1

STARA BRITANSKA KNJIEVNOST

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
The Anglo-Saxon invaders who came to Britain in the 5 th and 6th century,
were the founders of English Culture and English literature. They gave
England its name, its language. The Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes pushed
the Romanized Britons into western corners of England (Celts - part of
them survived as Welsh). This new barbarian society reflected heroic
ideals.
1) Heroic poetry
Surviving A.S. literature bring us most closely into contact with the
Germanic origins of the invaders. It is written in Old English or AngloSaxon (Engl. language in an earlier stage of its development, with
inglections which have since disappeared, a relatively small vocabulary
from which many words have since been lost).
the verse is alliterative and stressed, without rhyme, each line

containing 4 stressed syllables and a varying number unstressed.

There is a definite pause (caesura) between the 2 halves of each line,
with 2 stresses in each line.
2 halves of each line are connected by alliteration which means that
syllables connected in this way begin with the same consonant, groups of
consonants: sp, st, sc or any vowel. Words that are accented or words
bearing alliteration are usually nouns, adjectives and rearly verbs and
adverbs.
30 000 lines of A.S. poetry have survived - contained in 4 manuscripts:
1. Cotton Vitelius: in British Museum - containing Beowulf, Judith + 3
prose works
2. The Junius Manuscript - religious poems
3. The Exeter Book - Widsith, Wanderer, etc.
4. The Vercelli Book
Heroic poetry celebrates war, bravery, loyality of soldiers. The style is
severe and solemn. We do not know much about OE culture (place
names, certain localities). Anglo-Saxon poetry is the nearest we can get
to the oral pagan literature of the Heroic Age of Germania. The stressed
alliterative verse is the product of an oral court minstrels; it was intended
to be receited by the Scop, the minstrel who frequented the halls of
Kings.
Widsith (143 verses) - one of the earliest surviving A.S. poems. It is the
autobiographical record of such a scop.

The text is in Exeter book - 10 ct., in West Saxon dialect, but the poem
dates from 7-8th ct., though parts of it must be older.
Widsith, the far wanderer, tells of his travels throughout the Germanic
world and mentions the many rulers he has visited. Many of the
characters he mentions figure in other poems (Beowulf).
The poem is not a true autobiography, because it extends for 200 years,
but it is a view of Germanic history and geography as it appeared to a
Northumbrian bard of the 7th century drawing on the traditions of his
people.
It shows us the world of barbarian wanderings and conquests. It contains
of: Prologue, I Catalogue, II Catalogue
BEOWULF
(from: Medieval British Literature)
The longest surviving poem in Old English, in a single manuscript, MS.
Cotton Vitellius A. XV in the British Museum, transcribed in the West
Saxon dialect at the end of the tenth century, at least two centuries after
its composition. We still do not know the name of its author, and it was
not given the title Beowulf until 1805 and not printed until 1815.
The text is divided into forty-three fitts or sections.It is suggested that
there must have been earlier manuscripts, transcribed in Northumbria
perhaps, where the poem may well have been composed. The written
version existed probably by the middle of the eighth century. It fits best
the Christian culture of Northumbria at the golden age of the Venerable
Bede (c.673-735), one of the greatest European scholars of the early
Middle Ages.
Bowulf, the longest surviving Old English poem, is a somber masterpiece,
the first great English work in the oral, primary epic mode. It was written
at a time when the Germanic tribes still retained a consciousness of
common origins and history.
The hero of the poem is a Geat, a prominent member of a tribe known by
the name from only a few other sources, but said by the poet to be
ancient and powerful. Modern opinion favors their being the Gautar, who
seem to have lived in what is now southern Sweden. The atmosphere is
of far away and long ago, shaded, deliberately darkened, and misty - a
time when men still fought the evil creatures of the dark.. An English
poet is writing about the common heroic past of the Germanic race.
According to Tacitus, the first-century Roman historian, Germans are a
warrior race, fierce and cruel, setting courage above all the other virtues,
finding their deepest shame in cowardice, ready to use any end to gain
the victory. If the young men find no fighting at home, they seek it
abroad, for they have no taste for peace.
Bowulf reflects the usages of a pagan society of an indetermined period
before the Christian conversion and perhaps a time near the migration of
the Angles, Saxons and Jutes to England about the middle of the fifth
century.

The language . formalized, traditional, often arranged in elaborately

parallel double statement. The poetic vocabulary is remarkable
(compound words and adjectives are plentiful; the condensed metaphors
known as kennings).
Beowulf is essentially poem of praise of earthly life and the glory that a
man may win in it by courage, and magnanimity- lof ( reputation) is one
of the key words - even as he realizes that life is short, passing and often
bitter.
Bowulf is a Christian poem in that it was written by a Christian and there
is Christian moralizing in it and many allusions. All the biblical references
that it contains are to the Old Testament. It is the power and glory of God
the Creator that move the poet and his characters to joy in the Creation,
just as they are moved to fear of judgement to certainty that the souls of
giants and monsters, Grendel and his dam, will fall to Hell and Devil while
those of believers will go to God. The bloodthirst monster Grendel is
made the descendant of Cain, the first murderer, and the sword which
Beowulf catches up to kill Grendels mother has its blade decorated with
the destruction of the Old Testament giants by the Flood.
Beowulf is a tragedy of the human predicament, more narrowly, of the
warriors situation. The glorious death is the only fitting close to a
glorious life. The hero knows that his fate has long been decided and he
knows it at every moment of his life, with every successive battle.
Beowulf
(from the script)
Written by a single author in the 1 st half of the 8th century. The origin is
folklore. It has got a special position in Anglosaxon literature because it is
the only complete epic of its kind in ancient germanic languages which
survived transposition from oral to literary mode.
Originally it was supposed to be performed orally (sung or spoken) for a
public, which is why it has the poetic and narrative forms for the oral
performance.
Beowulf is the beginning of the English literature and the end of Enlish
pre-literature.
As it is the only long heroic poem to have survived completely in OE, it
has a great philological, historical and cultural interest.
Beowulf first assumed its shape in the 8 th century in Northumbria, its
literary composition is placed in the age of BEDE (died in 735). But, it
survives in the version from 1000., a copy of the original made in Wessex
- the language is the classical late West Saxon of Wessex of Ethelred and
Aelfric. 3182 verses.
the poem itself is set in the southern Scandinavia of the 5 th and 6th
century and contains no reference to British isles or to the New
Testament Christianity.

Though it is an Anglosaxon poem, it looks back to the period of

Germanic history before the AS invasion. Historical elements are mixed
to legend.
The story has a lot of digressions. Structurally weak, unsufficient unity of
tone and organisation. The story and the digressions must have
circulated and developed orally for a long time before they got their
present arrangement.
It is a traditional folk poem; emerging from people, even if the scribe
might have been a noble and literate scholar.
The first and the second halves are different in structure and context,
maybe the 2 halves were originally separate tales.
The majority of works surviving from 8th century and before are works or
Latin Christians. Beowulf is assimilated to that model: rhetorical style +
variations upon a typical theme. But the poet could not have begun to
compose without the tradition of oral heroic verse, which supplied him
with themes and narrative devices.
THEMES
It reveals traditional themes in the form of a long narrative poem, the
culture and society of the Heroic Age of the German peoples. It is a
combination of heroic idealism and somber fatalism, which are
representative for the Germanic temper. It gives us the completest
picture of the heroic world.

1) On the surface it is a HEROIC POEM, a monument to a hero, celebrating

the exploits of a great warrior. It reflects the ideals of the Heroic Age:
courtesy, loyalty, thirst for fame, courage, endurance.
It shows a desire for a name that shall never die, for personal immortality
- motive that drives the hero.
That is the theme of all heroic poetry - the strength and courage of a
single male, undefeated by all his enemies and adversaries. The hero
surpasses other men and he is therefore rewarded by fame, which is the
ultimate ideal and human achievement in heroic age.
2) But there is also a number of CHRISTIAN ELEMENTS (Gods creation

and governance of the world, Cains murder of Abel). Also joining of

good deeds to the glory - which grants the hero eternity. However, the
whole atmosphere is pagan with the sense of the shortness of life and
the ephemerity of all things except fame a man leaves behind.

3) Beowulf is a heroic poem, an epic and a MYTH: everything in it seems

to have foretold his death, and the mythic turn of the pooem requires
it.

a) Beowulf has superhuman powers. His bear-like strength is referred to in

the etymology of his name (Bee-Wulf = bear). He receives help from

God. The triple pattern of the fights is also a feature of magic and of
folk poetry.

5
b) Beowulf is inclusive: it comprehends life and death, peace and war,

man and God. The poem shows a life cycle of a hero (Beowulf) and of a
people (Danes&Geats).
c) Beowulf is objective: it is traditional presentation of life in the heroic
world. Each action has a full spatial and temporal dimension.
d) The action has wider significance:
Beowulf is hero (glory, action etc) and his world is heroic
the 3 fights are encounters with death in its different shapes.
it is not only a hero against 3 monsters but the hero defending
humankind against enemies.
the death of Beowulf is tragic and glorious (heroic), nut it has also
a wider significance - the days of heroism are over. The life and
death of the hero recapitulates the life cycle of the race- the
heroic generation is born, flourishes and dies.
there is attraction and repulsion btw positive and negative poles
in the action - conflict btw good and evil, gods and demons, hero
and monsters, true and false thane. The elaboration of the
primitive conflict btw Beowulf and Grendel into an epic conflict
btw life and death, harmony and chaos, good and evil, is the
poets chief work.
d) we are prepared for Beowulfs death by several things:
the age of the hero when he goes to his last fight
the funeral of the Scylding which opens the poem
Sigmund, Bs only poet dies in his last dragon fight (under the
grey rock)
There is a feeling of inevitability as Beowulf goes down before the dragon
3rd attack.
The mythic pattern of the poem requires this end.
Triple internal structure is an element of magic and folk poetry.
f) Grendel, his mother - are partly human, descended from the 1 st

murderer Cain.

STRUCTURE AND STYLE IN BEOWULF

It is slow, lacking suspense, full of speeches, full of anticipations,
comparisons and flashbacks. The audience knew the tale, so their
interest was upon the telling - they liked elaboration and fullness. It uses
sound effects rather than material effects. There is a consistent
metonimy.
Time is irrelevant - Beowulf ages 50 years in one line.
Style: indirectness and metaphor. The sun is the skys candle - the
audience liked this attempt to avoid the obvious.
vocabulary - simple and analytic in OE prose.
OE metre: the cesura in the middle of the line. The 2 halves of the line
are felt to have equal weight. The basis of the meter is stress, or accent.
The OE metre is often called the alliterative measure, but the alliteration

is less fundamental than the stress pattern, which it serves to reinforce.

