followed the Pope’s rule. This caused a bloody civil war which continued till Elizabeth came to power in 1558. She understood the problem and introduced Anglicanism, England’s own church. This religious settlement brought stability and prosperity to England in the second half of the 16^th century.
3. Geographical and astronomical discoveries of the previous decades brought unlimited fortune during this period.
4. Renaissance that had started earlier was now very strongly felt in England. Erasmus reached England, and with Colet, taught humanism and other ideals of renaissance.

Major Writers and Their Major Works:

1. Thomas Moore (1478-1535): Utopia (or Kingdom of Nowhere). The book was originally written in Latin in 1516.
2. Edmund Spenser (1552-1599): The poet of the poets. He is called the poet of the poets because after his death many later English poets followed his art of poetry. ‘The Faerie Queene’(1590),’The Shepherd’s Calendar’ (1579).
3. Nicholas Udall: ‘Ralph Roister Doister’ (1553), the first English comedy.
4. Norton and Sackville (1536-1608): Gorboduc (1562), the first English tragedy.
5. Thomas Kyd (1557-1595): a university wit: ‘The Spanish Tragedy (1585).
6. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586): An Apologie for Poetrie (1595), a critical treatise. Arcadia (1590), a book that bears the embryo of English novel.
7. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), a university wit: Tamburlaine the Great (1587), Dr. Faustas (1592), The Jew of Malta (1589), Edward II (1591).
8. William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Famous for the objective representation of his deep knowledge about human psychology. He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Of the total 37 plays he wrote the following 25 before the death of Queen Elizabeth I: 1. Henry VI (1^st Part) 2. Henry VI (2^nd Part),3. Henry VI (3^rd Part) (1591-92), 4. Richard III (1593), 5. The Comedy of Errors (1593),6.Titus Andronicus (1594), 7. The Taming of the Shrew (1594), 8. Love’s Labor’s Lost (1594), 9. Romeo and Juliet (1594), 10. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595), 11. The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1995), 12. King John (1595), 13. Richard II (1596), 14. The Merchant of Venice (1596), 15. Henry IV (1^st Part. 1597), 16. Henry IV (2^nd Part. 1598), 17. Much Ado about Nothing (1598), 18. Henry V (1599), 19. Julius Caesar (1599), 20. The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600), 21. As You Like It (1600), 22. Hamlet (1601), 23. Twelfth Night (1601), 24. Troilus and Cressida (1602), 25. All’s Well that Ends Well (1602).
9. Francis Bacon (1561-1626), the natural philosopher, the father of English Essay. Essays (1597).

10.  Ben Jonson (1573-1637), a neo-classicist though he wrote in the time when romanticism was the main mode of expression. He is called a neo-classicist because he followed the classical rules of drama: Every Man in His Humour (1599), Every Man Out of     His Humour, Volpone.

11.  John Lyly (1554-1606): Campaspe (1584), Sapho and Phao (1584), Midas (1589), Euphues (1579), a book that bears the embryo of English novel.

12.   Robert Greene (1558-1592): Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1589), James-VI (1591).

13.  George Peele (1558-98): David and Bethsabe (1599), Arraignment of Paris (1584).

14.  Thomas Nashe (1567-1601): The Unfortunate Traveller (1594).

15.   Beaumont (1584-1616) and Fletcher (1579-1625): Philaster (1611), A King and No King (1611), The Maid’s Tragedy (1610).

 Literary Features of the Period:

The Elizabethan Age is regarded as the Golden Age in the history of English literature. The renaissance brought ancient Greek and Roman wisdom to England. The religious Reformation taught religious tolerance and secularism. The geographical and astronomical explorations brought affluence and power. In other words, the social life of England was marked by a strong national spirit, humanism, religious broad-mindedness, scientific curiosity, social content, intellectual progress and unlimited enthusiasm. All these aspects of the social life are reflected in the writings of this period. The literature of this age shows a quest for ‘’the remote, the wonderful and the beautiful’’. It is the age of original romanticism. This romanticism revived again, after a long time in 1798 in the poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats and Byron.

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