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enlightenment of the human mind after the darkness of the Middle, A Chapter 04, The Renaissance Period (1500-1600)., the, The Renaissance Period in English literature is also called, new ways of seeing and thinking developed. It prompted Revival, Ages. With the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D. by the invasion of, the Turks, the Greek scholars who were residing there, spread all, over Europe, and brought with them invaluable Greek manuscripts, The discovery of these classical models resulted in the Revival of, Learning in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The essence of this, movement was that "man discovered himself and the universe", and, that "man, so long blinded had suddenly opened his eyes and seen"., The flood of Greek literature which the new art of printing carried, swiftly to every school in Europe revealed a new world of poetry and, philosophy. Along with the Revival of Learning, new discoveries, took place in several other fields. Vascoda Gama circumnavigated the, earth; Columbus discovered America; Copernicus discovered the, Solar System and prepared the way for Galileo. Books were printed,, and philosophy, science, and art were systematised. The Middle Ages, were past, and the old world had become new. Scholars flocked to the, universities, as adventurers to the new world of America, and there, the old authority received a death blow. Truth only was authority; to, search for truth everywhere, as men sought for new lands and gold, and the Fountain of Youth-that was the new spirit, which awoke in, Europe with the Revival of Learning., In England there was an important change in religion and, politics when King Henry VIII made himself the head of Church of, England, bringing church and state together (1529-39). He cut all, 38, Scanned with CamScanner

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139, 04-THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD (1500-1600), contact with the Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome, part of a, reaction against the Catholic Church in many parts of Europe,, Protestantism became more and more important, and gave a whole, new vision of man's relation with God. The king or queen became the, human being on earth who was closest to God, at the head of the, Great Chain of Bing which led down to the rest of mankind, animals,, and insects and so on., The chief characteristic of the Renaissance was its emphasis on, Humanism, which means man's concern with himself as an object of, contemplation. This movement was started in Italy by Dante,, Petrarch and Boccaccio in the fourteenth century, and from there it, spread to other countries of Europe. In England it became popular, during the Elizabethan period. This movement which focused its, interest on 'the proper study of mankind' had a number of, subordinate trends. The first in importance was the rediscovery of, classical antiquity, and particularly of ancient Greece. During the, medieval period, the tradition-bound Europe had forgotten the liberal, tone of old Greek world and its spirit of democracy and human, dignity. With the revival of interest in Greek Classical Antiquity, the, new spirit of Humanism made its impact on the Western world. The, first Englishman who wrote under the influence of Greek studies was, Sir Thomas More. His Utopia, written in Latin, was suggested by, Plato's Republic. Sir Philip Sidney in his Defence of Poesie accepted and, advocated the critical rules of the ancient Greeks., The second important aspect of Humanism was the discovery, of the external universe, and its significance for man. But more, important than this was that the writers directed their gaze inward,, and became deeply interested in the problems of human personality., In the medieval morality plays, the characters are mostly, personifications: Friendship, Charity, Sloth, Wickedness and the like., But now during the Elizabethan period, under the influence of, Humanism, the emphasis was laid on the qualities which distinguish, one human being from another, and give an individuality and, uniqueness. Moreover, the revealing of the writer's own mind, became full of interest. This tendency led to the rise of a new literary, form-the Essay, which was used successfully by Bacon. In drama, Marlowe probed down into the deep recesses of the human passion., His heroes, Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus and Barabas, the Jew of Malta,, are possessed of uncontrolled ambitions. Shakespeare, a more, consummate artist, carried Humanism to perfection. His genius, fed, by the spirit of the Renaissance, enabled him to see life whole, and to, present it in all its aspects., Scanned with CamScanner

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It was this new interest in human personality, the passion, life, which was responsible for the exquisite lyrical poetry of Or, transitoriness of life etc., men as Sir Phillip Sidney and Sir Walter Raleigh was modelled. Th, Euphuism by Lyly. Though it suffered from exaggeration and, gave it pithiness and harmony., Another aspect of Humanism was that men came to ha, regarded as responsible for their own actions, as Casius says t, Brutus in Julius Caesar:, The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,, But in ourselves, that we are underlings., Instead of looking up to some higher authority, as was done in The, Middle Ages, during the Renaissance Period guidance was to be, found from within. Lyly wrote his romance of Euphues not merely as, an exercise in a new kind of prose, but with the serious purpose of, inculcating righteousness of living, based on self-control. Sidney, wrote his Arcadia in the form of fiction in order to expound an ideal of, moral excellence. Spenser wrote his Faerie Queene, with a view "to, fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle, disposition". Though we do not look for direct moral teaching in, Shakespeare, nevertheless, we find underlying his work the same, profoundly moral attitude., (A) ELIZABETHAN DRAMA, During the Renaissance Period or the Elizabethan Period, as it is, popularly called, the most memorable achievement in literature was, in the field of drama. One of the results of the humanist teaching in, the schools and universities had been a great development of the, study of Latin drama and the growth of the practice of acting Latin, plays by Terence, Plautus and Seneca, and also of contemporary, works both in Latin and in English. These performances were the, work of amateur actors, school boys or students of the Universities, and the Inns of Court, and were often given in honour of the visits of, Scanned with CamScanner