The stressed syllables are the most important from the point of view of
senses.
STORY IN BEOWULF
The story of youth and age of a hero.
Beowulf is a story of a dragon-slayer. Beowulf, a Geat, hears that a maneating monster called Grendel has been terorrizing Heorot, the hall of
Hrotgar, king of the Danes. He sails to Denmark, kills Grendel in the hall
and then his mother in an underwater cave. He is thanked and rewarded
by Hrothgar, and he sails home. Then he fights for his own king, Hygelac,
against the Swedes. Later he himself becomes king of the Geats, and
after 50 years of ruling, saves his people from a fire-breathing dragon
who possesses a treasure, he attacks him single-handed. He is wounded
during the fight and dies. The poem ends with the Geats lamenting in the
funeral and with the prophecy of disaster for his people, the Geats.
Only four passages have been translated (the scribe devided his
manuscript into fits or sections):
1) The funeral of Scyld Shefing - the prologue. It describes the coming of
Scyld to Denmark, how he united the Danes. The father of Danish
people eventually dies and like Arthur is returned to the unknown - he
is given a ship burial (it begins the poem). Scyld is a great grandfather
of Hrotgar.
2) Beowulfs voyage to Denmark - the sea-voyage descriptions. In his
answer to a Coastguard, Beowulf explains that they are Geats and that
their errand is friendly. The coastguard escorts them to the hall of
Heorot, the Geats are greeted by Hrothgars herald. He introduces
them to Hrothgar himself and Hrothgar remembers his own friend
Edgethew, Beowulfs father. He and Beowulf - long speeches.
(the poet displays his knowledge of court usage).
3) The Mere - the Danes ride to inspect the Mere, to make sure that
Grendel is really dead. As they return, the scop composes a lay of
Beowulf, which is a reward - in it the Danes express their gratitude to
Beowulf.
1) The lay of the last survivor - Beowulf is the king of the Geats (after the
fight with the Swedes). There is a dragon who has a treasure but a
fugitive steals the treasure while the dragon is asleep. Beowulf fights
the dragon and gets himself killed, but manages to liberate his people
from it.
Digressions
These stories are alluded to rather than related fully. The cluster of these
outside stories sets the story of Beowulf in a much larger context.
1. Beowulf is compared to Sigmund, the greatest dragon-slayer, and
contrasted favourably with the violent Heremod.
2. Story of the conflict, of the Geats, and the Swedes in terms of a blood
feud btw royal houses over two generations.

7
3. 4. blood-feuds btw Danes and Frisians & Danes and Heathbards -

stories of how a marriage failed to heal an ancient hatred.

There are more episodes, and they mostly occur in the second part of the
poem, when Beowulf is back at home, in Geatland, and they form a
condensed history of the great royal house, the Scydling dynasty. The
crucial event in this history is a death of Beowulfs lord Hygelac (king
before B.), in a Viking raid upon the northern tribes of the Merovingian
empire. A messanger at the end of the poem foretells that Merovingian
Francs and the Swedes will descend upon the Geats, now that Beowulf is
dead.

2) Religious poetry
Christianisation had important effects on the AS literature. By the 8 th
century, the techniques of AS heroic poetry applied to purely Christian
themes. It was a new world of Latin Christianity; heroic themes became
less and less common.
Religious poetry seems to have flourished in northern England,
Northumbria, in the 8th century, although what has survived of it dates
from late 10th century.
Caedmon /kedmon/ is it the first creator of christian poetry in England.
He influenced other pets (Caedmons school)
Julius Manuscript contains 4 Caedmonian poems, of which first 3 are
based on old Testament story:
1. Genesis - Satans rebellion. It deals with the temptation of Adam and
Eve and is the primitive rhetoric of the heroic age compared with the
subtler parliamentary rhetoric of Miltons Satan, but there is a real
poetic imagination, giving new life to a traditional character. Its source
is Vulgate. Vulgate is a 4th century version of the Bible produced by
Jerome, partly by translating the original language, and partly by
revising the earlier Latin text based on the Greek revisions.
Genesis A dates from 8th ct. ; Genesis B from 9th ct.
2. Exodus - According to linguistic evidence it is the oldest of A.S. biblical
poems (the beginning of 8th ct.)
1. Daniel
2. Christ and Satan (untitled but generally called so); not directly biblical
sources but from a variety of Ch. traditions influenced by Cynewulf
Cynewulf: early 9th century, 1st AS poet to sign his work (by runic letters
vowen ito the poem). Influence of classical models in style and structure.
4 poems, more meditative and contemplative tone instead of heroic
strain.

Christ, Juliana, Elene + The Fates of the Apostles - high degree of literary
craftmenship + mystical contemplation which rises to a high level of
religious passion.
With Cynewulf, A.S.
religious poetry moves into the didactic, the
devotional and the mystical.
Cynewulfs school - works written by ecclesiastics during the late
eighth and early ninth centuries. It subject matter is religious - saints
lives, Gospel stories and Christian allegory. One of them, a Cynewulfian
poem:
Dream of the Rood: the oldest surviving English poem in a form of a
dream or a vision. It is celebrating the finding of the Cross (True Cross).
The cross tells its history.
The dreamer tells how he saw a vision of the bright cross, brilliantly
adorned with gems, and goes on to tell the speech that he heard it utter.
The speech of the cross, in which it tells of its origin in the forest, its
removal to be made into a cross for the master of the mankind, its
horror of that role it had to play, but its determination to stand it because
that was Gods command - the suffering of the young hero who ascends
the cross resolutely in order to redeem mankind.
The speech ends with an exortation to each soul to seek through the
cross the kingdom which is far from earth and the poem then concludes
with the dreamers account of this own religious hopes.
The first record of this poem are lines carved in runic charaters, on the
huge cross, that stands at Ruthwood (18 feet high). It is covered with
various inscriptions in Northumbrian dialect.
This poem is between uncomprehending awe and pagan enthusiasm; full
of themes, from the Old Testament, it tries to explain the significance or
incarnation, life, death and ressurection of Christ. The poem is basically a
brief description of an orthodox mystical experience. It tells how the
Rood appears to the poet and speaks to him; it is expressed in the typical
riddle forms. The idea of making the Cross speak is original.
Andreas, The Phoenix, Advent, Christ III, Guthlac, Physiologus, Judith
(fragmentary AS rel. poem, significant) are some of the other religious
poems.
Though some of the AS rel. poems (especially Cynewulf and his school)
express personal devotional feeling, none of them can be said to be
really lyrical in character or to have been written to explore personal
emotion. Neither heroic nor religious poetry are lyric.
3) Secular poetry
- brooding over general hardships of life
It is a group of AS poetry in which a mood of lyrical elegy predominates.
(The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The WIfes complaint, The Husbands
Message, The Ruin etc.).

The Wifes complaint, The Husbands Message, Wulf and Eadwacer are
the only love poems.
These poems are elegies with the theme of exile - exile(unhappy man) is
the theme of a more personal poetry than heroic. An exile is the
protagonist of OE elegies. This has the root in the conditions of AS
society:
organised in small units, cynns and around its lord. Men of the cynn

shared the same tasks and food: a man without a lord was orphaned,
outcast. Hlaford- the lord was their provider of bread. The meal in the
mead-hall, which he presided was a big celebration. The lord was
responsible for his mens acts. This explains why in the poem the
Wanderer the man bereft of his lord finds it so difficult to find a new
protector.
The contrast between the wraecca (exile, darkness of the sea) and the
cynn - the pessimism about life is inescapable. They pursue the
problem of the wraeccas pain beyond the usual physical and ethical
aspects; they go into the metaphysical and question the problem of
salvation of individual souls more directly than anywhere else in AS
poetry.
The Wanderer and The Seafarer deal with similar traditional themes:
the speaker in both is wraecca (loner). They begin with descriptions of
the physical hardships of the wraeccas life and give the traditional
heroic answer that they must be overcome by deeds that will earn them
a good name that shall never die. Reputation means salvation.
Both the Wanderer and the Seafarer express the thought that a man is
only a passenger in this life and that sorrows and troubles through which
he goes in this world make him noble and bring him Gods mercy. Both
have melancholy, regret and self-pity. The poems are written out as prose
and for oral performance. They are essentially monologues. It is not clear
where a speech begins or ends - inconsistancy of punctuation.
The Wanderer
a poem of 115 lines
3 parts: 1) the introduction
2) monologue
1) final part
The main part is the Monologue which deals with 3 themes: exile, death
and ruins and contemplation upon those who lived before us.
The poet feels lonely after the death of his loved lord; he is trying to find
someone to consolate him, but his only companion is loneliness and
sorrow. When he falls asleep it seems to him that his loved lord is alive
again, but waking up, he realizes that he is alone with dark waves and
sea birds and his sorrow deepens. He cannot understand where are those

10

brave warriors, whre have those happy days gone; what will happen
when, one day all the people die, all the towns will be deserted.
The time passes and the only thing that remains is a wall ornamented
with snakes. Everything else dies: the estates, people, friends and
relatives. The poet is unhappy not only because of his private misfortune,
but because of the fact that everything passes in this world. He is trying
to find consolation in God, but all the time he is aware that there is no
salvation.
The Seafarer
poem of 2 parts:
1) deals with a life at the sea
2) Christian contemplation upon life and death
It is a monologue of an old sailor who recalls the loneliness and hardships
of a life at sea, while at the same time hes aware of its fascinations
(some critics say it is a dialogue in which old sailor talks about hardships,
and a young man is anxious to take to the sea).
The poem begins with the description of adventures of a seafarer and his
weariness. People who have not experienced the life at the sea, the
feeling of loneliness, being without friends and family, do not know
anything about his adventures, during which his only friend was a
seagull. Despite of all these misfortunes, loneliness and hardships he is
aware of its fascination, he is longing for that kind of life, he is trying to
find and discover new countries and new people. He is not thinking about
his home, wife, his life at home, but of new experiences. The joy he
experiences from God means more to him that the everyday life. Earthly
goods do not last forever. Therefore, every warrior has to be satisfied
with the eternal life amongst angels.
The Wifes Complaint
53 lines, 8-9 th century
also elegiac monologue
It is a lament of a woman whose husband, misled by kinsmen has
banished her to the forest far away from him. She lives in a cave and
recalls their former happiness. She longs for her absent husband and
pictures him stranded on some distant shore.
Theme of love with gloomy atmosphere; she is exiled.
She is left at the mercy of wilderness where she must live with no love or
protection.
Central emotion - longing for the husband, cursing their enemy
The Husbands message
- 54 lines

11

Another love poem. Similar to this but more optimistic. The speaker is
the piece of wood on which the letter is carved (message). Husband
wants the wife to join him.
4) THE RIDDLES
nearly 100 of them
They describe a thing or make it speak in such a way that it is difficult to
guess what it is. The subject of a riddle is an animal or a vegetable that
usurps the human prerogative of speech and takes a non-human point of
view. A good riddle puzzles can even be frigtening bcs we dont know
who is speaking.
The riddle is sophisticated and harmless form of invocation by imitation,
thus they are funny. Many of them show considerable literary skill in the
descriptive passages. Their chief interest today is the insight of the daily
life of AS England and the folk beliefs of the time.
To some riddles there is no solution.
Riddling was the popular passtime among Anglo-Saxons, especially in the
monasteries. All were written in early 8th century, and can be found in the
Exeter Book. Some are translated from Latin origin.
5) AS CHRONICLE:
The Battle of Maldon
10th century (991)
It is the finest battle poem in English
The poem is an account of the clashes between English and Danes
(name given to all Scandinavians). Danes, led by the Viking leader Anlaf
attacked England. It is the story of a disastraous English defeat. The
English leader Byrhtnoth, a fine nobleman, died in
the battle. The poem treats defeat unlike before. The men fighting all die
but they play the desperate part to the end. It is similar in spirit to old
heroic poetry. It shows that the strongest motive in a Germanic society
was an absolute loyality to ones lord.
The Battle of Belnanburgh, another similar poem
Both these poems show the difference in heroic tone; before there was
an individual hero, and his national origin was not important; he was one
of the heroes of Germania. But these works show strong patriotic
sentiment: the victory in this poem is regarded as a victory of English
forces against Norse, Scots and Welsh enemies.Princes appear not as
heroes but as champions of their own nation.
THERE IS NO PROSE TRADITION
The development of Old English prose does not go back to the earlier
Germanic origins, as poetry does. It takes place wholly in England, and is
a result of the Christianisation.

