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7/28/2019 Apuntes Literatura (Sin Los Trabajos)

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ENGLISH LITERATURE III Sara Gonzlez Castellanos 1

1. RENAISSANCE & REFORMATION1.1. Introduction

w The word Renaissance means the rebirth of the Classical world. After the Middle Ages, this rebirth tookplace. It was the rebirth of the man as the centre of all and not God, as it was before.

w In 1453 the Turks invaded Constantinople and the intellectuals had to escape to Italy. This meant the

origins of modern culture. Many historians consider this as the start of Renaissance (in Italy), and its true but

not

w By the end of the XIII century and the beginnings of the XIV century we have an important person: San

Francis (S. Francisco de Asis), a radical figure who was against the catholic churchs doctrine, which was

very dogmatic, had scholastic philosophy, it was very difficult to understand). He went among the poor

people talking about nature, he said that, if you see the greatness of nature, then you will see the greatness of

its creator (for the time, this was very radical). This thought inspired many intellectuals and artists, and

theres a change in the vision of the world, and this is called the Proto-Renaissance, were there are variousartists as Giotto, with portraits that reflected a psychological penetration; Dante, Petrarch, Bocaccio But

theres another important year, 1348 in which this ideas stopped, and this was because of the bubonic plague,

different civil wars, etc.

w From the XV century theres an interest for the Latin culture and the vernacular.

w Theres an important figure who is one of the most important literary critic and historian that defends that

the Renaissance would had happened anyway, although the classic world, etc. hadnt exist, because there were

elements that announced a big change. To defend this theory he talked about some elements.

0 The break of feudal structures: people started to produce more than they needed, so itappeared an incipient Money economy, it was the very beginning of commerce. As a

consequence there was more wealth and more people, so cities developed. As aconsequence of this, theres a proliferation of schools and universities, and an Exchange

of ideas, and it took place the development of science (they wanted to know more and

more) and they started to have a sceptical mentality and attitude.

0 The reformation of the Catholic Church. It was produced because before there was a lotof corruption, etc. and this made people not to be as attached as before by the Church.

w But the Church continued being the patron of the art.

w Art continued to be deeply religious, but now it was a more realistic and sensual art, it was less allegorical

and tried to represent the world (nature k landscapes). Art started to be considered as a branch of

knowledge, maths principles started to be applied (perspective, balance).

w Humanism was a movement of this time that represented the spirit of the period. It gave importance to the

subjective part of man and not to the spiritual. They were secular minded, and they didnt let religion to

interfere in their knowledge (we are not saying that they were anti -religious, much of them were religious

but their separated it from their approaches, etc.). They separated faith of knowledge.

w Scholarship started also with the humanists. They wanted to study the origins, the original texts. Now they

didnt apply faith but a critical point of view.

w They represented classical ethics: Discipline, honesty and simplicity (these were their basic principles in

their lives).

w The Renaissance was a time of the discover of the new world. Astronomy changed too, the Earth didnt

continue being the centre of the universe as Ptolemy had defended before, now Copernicus discovered that the

Earth moved around the Sun.

w Two basic concepts for a Renaissance intellectual were:

0 Imitation: imitation doesnt mean to copy but to grasp the spirit of the Works and transmit it to a new

creation.


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0 Decorum: it meant to speak, write, etc. properly, according to the situation.

w The ideal man of this period was a mens sana in corpore sano and he had to have an aristocratic

procedence, so they had an aristocratic idea. The first to talk about an ideal was Len Batista Alberti (he

himself was an ideal).

w An important work related to this (the ideal) is Il Cortegiano by Baldasare Castiglione in 1528. This

work became very famous in England and its translation into English The book of the Cortesan wastranslated in 1561 by Thomas Hoby.

1.2. The Reformation (hand-out)

w The Reformation means a reform in the catholic Church that takes place in the 16th century.

w Main features (in the north-western part of Europe): Martin Luther and John Calvin, who was a follower of

the previous one. They criticized against the situation of the Church, its corruption

w This people were called protestants by the Catholics, who considered them heretics.

* Diet of Speyer: the diets were catholic assemblies where doctrinal questions were treated. (1529)

w The Reformation had some antecedents:1) St. Francis2) John Huss (Check)3) John Wycleffe (English)4) Erasmus of Rotterdam

w They were against Churchs corruption, power (after the fall of the Occidental Roman Empire (5th

century) the Church had the power during the Middle Ages, all the Money went to Rome, some kings were

supported by the pope while other ones not, so, this was an obstacle, and also the fact that he Money was for

the pope and not for the kingdoms). There were also ecclesiastical courts, there were no judges, clerics were

judged by themselves, etc.

w Kings, aristocracy... tried to set aside the Churchs power. Religious people were against this.w In 1517 (October) Lutherstack at the Churchs doors a paper with 95 theses criticizing the Church. People

started to move around him because they were also disgusted with the Church.

w He said that the only authority was in the scriptures and not invent things.

w He was excommunicated and Calvin too.

w The Church only recognized one reformation: Council of Trent (1543-1562).

w There are common elements between Renaissance and Reformation:

1) Individualism. The believed in their capacity to change the world and they focused onman.