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attempts to write original plays in English on the Latin model. The, 04-THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD (1500-1600), royal persons or ambassadors. Their significance lies in the fact that, highly developed kind of drama, than the older English play. About, the middle of the sixteenth century some academic writers made, they brought the educated classes into touch with a much more, Doister, John Still's Grummar Gurton's Needle, and Thomas Sackville's, Gorbuduc or Ferrex and Porrex-the first two are comedies and last one, 141, three important plays of this type are Nicholas Udall's Ralph Roister, a tragedy. All these plays are monotonous and do not possess much, literary merit., The second period of Elizabethan drama was dominated by the, "University Wits", a professional set of literary men. Of this little, constellations, Marlowe was the central sun, and round him revolved, as minor stars, Lyly, Greene, Peele, Lodge and Nash., Lyly (1554-1606), The author of Euphues, he wrote a number of plays, the best, known of them are Compaspe (1581), Sapho and Phao (1584), Endymion, (1591), and Midas (1592). These plays are mythological and pastoral, and are nearer to the Masque (court spectacles intended to satisfy the, love of glitter and novelty) rather than to the narrative drama of, Marlowe. They are written in prose intermingled with verse., the verse is simple and charming prose is marred by exaggeration, a, characteristic of Euphuism., Though, George Peele (1558-97?), Along with Marlowe, Greene and Nash, he formed one of that, band of dissolute young men, endeavouring to earn a livelihood by, literary work. He was an actor as well as writer of plays. He wrote, some half dozen plays, which are richer in beauty than any of his, group except Marlowe. His earnest work is The Arraignment of Paris,, (1584); his most famous is David and Bathsheba (1599). The Arraigmment, of Paris, which contains an elaborate eulogy of Queen Elizabeth, is, really a court play of the Masque order. David and Bathsheba contains, many beautiful lines. Like Marlowe, Peele was responsible for giving, the blank verse musical quality, which later attained perfection in the, deft hands of Shakespeare., Thomas Kyd (1558-95), He achieved great popularity with his first work, The Spanish, Tragedy, which was translated in many European languages. He, introduced the 'blood and thunder' elemert in drama, which proved, one of the attractive features of the pre-Shakespearean drama., Scanned with CamScanner

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plays comprise Orlando Furioso, Friar Bacon and Friar, one maid. Its variety of interest and comic relief add, terror of the world", and "the scourge of God". Tamburlaine v, entertainment of the audience. But the chief merit of the play lies, the Friar, and partly with a simple love story between two men wi, He lived a most dissolute life, and died in distress and debt. H, dramatised the exploits of the Scythian shepherd who rose to be", blank verse, and its sensitiveness to beauty. In this play Marlow, gave an old medieval legend a romantic setting. The story of th, scholar who sells his soul to the Devil for worldly enjoyment a, spirit. The play is a series of scenes showing Faustus' ambitions, b, in the end he has no more time and when the devil returns to clai, unlimited power, is presented in a most fascinating manne, Marlowe's Faustus is the genuine incarnation of the Renaissan, In 1587 his first play Tamburlaine was produced and it took the publi, succeeded by The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, in which Marlow, the soul he has bought, Faustus in his final moments tries to kee, Though he is always violent and extravagant, yet he was, for breaking away from the lifeless monotony of Gorboduc, 421 B.R. MULLIK: CRITICAL HISTORY-ENGLISH LITERATURE Section, responsib, Robert Greene (1560-1592), is Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, which deals partly with the, to, Bunge, effective, pla, tricks, Alphonsus King of Aragon and George a Greene. His most, the, the lively method of presenting the story. Greene also, distinction by the vigorous humanity of his characterisation, achieve, Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), The dramatic work of Lodge and Nash is not of, importance. Of all the members of the group Marlowe is the, mud, greates, by storm on account of its impetuous force, its splendid comm, Wa, an, a, death away:, O soul, be changed into little water-drops,, And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found!, Ugly hell, gape not! Come not, Lucifer!, I'll burn, my, books!, The Jew of Malta, the third tragedy of Marlowe, is not so fine as Da, Faustus, though it has a glorious opening. His last play, Edward l, his best from the technical point of view. Though it lacks the f, and rhythmic beauty of the earlier plays, it is superior to them, account of its, characterisation., rare skill of construction and admiral, Scanned with CamScanner