12

English prose begins in the reign of King Alfred of Wessex. He brought

western culture to England.
6) Alfreds Translations

As programme of translations didnt include direct translations from the

original sources of Christian culture, but concentrated on later Latin
works
Cura Pastoralis (Pastoral Cure) of Pope Gregory the Great
In the preface he tells us about the destruction of churches and books by
Danes. He is describing the duties of a bishop - training of teachers
(clerics) to teach boys English and later Latin etc.
Historiae Adversum Paganos of Paulus Orosius, Spanish writer
He treated the original freely, adding his illustrations (added two new
narratives)
Claimed that Christianity was not guilty for the troubles in the world,
because the troubles existed in the pagan period as well.
De Consolatione Philosophiae (The Consolation of Philosophy) of
Boethius (a Roman philosopher and statesman of 5th century)
In a form of a dialogue btw the author and Philosophy
It deals with fundamental problems of Gods government of the world,
the nature of true happiness, of good and evil, though there is no special
reference to Christianity in the work and the general tone derives from
Greek and Roman ethical thought rather than from Christian teaching.
It was one of the most influential books of the middle ages (it had
influence on Chaucer, Dante - Comedia Divina).
Boethius was imprisoned by the Gothic emperor Theodoric and wrote it in
prison. The work mingles prose and verse in a form of SACRED DIALOGUE
with Philosophy, reflecting the doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, Stoics and
Neoplatonists.
In form, it belongs to the ancient genre of CONSOLATIO - a moral
medication.
It is a fusion of genres: monologue, Platonic dialogue (sacred dialogue in
which the author shows some divine spirit or power appears to him and
shows him a piece of hidden wisdom).
It also contains 39 poems which are used to summarize the discussion or
as a comment. They act as a relief from the concentration of the
argument.
Philosophy leads Boethius to God himself. The scheme is platonic - the
turning of the gaze from what is false to what is true and realization that
God is the supreme good)
1. The ascent or education of the soul is like the ascent of a man from a
dark cave. When he is free, he can see the idea of God. The ascent is
not only acquired by knowledge but also by remembering (the neo-

13

platonic doctrine of ANAMNESIS, recollection - presupposes the prior

existence of the soul before birth
2. Boethius was forced by his bitter experience to the reconsideration of
the nature of happiness. He uses platonic dialectic and talks about the
strength of the good and the weakness of the bad.
3. History is Providence and Fate. He combined 2 ideas: Fate governing
and revolving all the things and the idea of God as the still point of the
turning world. The more the soul frees itself from corporal things, the
closer it approaches the stability of the still point in the centre, which is
God and Providence, the source of freedom and consolation.
4. He develops the theme of Gods government and control of the
universe. He emphasizes peace and love.
5. The quality of knowledge depends on the capacity of knower to know
He compares the Gods capacity to know with mans
This leads us to the definition of eternity: it consists in the quality, not in
the quantity of life. God is timelessly present, while the world is merely
perpetual. God is like a spectator, he does not cause the actions; he
watches all things simultaneously, past, present and future, without
causing them.
Boethiuss doctrine of salvation, the ascent of an individual by means of
philosophy, introspection and meditation to the knowledge of God is
essentially pagan in spirit, but he belonged to an age in which ancient
culture became assimilated to Christianity, but not absorbed by it.
Book of Blossoms (derived from the soliloquies of St. Augustine)
It was probably in the time of Alfred that the great Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
begun, a series of annals which commence with an outline of English
history from Julius Caesars invasion (the middle of the 5 th century) and
continues till 1154, often including material of special local interest.
AELFRIC
was another great English scholar (10 th century). He is the most notable
of all AS writers. He wrote sermons in the vernacular (Catholic Homilies,
Lives of the Saints). He also produced abbreviated version in AS of the
first 7 books of Old Testament.
Aelfric was the first English Bible translator who achieved an appropriate
literary prose style for biblical translation.
WULFSTAN
his contemporary, archibishop of York. He wrote Sermon to the
English(1014)
DUNSTAN
the revival of religious learning in the middle of the 10 th century. It was
the work of the great churchman Dunstan who undrtook a monastic
reform.

14

By 1154 English had developed from the OE stage to ME

By this time, as a result ot the Norman Conquest, English as literary
language seemed about to disappear, as well as English historical prose.
Until the 14th century, Norman French replaced English at court. English
went away into the rustic speech of uplandish men. But the tradition did
not wholly disappear and English literature reemerged in the 15 th ct (300
years after the conquest). English finally conquered Norman French.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MIDDLE ENGLISH

PROSE AND VERSE
1066 - dividing line between OE and Anglo Norman English (Norman
conquest, Victory at Hastings, William the Conqueror). The result of the
Norman conquest is French-speaking ruling caste
Anglo-French- developed as literary language of the highest social
classes
Anglo-Saxon (developing into Middle English) was spoken only by lower
classes (till 14th ct)
The English which won over French in the 14h ct was a language
changed in many aspects. It lost AS inflections and gained in vocabulary
from French.
French influence on AS literature (poetry and prose)
poetry: rhyme instead of alliteration
prose: considerable influence although E prose was more advanced than
F.
The French influence was felt all over Europe. In England, for 2 centuries
the literature produced under courtly and aristo patronage was French
both in tone and in language. English literature was rough and popular,
mostly oral and thus lost. Popular oral tradition was less affected by
French polite influence than aristo literature.
There were 2 lines of development of OE alliterative verse:
1. All verse moved towards French rhymed couplets, acquiring regular
meter
2. Contact with purer and stricter alliterative tradition - this line emerged
in the so-called Alliterative Revival of the 14 th ct, and produced very
interesting works in ME literature.
Alliterative AS tradition lived on, but not heroic poetry. By the 12 ct,
Europe was a Christian civilisation and had formed new norms of
politeness. The heroic age was gone. This was a feudal, not a heroic
society.

15

Latin
apart from F&E, there was Latin - the learned Latin of christian civilisation
and of literacy during the whole mediaeval period. Latin became the
language of serious didactic works and thus did serious harm to the
English prose tradition. AS prose was among the best developed in
Europe. At first there were Romans&latin; then came the Danes and
ruined most of Latin tradition in England, enabling the English to develop
their own literature, which they did. But Latin was instored by the
Normans and their ecclesiastical reforms.
Latin was also used as the language of administration and as the legal
language until it was replaced by Anglo-French in the 13 th ct. AngloFrench remained the official language of England until 1731.
Anglo-latin literature:
Anglo-latin historians: William of Malmesbury, Matthew Paris
Geoffrey of Monmouth: Historia Regum Britanniae (12 ct)- the material
employed by poets and romancers (many figures became famous in
imaginative literature: Lear, Gorboduc, King Arthur)
Walter Map: De Nugis Curialium (12ct) - lively collection of materials:
anectdotes, amusing stories, witty observations etc.
Anglo-French (12, 13 ct)
- didactic and religious, not much literary interest
Chronicle in Anglo-French: Wace is the most significant - Roman De Brut.
It concludes Arthurian stories and he is first to mention the Round Table.
(beginning of courtly love etc.)
Works in French include romances, verse stories written purely for
entertainment and shorter verse narratives based on folklore and often
dealing with the supernatural, called Lais.
Marie de France was the best known author. She was born in France and
wrote in England, dedicated her lais to King Henry. She lived at the
English court.
Rehabilitation of English
English was forced to its more popular elements, but it soon began to
rise again, acquiring an ease, skill and polish. This skill and polish can be
seen in the triumphant work of Chaucer. Works in English appear again in
12 ct. The earliest works written in ME are mostly religious.
1204. - the loss of Normandy by the British
1224. - royal decrees in both England and France which made Normans
in England consider themselves bound purely to England and encouraged
the use of English language among them
1300. (early 14th century) - beginning of the shift from F to English
1350. - John of Travisas translation of Polychronicon (by Ralf Higdan). It
said that since the Normans came, the Englishmen had to leave their
native language and do everything in French. It was the classic document
of the rehabilitation of English in educated circles.
1362. - English was introduced in law courts.

16

1369. - English used for the first time in the opening of the parliament
1385. - all grammar schools in England abandonned French and took up
English.
Anglo-Saxon tradition and English works
The tradition was never dead but there was a strong french influence.
Poetry:
Late 11 and early 12 ct - some fragments of religious and didactic poetry.
In the As tradition there was a strong French influence. But there is also a
startling break with tradition in Orrmulum (1200) by an Augustinian
canon named Orm or Ormin. He does not use neither the French rhyme
nor Anglo-Saxon alliteration, his verse depends simply on a strict syllabic
regularity.
The new rhyme and meter that French brought to Europe meant a
change in European sensibility. french rhyming fashion came into ME
religious and didactic works.
Cursor Mundi (13 ct): enormous poem, deals with Old and New
Testament stories; written with skillful rhyming
Love Rune (by Thomas of Hales) - one of the earliest succesful religious
poems in ME in 12 ct.
ME octosyllabic couplet (from French) is used in romances and in a

variety of works. One of the earliest and the most successful use was
in The Owl and the Nightingale. It is the first example of English
debate, contest in verse btw 2 or more speakers. There are 2 birds
which allegorically stand for 2 ways of life (monastic and secular), or
for 2 kinds of poetry, the didactic and amorous.
AS alliterative verse was continued in amore popular form
The Worchester Fragments preserve a short poem lamenting that
English people are no longer taught in English but left in ignorance by
foreign teachers.
Debate between the Body and the Soul
These two poems are not of any literary interest, only linguistic and the
interest of the development of AS verse forms in the 12 ct.
The recovery of English poetic style was slow and accomplished only in
the 14 ct (there is no great English poet before 14 ct, only individual
succesful poems). In the 14 ct, there is alliterative revival. Piers
Plowman (Langland) and romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are
both written in alliterative blank verse
Prose works:

Historical prose tradition was lost and reemerged in the time of the
Tudors but homilectic (propovjedniki) and devotional prose tradition was
still there. (Aelfric and his sermons, translation, lives of the saints;
writings known as the Katherine Group).