2) Anthropocentrism. This new religion had to take into account man.3) Money economy is very important.4) Humanists went back to the origins, to the original religious texts. To see to what

point the Church had perverted this texts.

w They have also opposite things:

1) The humanists of the Renaissance focused on the physical and intellectual part of manwhile the people of the Reformation focused on the spiritual part of man.

2) Catholics g faith and to be conform.Renaissance Humanists g reason and to tolerate.

3) The character of the Renaissance was international while the character of theprotestant movement was national / regional.

w In this period, there were doctrinal disputes, instead of St. Agustin (mans nature was depraved w spirit of

the Reformance) they started to adopt the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas (opposite to St. Agustin). Humanists

believed on man to improve their-selves. On the other hand, the Calvin doctrine defended te predestination of

man (spirit of the Reformance).


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1.2.1. Reformation in England (Hand out)wThe origins of the Reformation in England were caused by Henry VIII, he wanted to get divorced to

marry Anne Bolei, but the pope Clement VII didnt let him, so he broke with Rome and the only authority inEngland in the Church was the King by means of supremacy. In 1534 is found the Anglican Church.

wA step forward of the reign were the translations from Latin to English: Book of Prayers. This let

people read and hear (and understand), before they didnt understand. We can say that now religion was more

accessible for more people.

wThe translation was also a work of interpretation.

w It took place a proliferation of translations of biblical, religious sources (1st

step of English

Reformation).

wThese translations gave a number of different bibles:

a) Anglican tradition influenced by Lutheranism: Tyndale, Coverdale, and The AuthorizedVersion of the Bible or King James Bible.Tyndales Bible: is very familiar, uses homely vocabulary. Instead of using words such as

Christ or Church used Congregation and Elder. It was a translation from Latin and

Greek.

Coverdale is another translation from German and Latin. It is the first complete Bible in

English.

King James Bible used very archaic vocabulary. It is the most famous translation of the time.

b) Independent Protestant tradition: Geneva Bible.The Geneva Bible is a translation from classical texts and has protestant influences. It was

written by persecuted Protestants who went to France, Geneva running away from England

in the Marian exiles (Mary 1553-1558). It is the first bible to use italics (for different words orto explain things) and verses. It is also published in a small format, and this helped the

development of individualism, faith and doctrine were then your own.

c) Roman-Catholic tradition: Reims-Douai Bible.This bible is the Catholic Bible per excellence.

wThere were doctrinal disputes: St. Augustine instead of St. Thomas Aquinas

wThe Elizabeths reign was a moderate reign. She made a mixture of Catholic and Protestant. She wrote 39

articles g St. Agustine + free-will, she didnt abolish the hierarchy of the Church. Protestantism proliferated in

England.

wHug Latimerwrote the first protestant sermons.

wJohn Foxes Book of Martyrs dealt with the persecutions of the Marian exiles, he was one.It was very influential for hatered Catholicism.

wRichard Hooker: The moderate (Anglican position)

wThere was a similar reformation movement within the protestants, and this reformers are the puritans.

They wanted the religious doctrine as pure as it was in its origins as Jesus Christ created it. Puritanism

became the official relidion in Scotland (Kirkg Church)

w John Knoxs History of the Reformation within the Realm of Scotland inspired this in

Scotland.

wFieldand Wilcox, Admonition to Parliament is a basic text to Puritans in England and in the

colonies. It is the origin of the polemic between Anglicans and Puritans.

1.3. The Transition to the Renaissance (1400-1500) (Hand out)


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wIn this period it took place a civil war: War of the Roses which ended in 1485. England was divide into

two groups: Red Rose of Lancaster and White Rose of York.

wHenry VI* was in the throne, he had some mental disorders. These two groups wanted to dethrone him and

put in his place: the Duke of Lancaster (Red Rose) or the Duke of York (White Rose).

wThere was also another war, the Hundred Years War.

w In 1485 it took place the Victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field by Henry VIII, who became the firstTudor English monarch. He initiated a period of stability, development of economy, of the country

wAt the high classes there were problems, but there was peace at other levels. Peasants and trade men begin

to improve their lives.

wThere was an incipient money economy. There was also a proliferation of schools and culture.

wThe factory systems of copy helped to sell in markets.

wEngravings and woodcuts are also important, they reproduced important works of art, and they were very

cheap reproductions. [Less rigid art than the medieval art. More realistic pieces of art were reproduced].

wSo it was a more attractive and materialistic society that the medieval.

wHenry VII contributed to abandoned that chivalric atmosphere of the medieval times with two things:

1) Canons2) Pay standing Army. There was a civil service, men started to be royal first to themselves,

then to their nation and king, and not to a landlord as it was in the Middle Ages.

w It also contributed a primitive exchange that was taking place between Italian and English intellectuals.

They attracted English intellectual to Italy with their new ideas and back with them.

wIn this period it took place the Great Vowel Shift, this change in the pronunciation of vowels only affected

the long ones. The tongue tended to go forward up in the pallet and in the front. The vowels that were long

could be longer and split into diphthongs.