17

The pioneers of English prose style who helped to keep a standard of

English prose till the late 14 ct were: Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton and John
Wyclif (the first complete translation of Bible to E.)
One of the most important differences btw ME & AS literature was the
verse narrative (romance). The replacement of old heroic poetry by
the medieval verse romance marks a significant change in tone and
sensibility.
heroic poetry: stern mood, realism deals with the exploits of real persons,
heroes
romance: more escapist, the marvellous is introduced for its own sake
In romance, characters fight on principle of bcs of fashion, as a ritual.It is
not a desperate necessity.
In heroic poetry, fighting is a grim affair with a specific purpose.
The transition from heroic poetry to romance can be seen in the French
chansons de geste (Chanson de Roland). They are short heroic epics but
also early romances because they already have more or less idealised
characters and purely imaginative elaboration (as in romance).
Chanson de geste - north of France
South of France (Provance) - new sentimentality and courtly love came to
produce a wholly new kind of romantic story: the rise of the provancal
language and literature in 10, 11 ct was one of the most important
movements in Europe.
The subject of medieval romances can be divided into 3 categories:
1) matter of France (Charlemagne and his knights; Chanson de
Roland; the tone is nearer to heroic poetry)
2) matter of England (Arthurian storis. Adventures of individual
knights of the Round Table. There is no heroic note and there are
ideals of courtly love)
3) matter of Rome the Great (deal with the ancient classical world
through medieval eyes. Stories of the siege of Troy, of Alexandar
the Great, Julius Caesar etc.)
Courtly love: the idea was one of the most far reaching and
revolutionary in the history of European sensibility; it spread rapidly. It
appears in the poetry of troubadours as the new conception of love as a
service. Love is like a service of a slave to his master. The knight serves
the lady of his choice, suffers any kind of indignity for her and is loyal to
her for life. Love is his only reward. This conception of love arised among
the aristocracy and had little in common with the everyday lives of
humbler men and women.
Romances of courtly love were produced in France, but also in England.
However, English translations had to adapt the sentimental and
sophisticated French prose style for a much less sophisticated audience,
so they were more interested in the story than in the refined
psychological speculations of love and honour.
French romances combined sentiment with adventure

18

English translation left out the sentiment and stuck to the adventure
(shorter, cruder)
Some English romances have impressive literary qualities; Le Morte
Arthure and Sir Gowain and the Green Knight.
Romances of King Arthur are divided thematically: Arthurs life, youth,
Gawain, Lancelot, Holy Grail, Tristan and Isolde. Gawain is the only hero
with his own cycle of romances.
There is a 4th category of romaces. It is a group of romances deriving
from English history, which was orally transmitted and eventually
reached Anglo-Saxon romancers who turned them into French verse
narratives. They appear in English after appearing in French. (King Horn,
Havelock the Dane)
MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE
Fabliau - a type of short narrative poem, realistic, humorous (coming
from France; it coexisted with romance). It is the product of the middle
class which was eventually to destroy feudalism. This class is less
impressed by courtly love and honour than landowners. Middle class is
realistic, priding themselves on knowing life as it really is, not looking at
it sentimentally, idealistically.
They are found in France in 12th and 13th ct, but are rare in Engl. before
1400. There are many types: indecent stories of town life; humorous,
satiric tales of intrigue; some are animal stories also generally humorous
and satiric in tone (eg. The Fox and the Wolf, Fox and Geese,
Chaucers Nuns Priests tale etc.)
Fable - another popular medieval literary form, came to Middle Ages
from Greek and Indian sources. It is a short story in which animals, acting
more or less as human beings, behave in such a way as to illustrate a
simple moral. It developed out of the beast tale. In spite of the
popularity in medieval England in 12th and 13th ct, no Middle English
collection of fables exists. There are only a few english fables from before
Chaucer and each of these is part of a larger work. (The Owl and the
Falcon, The Owl and the Nightingale etc.).
They were also adapted for satirical purposes: by having animals act as
man it was easy to satirize human vices. (French Roman de Renart one
of the most popular)
Bestiary - Originated in Egypt, and comes from Greek through Latin into
medieval lit. It is a series accounts of animals, their qualities and legends
associated with them, with a moral application made at the end.
Lyrical poetry - there is no extant (postojei) lyric poetry from before
the 12 ct. The first record that we have of it is found in the Historia
Eliensis of the 12th ct. chronicler Thomas of Ely. The chronicler says that

19

these verses are sung publically in dances, and remembered in proverbs

- the song of this kind was known as
a) Carole - a song with a refrain sung by a chain of dancers with a
leader singing the stanzas and the whole group joining in the
refrain
b) Courtly love lyric from Provence influenced English poetry. Some
popular ones: aube - song of lovers parting at dawn, chanson de
mal marie - womans complaint against married life etc.
c) Political lyric - another medieval form, written chiefly in Latin or
French before the 14th ct. The only completely surviving enlish
political poem- The Song of Lewes. In 14 th ct, popular interest in
social and political matters is reflected in an increasing number of
political songs and poems celebrating vicories over French and
Scots
c) Religious poems - the religious theme (such as the praise of
Mary etc.) is the commonest theme among surviving Middle
English lyrics. Secular themes and techniques soon began to
influence religious poetry. The medieval religious lyric ranges from
the simply moral to the devotional and even mystical.
d) Allegories - allegorical mode is a good medium for courtly love,
so they are very common. We have allegorical romance, which
appeared last (after narrative romance and lyric). The most
significant allegorical romance of the Middle Ages is Roman de la
Rose by Guillaume Lorris and Jean de Meung. It had an enormous
influence, which can be seen in Chaucer.
The Dream Allegory - literature produced for leisured upper class
audience (characteristics: the May morning, the wandering into the
country, falling asleep and dreaming, the garden) - The Pearl - in a
form of a dream
f) Ballad - - orally transmitted narrative poems dealing either with
themes common to international folk song, or with themes from the
romaces, or with popular class heroes, or with historical events. They
were known in the 14th ct, popular in the 15 th ct, while the 16th and 17th
ct are the most productive period for the ballads. There are only 14
medieval ballads which survived in texts or manuscripts earlier than
1500.
Some themes of ballads: deception, betrayed lovers, supernatural,
historical events in Scottish history. The subject is usually tragic: death
by accident or by treachery in love.
The ballads are narrative poems which supress the personality of the
narrator and tell a story dramatically, by moving from one incident to
another. This shifting is characteristic for the ballad method. Other
devices used in ballads to increase dramatic effect include incremental
repetition - repetition of one line from the preceding stanza with an
addition leading closer to the climax. The stanza is generally simple:
ballad-meter of alternate 4 and 3 stressed lines.

20

The Wee Wee Man - the faerie ballad (supernatural), first collected
in the 18th century. The man is taken by a little creature to his dwelling in
the forest. There he meets fairies and goes to a golden hall where he
sees a fairy ball and the little Wee Wee Man disappears.
The Wife of Ushers Well - supernatural ballad
The wife (woman) had three sons and one day theyve gone over the
sea and disappeared. After a week the mother got a message saying that
her sons are dead. But on the night of St. Martin (the beginning of winter)
their ghosts came back to visit their mother. They stayed the whole night
and early in the morning when the first cocks started their song, they
left.
The Unquiet Grave - supernatural ballad
A man mourning over his lovers grave. After a certain time mourning
disturbs the dead, and brings them out to claim the disturber. She asks
him why he disturbs her sleep.

ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL:
SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT
(alliterative poem of 2, 530 lines of the 14 th ct, written in north-west
midland dialect)
Written in alliterative verse but not entirely (stanzas are of unequal
length each of which has 5 short lines with rhyming alternatly - a b a b a ,
very much like a refrain
The best of the Middle Ages Arthurian romances with a rich psychological
and moral interest. It combines alliterative tradition with French
chivalrous romance. Popular motives of Arthurian romance:
- a challenge by a mysterious superhuman knight
- a bargain which has unforseen consequences
- a long quest
- attempted seduction by a bewitched temptress
The story has deep roots in folklore (probably celtic)
The Story:
King Arthur and the knights of the Round table are celebrating Christmas
in Camelot and the strange Green Knight appears in the court asking for
a volunteer from among the knights to strike him a blow with heavy axe
he would provide, on the understanding that a year and day later the
knight would come to the Green Chapel and receive a similar blow from
him.
Arthur himself is driven to volunteer but Gawain, model of courtesy,
nobility and courage steps in. He strikes and chops the Green Knights

21

head off, but the Knight simply picks his head up and rides off, telling
Gawain to keep his bargain.
A year passes and the changing of the season is brilliantly described.
After All Hollows, he sets out to look for the Green Knight. His journey
takes him northwards, he encounters great perils (beasts, monsters, the
cold) and finally seeks shelter at a castle whre he is entertained by the
lord and the lady (Sir Bercilak de la Hautdesert).
The host proposes a pleasant amusement: while he is out hunting,
Gawain can rest in bed and spend the day in company of his wife; in the
evening they will exchange with each other whatever they gained during
the day - lord gives Gawain the animals he has killed (deer, wild bear,
fox) and Gawain gives him kisses he got from his lady (who wants him to
make love to her). Gawain succedes in retaining his perfect courtesy with
the lady but finally he accepts a green girdle as a memento of her with
not mentioning it to her husband.
Finally Gawain meets the Green Knight, who strikes him with his axe, but
only wounds Gawain slightly on one side of the neck. Gawain is not
satisfied with this and wants a fair fight but the Green Knight just laughs
and reveals himself as the lord of the castle. Because of Gawains
courtesy he didnt want to kill him, just to wound him because he took
the girdle without mentioning that to him. On his return to Arthurs court
Gawain tells the whole story, not as a heroic exploit but as an example of
moral failure, and Arthur comforts him and all the knights agree to wear
a green belt.
The basic part of the poem - the movement of the seasons, rebirth of the
nature in spring, after its dying in autumn - that moment can be seen
everywhere in life. The theme of the rise and descent appears at the very
beginning of the romance - Camelot was built up from the ruins of Troy.
- The Green Knight clearly has some of the pagan attributes from
primitive folklore. His existence has besides another purpose: to test the
hero and let him reveal his true self in his behaviour while under the
threat of death. He resembles the kind of devil who tempts on behalf of
God. He has the role of the just moral critic. He is also the incarnation of
the pagan belief in Nature and its cycles (head). He is also the symbol of
fascinating vegetation, and of Christmas as the Christmas tree is a
symbol of new living.
Sir Gawain is a symbol of courage and courtesy, and his journey to the

Green Chapel symbolizes all the possible temptations that have to be

overcome before the final victory of life. Gawain is the ideal knight - he
is always courteous and courteous in medieval aristocratic society
meant a man who is noble, religious, decent, graceful, eloquent,
humble, compassionate, capable of both love and chastity, frank in
attitude and reserved in behaviour.

22
The first part is a dramatic prelude to a prolonged test of character,

consisting in preserving honour in face of death. Gawain must go of his

own will and seek out his death simply because he has given the word
to do so. At the same time it is a test of behaviour in face of death;
courage, gracefulness to the end are Gawains own ideal of conduct.
The ideal of chivalry comes from:
1) the old germanic attitudes of courage, loyalty to ones lord and
generosity to ones followers
2) christian moral attitudes: faith, chastity, humility, charity, the use of
power for the benefit of the weak
3) the customs of feudal nobility of the high Middle Ages: music, poetry,
elegant conversation, horsemanship, jousting and hunting
It all makes the ideal knight.
The conflict between the religious and the wordly demands of
knightlyhood appeared in the 13th ct, in the legend of the Grail. There is
emergence of 2 ideals: secular and celestial chivalry and the author tries
to reconcile them in Gawain.
The poet uses two emblems to remind the reader at the key points in the
game:
1. Gawains shield with its pentagle - remainder of his knightly virtue (5
senses and 5 actions, pure as 5 wounds of Christ; 5 moral virtues
associated with knighthood: freedom, brotherhood of knights, purity,
grace of behaviour, pity)
2. The hostess green girdle - the emblem of his fault
The poets most obvious method of description is to saturate the text
with details (clothing, armour, architecture, hunting and other aspects of
aristocratic life). The precise descriptions of details help to establish a
sense of the civilised life of the courts.
The work has dramatic aspects: 1) depth and consistency of charaters
2) episodes involving people in conversation and conflict
1) the poet uses life-like speech when they talk
(Characters are differentiated through their way of talking. Gawain has
an involuted syntax, an exquisite phrasing; the Green Knight, by
contrast, uses a brusque, direct speech, full of sharp statements).
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is undoubtedly a romance told with the
purpose of presenting the ideal character in action. The poet wishes to
show us the examplar of a refined chivalry.

William Langland (1330-1400?)

PIERS PLOWMAN

23

Dream allegory
An impressive allegorical poem, written in the old alliterative meter in
the latter part of 14th ct. Allegorical means that the abstract notions are
personified - Wit, Wisdom, Clergy, Imagination, 7 deadly sins, Peace,
Mercy etc.
Under the favourite form of a vision it is a picture and an arrangement of
the England of Edward III and Richard II. It is concerned with the
religious, social and economical problems of that time.
The author makes a grim satire of his times England. He preaches the
same sermon picture after picture: men should work, each man should
plough his half-acre, but it must be ploughed without the thought of selfenrichment at the cost of others. It is not enough to work, but to work
honestly for oneself, and for his fellows, his religion, king and country.
The pilgrimage in the poem is not a pilgrimage to Canterbury, but a
pilgimage to Truth. Insteead of seeking Truth, men seek money; instead
of being honest, men bow down before Pride, Flattery, Bribe, Corruption.
He depicts every layer of society doing this: king, lawyers, churchmen,
knights, bankers, monks.
There comes then and ordinary man, Piers Ploughman, warning and
encouraging all; he is the peoples man, he represents Christ. He knows
the way to Truth and wants to lead people to it, but after he has
ploughed his half acre. He is presented as harworking and sypathetic.
Langland shows all the corruption and debasement of society : he
attacks even the church and state. The most severe satire is against
idlers, social parasites who live on the account of workers by cheating,
finding the easy way to make profit. Idleness is an unpardonable sin.
Truth rules that each man should have his work and do it well. There is a
way to rid the world of the poor, by making all work for all. His definite
teaching is that of Gospel. Langland is rooted in his time, he sees
solution within the existing system, he does not want to change the
whole system, just to put some order into it. He is in general agreement
with Chaucer; Chaucer is the poet of the rich and Langland of the poor.
Story:
Prologue describes how the author fell asleep on a May morning on
Malvern Hills and saw in a dream a field full of people, with ploughman,
hermits, merchants, jesters, beggars, pilgrims and friars, each going
about his business, without the thought of the tower of Truth above or
the dungeon of Error below. Neglectful priests desert their flock for an
easy life in London. It is a picture of the society which must be changed.
A king appears surrounded by courtiers, and an angelic voice advises him
in Latin to follow justice and mercy.
Then with a dream logic where one scene suddenly transformes into
another, we find a group of rats and mice deciding to put a bell on the
cat so that they can have warning of his approach, then finding none of
them willing to tie the bell onto the cat, and finally being warned that
that is not how to handle the problem of a dangerous ruler. The mice
represent common people, rats- nobility and cat is the king. Cat

24

endangers rats but these are too afraid of him to try to limit his absolute
supremacy.
Langland thinks that the ideal state is the one in which there is ballance
between kings power and the power of upper rulling classes, and in
which each member has its own place and social role.
The prologue ends with another crowded picture of the social scene.
We can see that this is a new use of dream allegory with the more
vigorous rhythms of the older alliterative line. The vision developes into
an allegorical interpretation of life.
First Passus: introduces Holy Church, a fair lady who explains the way of
salvation to the dreamer - to save the soul with Truth. Everyone should
be taught the Truth - to be true with his hands and tongue.There is no
truth in earthly treasure.
Second Passus: Lady Meed (reward, bribery) appears, richly dressed and
is to be married to Falsehood. But Theology objects and the various
characters proceed to London to have the matter decided by the King.
The King threatens the punishment to Falsehood and the other figures
surrounding Lady Meed (Flatter, Guile) who run off and leave Meed alone
to face the Court.
Third Passus: Meed is tried before the King. She confesses to a friar and
makes a good impression by promising to pay for new windows in a
church (which leads the author to utter a warning against those who
hope to attain heaven by a having their names engraved as benefactors
on church windows: that is no way to salvation). She tries her tricks on
the justices - recommends bribery and gives them gold, so they come
and defend her. The King is fooled and proposes to wed Meed to
Conscience but Conscience objects and indicts (optuiti) Meed.
Fourth Passus: Develops the argument with Wit, Wisdom, Peace, Reason
and Wrong. The King is convinced by Reason in the end and asks him to
stay with him always.
Fifth Passus: The poet awakes briefly, them falls asleep again. He saw a
field of folf, and describes first Reason preaching to the people plagues
and tempests were punishments for sin. The Seven Deadly Sins hear
Reasons call to repentance, and are moved to repent. This introduces
one of the liveliest and most interesting sections of the poem. Pride,
Luxury, Envy, Wrath, Avarice, Gluttony and Sloth, each personified, give
accounts of themselves before their repentance. The repentant company
then determine to journey in search of Truth, but they do not know the
way. It is at this point that Piers Plowman first appears on the scene. He
takes over the moral leadership of the company and tells them the way
to Truth.

25

Sixth Passus: Piers directs everybody to hard work and the people who
dont work are disciplined by Hunger. He gives further moral advice to
the company particular to a knight, who recognizes his duty to protect
church and common people. Plowmans conscience had led him to Truth.
He is Truths servant and has to teach it to others. He mentions 7 sisters
serving Truth - Abstinence, Humility, Chastity, Charity, Patience, Peace
and Mercy. Piers says he will act as guide to the company after he has
ploughed his half acre.
Seventh passus: Truth sends Piers a pardon intended for all, and a priest
argues against its validity. The priest says he cannot find a pardon there,
but only a statement that those who do well shall find salvation and
those who do evil shall not. The ensuing argument awakens the dreamer,
and the passus concludes with the poets passionate remarks on the
superiority of good works to indulgences.
The remainder of Piers Plowman - most of it existing only in the 2 late
versions - contains the vision of Dowell (Do well), Dobet (Do better) and
Dobest. As the poem proceeds and the lives of Dowel, Dobet, and DObest
unfold, we get the picture of the fight against evil carried on
simoultaneously on different planes (the fight against the corruption in
the church, against false religion, the fight of the spirit against evil). The
account of Dowel concludes with a description of the victory of Life over
Death, of Light over darkness, the meeting of Truth and Mercy, of Peace
and Rightousness, with Christs descent into Hell and his victory over
Satan. In the account of Dobest, we see Antichrist taking control after
Christs departure and a sad picture of corruption and decay on earth
succeeds. Piers Plowman now reappears as a symbol of Christ himself,
and of God. The dream concludes and the poet awakes in tears.
Although it lacks artistic unity, it is a remarkable work with its alternation
of bitter satire and tenderness, of vivid description of contemporary life
and handling of the alliterative line.
The author is constantly asleep. In the half of the book he awakens, dies
and is buried. The vision finishes and begins again, the end is no end. It
is long bfore we meet P.P. but once he comes he never leaves the stage
again, his presence is felt. He leads the others to Truth but before they all
must help him to plough his half acre - the work is for the good and
benefit for all. He is referred to as the great example, the great teacher.
It is a work of a religious idealist who is distressed by the social and
moral condition of England and who tries to create a large and
culminative version of what is wrong and where we must look for
improvement.
Allegorical poem - everything in this world is part of sth else. The author
presents one very important component of Medieval world vision: The

26

world is unique. Everything that happens has its moral significance, in

cosmos or among the people. So Piers is a plowman, but he is also a
good Christian and a symbol for his social class, and finally allegorical
representation of Christ. The major phenomena are reflected in the minor
onws; one thing can be explained by an example taken from other area
of life.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1340?-1400)
The first great known poet of ME, he marks the culmination of ME
literature. He had the European consciousness (which enabled him to
render in England the dominant themes and attitudes of European
literature) and at the same time the English National consciousness (to
allow him to present the English scene as it had never been presented
before).
He knw men in all ranks of society; he was trained in courtly life,
diplomatic life and the urban life of affairs. He travelled to France, Italy
and enriched his knowledge of literature
He is the most technically accomplished, the most widely ranging and
universally appealing of all English medieval writers. English language
and English literature grew up with him and English obtained refinement.
He knew French, so he soon absorbed the courtly love tradition (Roman
de la Rose), from which he drew some inspiration, some characters.
In Italy he was brought into contact with Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarcha
which widened and deepened his resources. He also knew lit. about
classical world and he translated Boethius - The Consolation of
Philosophy.
These different kinds of influence produced his world of the imagination.
He gives us a vivid insight into the 14 ct world, but in his art he
transcended the bounds of his time.
His literary works can be devided into 3 periods:
1. French (his ideals were French poets and Romance de la rose)
2. Italian (when he, after his travels to Italy got into contact with the
works of Dante, Petrarcha, and Boccaccio)
3. English (his best period, connected with the people and life in
England)
1st PERIOD
Translation of Boethius
Translation of Roman de la Rose
The Book of the Duchess - his first narrative poem, written in the
dream allegory convention (octosyllabic couplets). The story is on the
death of Duchess of Lancaster, celebrates the dead woman and console
the Duke). Reminds of Italian and French poetry.
2nd PERIOD
The House of Fame - moves out of France, though the framework is
still the dream. In the 2nd and 3rd part - influence of Divina Comedia is

27

clear but the mood is far from Dantesque. It is one of the important
transitional poems in English
Part one - the story of Aeneid and Dido - the poet finds himself in the
temple of glass
Part two - the poets flight in the eagles claws (Eagle takes the poet to
the House of Fame where he will learn of love tidings and of all the
jealousies, fears and hypocrisis of men) Here the mood of the poem
changes from visionary to lively, humorous and colloquial.
Part three - is imitated from Book I of Dantes Paradiso - describes the
poets difficult ascent to the House of Fame, which is situated on a high
rock.
The poem abruptly ends, unfinished
The Parliament of Fowls
Also written in a dream convention (influence of Dante and Boccaccio).
Verse form is the 7 line stanza (rhyming ABABBCC), known as Rhyme
royal.
A poem is about celebration of Saint Valentines Day. The mood shifts
from quiet gravity, through irony, to humorous realism and ends in happy
celebration.
Troilus and Criseyde
the full genius of Chaucer as metrical technician, as storyteller, as a
student of human character is triumphantly displayed. It is in a sense,
the first real novel in English.
the verse: the Rhyme royal stanza
Its immediate source is Boccaccios Il Filostrato but he expands the
simple Italian story of love and betrayal into a multidimensional work,
much richer and much more detailed.
Criseyde is the first truly complex heroine in post-classical European
literature.
The conception of the wheel of fortune, ever turning so that the
individual is now up, now down and the whole problem of fate and free
will as discussed by Boethius pervade the poem.
The story is about Troilus love for Criseyde, his winning of her, and her
eventual desertion of him for the Greek Diomede.
The Legend of Good Women
Unfinished work, collection of accounts of loving and faithful women,
betrayed by false men.
3rd PERIOD
THE CANTERBURY TALES (1387)
Written for the greater part in heroic couplets (about 17, 000 lines)
- magnificent, unfinished opus. Collection of stories told by pilgrims
drawn from every class.
The General Prologue establishes the characters and sets the scene: a
day in April the group of pilgrims goes from London to Canterbury and