Name: [ nam ] [ neim ]

Sweet: [ sweit ] [ sut ]

Life: [ lf ] [ laif ]

Moon: [ mon ] [ mn ]

House: [ hs ] [ haus ] (it cannot be longer so it split into a diphthong)

wThis phenomena is unique in an Indo-European language.

w In 1450 writers and intellectuals started to express themselves by the London dialect, before there were

different dialects. They preferred this dialect because they had to be distributed in London to be known or they

wont publish anywhere, London is the place of distribution. So we have and standard literary language.

wIn 1476 took place the introduction of the printing press in England, Westminster, by Caxton.

wBut in the North they continued with their dialect, so we have two important languages from a literary

point of view.wOne characteristic of the writers of this period is that they imitated Chaucer, and this was because they

didnt know already Anglo-Saxon poetry. But they imitated the Italians too.

wEnglish and Scottish Chaucerians were quite medieval but they were more part of the Renaissance.

wThis Chaucerian writers are:

wEnglish:

o Thomas Occleve: he was quite medieval. He imitated Chaucers realistic side

instead of artificial allegorical.

oJohn Lydgate: he used many rhetorical figures, etc. He was very verbose. He also

experimented with language, he wanted his mode of expression to fit with the

period, and in order to do this he reinvented words, etc.oJohn Skelton: he was influenced by humanism. He was very conservative and h

wanted to improve life, soviety

wScottish:


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oJames I: cultivated king.

o Robert Henryson: he wrote the testament of Criseida and itinfluenced also

Shakespeares treatment of the poems.

oWilli am Dunbar: he was called the Scottish Chaucer

oGavin Douglas: he was the great inspire of Renaissance in Scottland. And he is

the first playwright to sign his works.

wThere were texts and men between Medieval and Renaissance period.

oSir Thomas Malory: he had been knighted, and he was imprisoned for life. In 1460 he went

to London, to Newgatesprison. In this prison he had access to Gray Friars, a library here he

got in touch with King Arthur.

Malory didnt entitled his works but Caxton published it and gave the title (in medieval

French) basing himself in the last chapter: Le Morte dAthur

When he founded this material he started to give form to it and approached it to the current

society, but not thinking in readers. He concentrated on two aspects:

1)

St. Grail2) 2) G and Lancelot.

This good vs bad is a medieval characteristic, but good didnt win, and this is not medieval, it

was in consonance with the world around. He also eliminated supernatural thing, the

romantic and he present nostalgia for a previous time that was better.

oWil li am Caxton: He established at Bruges, (1st

printing press, and later in London). He was

also between medieval times and Renaissance.

He was quite moralizing, something so medieval, had inaccuracy with names and facts and

quotation of religious authorities.

On the other hand, he talked about himself being a writer, discussed about the different

dialects for England, he was concerned with language; and had the necessity of improving

language. This is all from the Renaissance.

o Alexander Barclay: he began to be well-known with The Ship of Fools (Narrenshiff), an

eclogue (pastoral tales taken from Italy in which we can see dialogues between different

shepherds talking about themes such as love, etc.

o The Paston Letters: they were the letters of the Paston family. They proved that literacy

grew among people. It is one of the best documents of the 15th

century with political,

domestic questions.

1.4. The Renaissance in England (Hand out)

FIRST PHASE

wThe introduction of new ideas came with institutions as: the University and the Court.

wThese new ideas came in Latin manly and also in Greek. This Latin was that of Cicero.

wThere were also Reformers not of religion, but of knowledge.

o Grocyn: one of the eldest. He studied at Florence and he was the first Greek professor atOxford (the first they had).

o Linacre: he studied Greek. He was devoted to medicine and the first translator of Galeninto Latin. He was also the founder of the Royal Collage of physicians in London and he

wrote a Latin grammar.

o Colet and lily: Lily is John Lilys grandfather. Colet went to France and Lily went toGreece. They studied Italian and founded St. Pauls school, the first grammar school

devoted to the new learning. They, with Erasmus, created a Latin grammar, the Etons

grammarorlilys grammarorPauls accidence. (accidence rudimentary rule).


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o Erasmus: He wrote Moriae Encomium in London, in Sir Thomas Mores house. He wasconsidered one of the best English (Latin work in England) man of letters.

SECOND PHASE

o John Cheke: he was the 1st Greek professor al Cambridge. He made a translation intoEnglish ofThe Heart of Sedition, How Grievous It Is to a Commonwealth.

w Theres another step, knowledge was translated into English so there was more access to it. Another

important thing is the translation of the Greek history

wThere was not a great interest for Greek drama but of Latin drama (Seneca, Terence and Plautus)

wGreek historians were important: Cesar, Cicero, Tacitus and Apuleius.

wIn poetry they were the Latins Ovid and Virgil.

wDuring this period they rediscovered the Anglo-saxon literature, they went back to their origins. This

historians were called antiquarians.

THIRD PHASE

wNew poetry. Beginning of new era. The English men of the 16th

century believed they were innovators.

wThe first demonstration of literary power was in poetry.

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