28

during their journey they tell the stories. 29 characters move between
the inn and the shrine, the 2 places where different classes are likely to
mingle. At the inn the host proposes that they shall shorten the way by
telling each 2 stories on way out and 2 on the way back. The teller of the
best stories shall have free supper on his return. The host will accompany
them and act as guide. The pilgrims agree, the tales follow, each of them
preceded by a prologue .Of each of these characters, the poet draws a
striking portrait. It is also a portrait of almost the whole English nation
with its social differences.
A group of linked tales told by different people was not unknown in
earlier medieval litereature, but Chaucers work is unique.
The Prologue describes them one by one. He describes their clothers,
their habits and average characteristic of each profession. The narrator is
naivly noting what he sees or learns about the others in a casual order
which occurs to him.
Chaucer gives us a collection of individuals who also represent the
different social and professional strata of England of his day.
1. the fighting class: the knight, the young squire (titonoa), his son, the
2.
3.
4.
4.
5.
6.

yeoman - his servant

liberal profession: the physician, man of law, the clerk of Oxford, the
poet himself
land: the ploughman, the miller, the reeve (posrednik btw lord & sluge,
radi na imanju), the franklin (landowner)
trade: the merchant, the shipman
crafts: the wife of Bath, the carpenter, the dyer, the weaver, the cook,
the carpet-maker
secular clergy: the parson(upnik), the summoner (glasnik), the canon
monastic orders: the monk (redovnik), the prioress (the head of the
religious order in the house), the nun, the friar (fratar), pardoner

Only the knight, the poor parson and the plowman are treated without
any touch of irony, as almost ideal figures.

The structure: 1. The Prologue - very simple, but a novelty for Chaucers
time
2. The tales - poetry studying man and manners
Each pilgrim is a representative of his class or his profession.
These tales together give an almost complete conspectus of medieval
literary forms: Genres of Middle Age Literature:
Courtly romance (Knights tale)
Fabliau (Millers and Reeves tale)
The Saints Legend (the 2nd Nuns and Prioress tale)

29

The Preachers exemplum (Pardoners Tale)

The Beast Fable (Nuns Priests Tale)
The Sermon (Parsons tale)
Popular story (The Wife of Baths tale) etc.
Themes for his tales Chaucer found in other writers, especially Italian and
French, in mythology of various nations in Europe and Asia, and finally in
everyday life. Models for many of his tales Chaucer found in Boccaccio
(eg. The Knights tale). Many other tales found their origins in folklore.
The Wife of Baths Tale
The Wife of Bath is the most brilliant persona dramatis amongst all of
the Chaucers protagonists. She is the symbol of female love, and
represents the original female instincts. With this tale, Chaucer begins
with his series of stories which deal with marriage..
The Prologue - one of the highest points of the Canterbury Tales, the
character creates herself as she talks: strong-willed, opinionated, highly
sexed, frank, humorous, and masterful. Her account of her 5 husbands,
her defence of human frailty, and arguments against chastity as a
practicable ideal present a character that is highly individualized.
The wife of Bath is concerned not only with defending the active use of
sex in marriage, but she also insists that the happiness in marriage is
possible only if husband yields to his wifes will, and her tale ,based on a
story found in both literary and folk traditions, is designed to prove her
point.
It is the story of a knight who is required, in order to avoid execution, to
answer correctly within a twelvemonth the question, what do women
love most. He is told the right answer by the old foul witch on condition
that he marries her. The answer is sovereignty. The loathy lady turns
out to be young and beautiful.
The tale told in decasyllabic couplets, combines magic with touches of
realism, and a certain romantic tome emerges at the end. That romantic
tone is not uncharacteristic for this woman, because she believed in love
and romance, although on her own terms.
This tale belongs to the stories dealing with the knights of the round
table. One knight raped a girl in a forest and in order to be saved he has
to find an answer to a question (in a year and a day).
The Prioress Tale
A miracle play, saints legend
In rhyme royal (stanza of 7 lines of iambic pentameter rhyming ababbcc)
Chaucer located the story in Asia.
The story of little Saint Hugh of Lincoln murdered by Jews for singing a
hymn to the Virgin Mary as he walke through the Jews quarter. In
Chaucers days there were no Jews in England, and they were known to
Englishmen only in terms of anti-semitic folklore. It is told in rhyme royal

30

(ab ab bcc) and represents one of Chaucers most assured handlings of

this stanza.
In a Christian city there was a Jewish quarter with a Christian school in
vicinity. A little boy of 7 years who honoured Virgin Mary heard childrem
in school sin a song O Alma Redemptoris mater. He asked an older boy
what it was about and got the answer that it was about Mary. It was in
Latin, but the little boy learned it by heart and sang it twice a day - on his
way to school and back. First one and soon all the Jews conspired
against him, considering his singing an insult for their faith. They hired
an assassin who cut his throat and threw him in a pit. His mother, a
widow, searched him and found him in the pit, still alive and singing. He
was carried into a neighbouring abbey; the magistrate came and ordered
that any Jew who knew about the murder had to die.
The boy had to be buried, but when they sprinkled him with holy water
he sang again that song. It was Mary who made that miracle. She had
come in his death and laid a pearl on his tongue so that he would sing
until the pearl is taken away and then shed come to take him.The abbot
pulled out the boys tongue and took away the pearl.
The Maniciples Tale
About the crow who tells the husband of his wifes infidelity; a story
common in on form or another throughout Europe and orient (from Ovid
onwards)
The fable of the crow has been translated by many writers. A certain
Phoebus has a crow that is white and can conterfeit any mans speech. It
thus reveals to Phoebus his wifes infidelity. Phoebus is very jealous of his
wife and if he could he would keep her in jail and watch her all the time.
But nobody can change what nature implanted in a creature. She had
another man and the crow saw them together.
Phoebus in fury kills his wife and then, in remorse, realizes that the crow
betrayed him because he lost his wife completely now. He plucks out the
crows white feathers, deprives it of its speech and throws it out unto the
devil, which is why crows are now black.
Moral: watch your tongue, dont tell someone about his partners
infidelity because it is certain that he will hate you like poison.
JOHN GOWER (1330?-1408)
Chaucers contemporary. He wrote in French and Latin, as well as in
English. His 3 major works:
Mirroir de LHomme - in French
Vox Clamantis - dream allegory in Latin
Confessio Amantis - in English, collection of tales
He is a more typical representative of his age and class than Chaucer:
conservative, moralistic. He had considerable technical skill but without
any great originallity or imagination. He lacks Chaucers vivacity and
humour. His views are always the conventional views of his age.

31

THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES

The english literary scene after the death of Chaucer is not inspiring.
However, the 15th century saw a significant increase in lay literacy and it
was an important stage of the rise of the middle class. The 15 th ct
suffered from a long, confused and demoralizing reign of Henry VI and
the War of the Roses which followed it. The victory of English over the
French was now clear and complete. A new class of readers was now
slowly developing - movement of Humanism.
The feudal system was slowly transforming into a society based on a
money economy.
At the beginning of the 15th century it was clear that noone of Chaucers
followers had his technical brilliance and his imagination.
The best known Chaucers followers in England are Thomas Hoccleve and
John Lydgate.
HOCCLEVE
He wrote less than Lydgate but is more interesting. Wrote Male Regle.
His longer works are mechanical and tedious.They include many
translations..
LYDGATE
Led a life of a monk. Had no Chaucers gift to make his work lively. His
works: Fall of Princes, Troy Book, several lives of saints, translations
from French etc. He contributed to the themes of English literature and to
the vocabulary of English. His Dance Macabre - introduced to England
(from French) was a theme of great significance in medieval thought and
art of the period. Lydgate is the best in his short poems.
WILLIAM CAXTON - introduction of printing (from France) in England
3 main categories of 15 th ct English literature: didactic, moralistic and
religious (the religious is the largest category)
15th ct is a period of transition in England. There is a gradual impact of
Humanism and Renaissance on the English thought.
The establishment of the Tudor dinasty in 1485.
In literature - exhaustion of medieval modes, influenced by a new way of
thinking. Other transitional writers of importance:
Alexander Barclay - His Ship of Fools provided a new metaphore for
English satire. The satire becomes a vehicle for satire in Eng. instead of
the dream
John Skelton - The most interesting and original of all the transitional
writers. He was a satirist and attacked the abuses of courtly life, religion
and behaviour, personal enemies, Scost and all that he found annoying).
He was important for developing the so-called Skeltonics? - the short
two beat line

32

Sir Thomas Malory - the revival of interest in feudal ideals - Arthurian

tales (a mid 15 ct knight of lawless behaviour, who wrote his stories in
prison).
Humanism itself was one element in the complex movement we call the
Renaissance. It (humanism) was the movement which represented the
desire to recover the purest ideals of Greek and Latin expression and
assimilate the most civilized aspects of classical thought.
THE EARLY TUDOR SCENE (16th ct, Renaissance)
The new interest displayed by the humanists in the cultural movements
of Greece and Rome. Humanists had many aspects: scholarly, stylistic,
ethical, positively secular. It wants to replace the theocentric universe by
a universe based on man and his potentialities, the acceptance of human
life and human values.
The influence of the new geographical discoveries on mans imagination.
On the accession of Henry VIII in 1509, the court became the center of
fashion and culture, patronage of arts. Art printing flourished, books
reached a wider public.
The new ideal of gentleman was reflected in Italian courtesy books9 and
other works to teach on education.
New courtly makers (poets): Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Earl of Surrey,
who have travelled to Italy, have tasted the style of Italian poetry - they
are considered the first reformers of English meter and style.
THOMAS WYATT (1503-1542)
In one sense it can be said that with him begins the MODERN poetry. He
and the courtly makers exercised the language by translating from
foreign models and experimenting with a great variety of lyric measures.
They borrowed, imitated and translated from Italian and French poets, as
well as from on another.
Some of Wyatts most interesting poems are his sonnets.. Like Chaucer,
he had been sent on diplomatic missions abroad, and had visited Italy, to
come under the spell of the 14th ct Italian poet Francisco Petrarcha - the
great master of sonnet of idealized love.
It was commonly thought that Wyatt was a worse poet than Surrey.
Surrey had smooth lines and excellent versification, while Wyatt seemed
to be harsh, clumsy and unmusical. But today it is different because we
know that Wyatt lived at the end of one tradition and was the main
orginator of another.
The clumsiness of his sonnets:
1) the difficulty of being faithful to the original (Italian)
2) writing the 1st English sonnets
Technically he almost invented the Shakespearean sonnet.
The majority of his lyrics are concerned with his unluskiness in love - he
accuses his real of imaginary mistress of cruelty, deceit, disdain.

33

He is also one of the best english satirists.

Surrey was more impersonal, but he had a finer sensibility, harmony and
elegance of sentiment.
Wyatt is more thoughtful and persistant, he imitates foreign models.
THE SONNET
Is one of the most popular verse forms not only of Elizabethian literature
in England, but of European Renaissaince literature as a whole. It
developed first in Italy in 12 th ct. before passing to France and then to
England.
Wyatt, facing the problem of restoring the English verse, turned to the
Italian sonnet for help. The sonnet has 14 lines with a certain rhyme
scheme. In most Italian sonnets, it was in 4 parts: 2 stanzas of 4 lines
each and 2 of 3 lines (quatrains and tercets). The pattern most common
in Italy employed 2 quatrains with a single pair of rhymes: abba, abba,
followed by 2 tercets in variety of arrangements: cdc, cdc (or cdc, dcd)
In such a scheme the 4 parts of the sonnet really resolve themselves into
2 parts, the first consisting of 2 pairs of 4 lines (octave), and the second
of 2 pairs of 3 lines (sestet). This is the most frequently used pattern,
used by Petrarch, although there were other ways of patterning. His
sonnets celebrated the ideal love of Laura, and were immensly influential
and represent the most important single influence on latter love sonnets
throughout Europe.
Later poets did not take from Petrarch only the sonnet form; they took
over the whole nature of the relation btw the poet and his beloved which became conventionalized in terms of an idealized courtly love
attitude which Petrarch manifested towards Laura in his love sonnets.
The notion of the lover as the humble servant of his lady who is often
cruel is derived from the medieval view of courtly love. The Petrarchan
sonnet thus provided the English pet both a conventional form and
conventional sentiments.

HENRY HOWARD SURREY

Younger than Wyatt, he was (1517-1547).
He was born into one of the noblest families of England, educated, had
very promising career, but was executed for treason when he was barely
30.
The differnce between Wyatt and Surrey:
Surrey has less strength and more polish. He is more succesful in
metrical skills but he lacks Wyatts moving and surprising touches.
Wyatt is agreater poet, hadling a less perfect instrument.
Surrey is the competent and graceful craftsman, his sonnets have
greater metrical smoothness than Wyatts.
Surrey developed the sonnet with forms - abab abab abab aa

34

It is characteristic of Surrey and was to become the English form of a

sonnet. He also used other forms, particularly abab cdcd efef gg, later
known as the Shakespearean sonnet.
Among the verse forms he experimented with and introduced is so-called
Poulters Measure, consisting of lines of 12 and 14 syllables alternating it became very popular in the 16th century.
The best achievement of Surrey was his use of Blank verse (unrhymed
iambic decasyllable) in his translations of the 2 nd and 4th book of Virgils
Eneid.
In 1557, after both Wyatt and Surrey died, the printer Richard Tottel put
out a collection of poetry by the courtly makers with the title Songs
and Sonnets Written by right honourable Lord H.H. Late Earl of
Surrey
and Tottels Miscellany - 1557. (the first 36 poems are Surreys, 91 by
Wyatt). There are a few other poets included in the book but they play
variations on the themes set by Wyatt and Surrey.
SPENSER & SIDNEY AND THEIR TIME
England was waiting for a poet who would make a synthesis between
Chaucer and new currents. The greatest genious for that that England
produced was Edmund Spenser.
EDMUND SPENSER (1552-1599)
In the role of the New Poet who was to draw the threads together and
mark the culmination and a new beginning in English poetry. He was the
great synthesizer for whom English nondramatic poetry was waiting.
His life is similar to Chaucers, he was connected with the highest society
and with court, both were men of remarkable learning and natives of
London. But their geniuses are rather different. Chaucer is the active
type, dramatic and objective, while Spencer is contemplative,
philosophical and subjective.
The publication of his Shepherds Calendar in 1579, marked his
formal entry as the New Poet. This work has greater historical importance
than poetic interest. It was dedicated to Sidney.
The eclogue, the form he uses, is the pastoral dialogue, which has its
origin in Sicilian folk song. It was widely used in the Renaissance. It is
important bcs it introduces a pastoral tone in Engl. poetry.
Spenser links elements taken from old classic period, from French and
Italian Rennaissance model writers and from Medieval English (Chaucer)

35

Pastoral was frequently used in an allegorical manner for moral satirical

purpose.
Linking ghe eclogues together in a calendar, Spencer found a way of
combining unity with diversity, as well as of combining the simple and
rustic with the elaborate and sophisticated.
Each eclogue is devoted to one month in a year.
the january eclogue: the shepherd Colin Clout, who is Spenser himself,
is complaining of his unreturned love for Rosalind. Spenser adopts a
Petrarcan mood to a pastoral setting. He compares Rosalind to the
time of the year - frozen ground and trees. At last he realizes he has no
more pleasures or delights, breaks his pipe in pieces and casts hsf to
the ground. He wonders why he loves her if she scorns even his music.
When he arose he went home and even the sheep started to weep
over his case.
the february eclogue: tells the story of the oak and the briar (of the old
age
the march eclogue: dialoge of 2 shpards in the old romance stanza.
They talk about love and pleasure (spring)
the april eclogue: introductory dialogue and then a formal song in
praise of Queen Elizabeth
the may eclogue: dialogue btw 3 shepards, in which, through the
obvious pastoral disguise, Spenser attacks idle, deceitful High Church
Clergy
the june eclogue: Another complaint: Colin complains not only of his
lack of success in love, but also in his poetry
the july eclogue: Protestant satire - in the honour of good shepards and
to the shame of proud and ambitious pastors
the august eclogue: elegy
the september eclogue: dialogue
the october eclogue: is in many ways the most important of all fro it
voices for the 1st time in England, the high Renaissance ideal of poetry.
Cuddie complains that the age of great poetry is dead. He is the
perfect poet and complains of the contempt of Poetry. Poetry is not got
by labour and learning but is adorned with both; it comes from celestial
inspiration
the november eclogue: lament for the death of some maiden of great
blood
the december eclogue: an imitation of Marots Eclogue au Roy in
which the poet looks back over his poetic career. It is suited to the time
of the year, the poet reviewing the change from the springtime of his
days to the present time. It is Colins complaint to God Pan. He
proportions his life to the 4 seasons of the year: Youth - springtime,
love, folly; Manhood - summer, immoderate passion, heat, hate; Ripe
years - harvest, autumn; Later age - winter

36

Technically, these eclogues are of great interest: the 16 verse forms

which are included in the 12 eclogues (2 of them new to English verse as
Spensers own inventions).
Amoretti (1592)
89 love sonnets in the Petrarchan mode.
The most frequent form: first 12 lines linked with rhyme (ababbcbccdcd)
and separated from the final couplet (ee).
They tell the story of the poets mistress who at first rubuffed him, then
relented and returned his love, and finally, as a result of some unhappy
incident, turned against him again.
It describes the whole course of wooing, contain some autobiografical
pieces. He is actually courting Elizabeth Boyle.
Epithalamion
One of his highest achievements. The celebration of his own wedding,
enriched by his poetic inspiration and by the use of imagery and of
rhytms.
The narrative basis is simply the story of the wedding day, preparation
for the wedding. He praises brides beauty, speaks of the ceremony.
It is the finest and most perfect of all bridal songs and of his poems in
general. He sings about his loves waking, about the merry hustle of the
ministrels, of her coming forth in all her pride, of loveliness and her
inward beauty, of her standing before the altar, of the bringing her home.
For him, the day of his marriage is the happiest day of his life.
Prothalamion
A wedding poem written for the double wedding. This poem is more
deliberatly stylized than the Epithalamion. The poet himself is the
observer of the ceremony. The double marriage of two virtous ladies, lady
Elisabeth and Katherine Somerset, daughters to the right honorable Earl
of Worcester. He describes the ladies, how they pick flowers on a
meadow, he describes this bridal day.
In 1596. Spenser published his Four Hymns, first two in honour of love
and of beauty, and the latter two in honour of Heavenly love and of
Heavenly beauty. They show influence on Platonism.
All Spensers earlier poetry is in a sense a preparation and exercise for
his unfinished epic The Faerie Queene it is an allegorical commentary
on the religious, political and social scene. He used a rich pattern of
medieval allegorical tradition, medieval romance, classic epic,
Aristotelian ethic, Plato, Renaissance, Humanism, Protestant Idealism,
English history and folklore - almost every aspect of European thought
and convention which had reached 16 ct.
His immediate model was Ariostos Orlando Furioso.
Of the total plan of 12 books he completed only 6.

37

By the Faeri Queene, he designss glory in the abstract and Queen

Elizabeth in particular. She also figures under the name of Belphoebe,
Mercilla and Gloriana. 12 of her knights, the patrons oor exemples of 12
different virtues, undertake each an adventure in 12 successive days of
the Queens annual festival.
Prince Arthur symbolizes magnificence in the Aristotelian sense of
perfection off all the virtues. He has the vision of the F. Q. and
determined to seek her out, is brought into the adventures of several
knights and carries them to a successful issue. But, the explanation,
given in the introductory part, does not appear from the poem itself, for
it starts immediately with the adventures of the knights.
The surface of the epic consists of interlocked stories of chivalrous
adventure in a world of marvels. The background - world of plains,
woods, castles, islands, shores - world through which we watch the
characters move.
In Book I, the Redcross Knight (who is Holiness, Anglican church),
accompanied by Una (who is truth) becomes involved in a series of
adventures which suggest how mans pursuit of holiness can be hindered
by error, hypocrisy, false devotion. At the same time, the Redcross Knight
is also Everyman, facing the ordinary temptations of this world and
needs the help of Grace (Prince Arthur) and of Truth in order to lead a
good life, and attain holiness. The monster Error, which the Redcross
knight slays, is described as filthy, loathsome and full of vile disdain.
Story: The Red Cross Knight (Holiness), separated from Una (true religion)
by Archimago (Hipocricy) and led by Duessa (Roman catholic church) to
the House of Pride. He drinks from and enchanted stream and becomes a
captative of Orgoglio (Pride). Prince Arthur kills Orgoglia and he makes
repentance and is healed (R.K.). Soon he and Una are betrothed and he
saves her parents castle of a monster.
Spenserian stanza: the stanza invented by Spenser in which he wrote
The Faerie Queene. It consists of eight five-foot iambic lines, followed by
an iambic line of six feet, rhyming a b a b b c b c c
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554-1586)
Scolar, poet, critic, diplomat and courtier, regarded as the ideal of
knighthood. None of his works was published during his life.
In 1591, his sonnet-sequence Aristophel and Stella appeared (108
sonnets). It sets the fashion for sequence of love sonnets. Petrarchs
sonnets for Laura were the ultimate inspiration for all these sonnetsequences. It is a series of sonnets addressed to a single lady, expressing
and reflecting on the developing relationship between the poet and his
love.

38

Sydneys Stella was Penelope Devereux, betrothed to Sydney in her

youth, but for some reason the engagement was later broken off. It is the
record of his hopeless love for Stella.
Apart from Spenser and Shakespeare, Sydney is one of the greatest
sonnet-poets.
Arcadia was written to amuse his sister, it is a prose romance. The
original version, known as The Old Arcadia, was written in 1570, but
was revised and altered. It talks about love and adventure, intervowen
with parts in verse. It talks about the life of 2 disguised princes, their love
and their escape from death. It is a prose pastoral romance, with a
pastoral eclogue at the end of each book. The scene is laid in Arcadia,
with its flowery meads where shepherd boys pipe as though they would
never be old.
The New Arcadia - a new version; he reshapes the came content
according to the classic rules in order to create an epic prose. The style is
dignified, the number of characters enlarged. This new version was never
finished.
Apologie for Poetry (Defece of Poesie) in 1580.
An answer to the pamphlet of Stephen Gossom School of Abuse in
which the author attacks drama and poetry in general.
Sydney replied to that in a series of arguments drown largely from the
Italian Humanist critics. His attempt was to draw together the arguments
about nature, function, possibilities of poetry into a critical discussion.
The function of poetry is to give both Pleasure and Moral.
comparison between:
philosophy (teaches by abstract rules - dull and difficult to understand)
history (connected to real events - cannot deal with general ideas)
poetry (unites good sides of philosophy and history)
The poeet is a maker, a creator; he creates a better world than the real
world. Poet tries to embody the ideal world, so the poetry proves to be a
moral teacher. At the same time, it is lively, with lots of images, as a
contrast to the dullness of historians and philosophers.
Superiority of poetry to nature: poet is independent of nature because
he creates it once again as God did it.
He discusses the matters of form and style and at the end of his essay,
he gives a short review on the development of English poetry up to his
time mentioning Chaucer, Surrey, Spencer.
It was the most important work of Renaissance literary theory.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564-1593)
Hero and Leander
Unfinished 800-word narrative poem. A love story based on classical
mythology. One of the purest examples of classical tradition in Engl.
renaissance poetry.
the story is connected with mythological subplot and separated from the
world of contemporary reality, it underlines the universal love.

39
glorification of sensual, passion.
Written in blank verse, Shakespeares

Venus and Adonis was

influenced by it.
SHAKESPEARES SONNETS (1593-1596)
Three quatrains followed by a couplet : a b a b c d c d e f e f g g; in its
traditional Elizabethan form the last couplet served either to summarize
or else in epigrammatic form to serve as an antithesis to the rest of the
sonnet.
They are personal and intimate poems written to individuals. There are
154 sonnets in all and as arranged in Thorpes edition in 1609.
His sonnets arent a narrative of events but a lyrical expression of moods,
emotions and ideas. His sonnets are:
1. love
2. sonnets to a patron
3. religious and philosophic
The first 126 sonnets are addressed to his friend, Earl of Pembroke
1-17 - a series of sonnets addressed to a beautiful youth invoking him to
marry and have children to preserve his type and his excellent beauty.
Procreation sonnets - Shakespeare urges the boy to marry and have
children, who will preserve his beauty.
18-126 - addresses Pembroke on different topics and occassions and in
changing moods - sense of intimacy, admiration, love
127-152 - dedicated to the Dark Lady who was the mistress of both of
them; she is also called the Black Woman and she is faithless, wanton
(obijestan, hirovit), physically unattractive, false to her bed-vow and yet
irresistibly desirable.
Style: conventional in design and realistic (in this they differ from
Spencers and Sidneys symbolic platonic school). Shakespeare writes
about real men and women.
More than half of his sonnets have emancipated themselves from the
tyranny of Petrarchan convention; he finds other causes for grief than the
disappointments of a romantic love. The true subject of these sonnets is
neither love nor friendship, they celebrate the variety and fulness of the
world.
sonnets from 1-17 - procreation sonnets
8 - imagery from lute-playing - strings on a lute are tuned in pairs, only
the highest one is single (who remains single will be none at all). The
young man seems offended by marriage and wants to stay single.
9- Sh. asks him why he refuses to marry - is it from fear of leaving a
widow? But thus he murders beauty and even a widow can be consoled
on looking at her kids
sonnets from 18-26 - love in the sense of friendship

40

the
poet
compares
the
youth
to
a
summers
day
(lovely&temperate). Summers day declines, but his eternal summer
will not fade.
1- theme of devouring time, still his love will live
sonnets from 48-66 - poets anxiety,
60 - deep despair caused by disloyality of friends
66 - Sh. ponders over his own death and the evils of life from which it will
release him
18-

Shakespeares and Pems friendship has been ruined by their rivalry

for the Dark Lady, but they re-established their friendship
116- Shakespeare shows his friend the way to keep their mutual, dear,
religious love independent of the any accidents of time (Loves not
Times fool)
130 - satire on various artificiality of Petrarch imitation; his
disillusionment with the ladys beauty, he treats the subject with stark
realism.
109-

DRAMA FROM THE MIRACLE PLAYS TO MARLOWE

The main glory or English lit. in the late 16 th and early 17th ct was its
poetic drama. English drama before the 16 th ct is of mainly academic and
historical interest, though there are occasional plays which possess
charm and liveliness.
The ultimate origins: Drama and religious ritual seem to have been
bound up with each other in the earlier stages of all civilisations: folk
celebrations, ritual miming of such elemental themes as death and
resurrection, seasonal festivals with appropriate symbolic actions - these
lie in the background of all drama.
The English drama begins with the elaboration of the ecclesiastical
liturgy in mutually answering dialogues.
1. The TROPES or dramatic elaborations of part of the liturgy represent

the beginnings of medieval drama (eg. Easter Trope - early 10 th ct, a

Latin dialogue between the 3 Marys and the Angel at the tomb of
Christ).
Later, the Trope received additions and elaborations with more
characters added. The liturgy, biblical story and other varieties of
Christian literature contibute to the development of other simple plays
with characters from both the Old and the New Testament.
2. The trope thus grew into the PASSION PLAY which developed in the

13th ct. Passion play was about biblical stories and other Christian
literature. The trope thus developed into LITURGICAL DRAMA fully
developed in the 12th ct. So far they were in Latin, as the liturgy was,
but as they became popular, vernacular elements appeared. As a
result it moved completely out of the church, first into the churchyard
and then on markets and streets.

41
1. Once outside the church, the vernacular won over Latin, thus givin way

to plays in English, performed in the open and completely divorced

from the liturgy, though still religious in the subject matter. These are
known as MIRACLE PLAYS and their primary function was to
entertain. Miracle plays developed rapidly in the 13 th ct. The themes of
liturgical drama were extended and included the creation, the Fall, Old
Testament.
The establishment of the feast Corpus Christi in 1264, confirmed in 1311,
provided a suitable day for the acting of miracle plays. When plays were
no longer associated with ecclesiastical ritual, they passed into lay
(svjetovni, laiki) hands. The trade guilds took over the sponsoring of the
plays.
Almost 3 complete cycles of miracle plays survived:
1. The Chester cycle - 25 plays beginning with the Fall of Lucifer and
ending with Doomsday. The plays are written in 8-line stanzas.
2. The York plays: 54 plays (48 survived); 4 groups within the cycle:
- erudite and didactic in tone
- the influence of alliterative revival
- elements of realistic humour in the plays dealing with Noah and
Shepards
- a more powerful dramatic sense, a real feeling for character
3. The Wakefield cycle: 32; theres a note of real poetry, lively ironic

humour, sense of comedy and satire

4. While the miracle plays were still flourishing, another medieval

dramatic form emerged, a form which has more direct links with
Elizabethan drama. This is MORALITY PLAY (it differs from the
miracle play in that it does not deal with biblical or pseudobiblical story
but with personified abstractions of virtues and vices, who struggle for
mans soul. The psychomania - the battle of the soul - is a common
medieval theme and was bound up with the development of medieval
allegory.
The theme of 7 deadly sins was a commonplace of medieval literature
(the struggle of virtues and vices over mans soul). There are references
to morality plays in the 14th century, but the 15th ct, seems to be the
period of its full development. Another theme is the Dance od Death (a
common medieval motif).
THE CASTLE OF PERSEVERANCE (Ca 1425)
The earliest complete morality play
Contains 34 characters. The theme is the fight btw Mankinds Good Angel
an his supporters and the Bad Angel supported by the 7 deadly sins. The
action takes Man (Humanum Genius) from his birth to the Day of
Judgement.

42

Mundus (the world) claims the Mans first allegiance (privrenost,

vjernost) with Folly and Lust, acting as Mans servants. There is the
struggle which in the 1st part ends so that Good Angel rescues Man from
the Vices and lodges him in the Castle of Perseverance, which is then
besieged by Vices. At first Virtues are victorious, but Covetyse ?
(gramzljivost) seduces Man afterward and finally Death comes for him
and he has to leave all his worldly goods behind him.
Mercy, Peace, Truth and Rightousness dispute over Mans salvation
before Gods throne, and the play ends with Gods reminder that King,
Kaiser, Knight and Champion, Pope, patriarch and prelate must all answer
the great judgement.
EVERYMAN
The best known and the most appealing of all 15th century morality plays.
Everyman is summoned by Death to a long journey from which there is
no return. Unprepared, he looks for friends to accompany him, but
neither Fellowship nor Kindred will go.
Good Deeds is willing to be his companion, but Everymans sins have
rendered her too weak to stand. She recommends her sister Knowledge
(acknowledgement or recognition of sins) who leads Everyman to
Confession, and after he has repented, Good Deeds grows strong enough
to accompany him togetherr with Strength, Discretion, Five Wits and
Beauty. But, as the time comes to go to grave, they all decline except
Good Deeds - so he enters the grave with Good Deeds. An angel
announces the entry of Everymans soul into the heavenly sphere, and a
Doctor concludes by pointing the moral.
The verse form is naive rhymed couplets.
It is a Catholic alegorical play on the subject of Holy Dying. Both its Dutch
counterpart and Everyman have probably been translated from common
latin original.
Fundamental issues: Corpus Christi cycle, as the earliest moralities: the
conflict between good and evil, the fall of man and redemption through
Christ. Everyman is still not a typical morality: most of English moralities
are not concerned with death or preparation for it but rather with giving
advice for living a better life. In Everyman, unlike The Castle of
Perseverance, the conflict of good and evil is reduced to minimum. The
play tells how Everyman is abandoned by all his gifts until only Good
Deeds and Knowledge are left to keep him company on his last jouney.
The story is thus about progressive abandonment and increasing
isolation, not of conflict btw good and evil.
Other morality plays mix comic and serious scenes; in Everyman, the
sombreness of tone prevails.
Meaning of Everyman: It is completely a product of medieval world;
dramatic allegorical presentation of the medieval Catholic doctrine
concerning Holy Dying. Holy Dying is a dying that a good Christian makes
by giving up his trust in wordly things, clinging to good deeds, by

43

preparing himself through repentance to receive the last sacrament

worthily. In return, Gods mercy ensures his salvation.
Everyman has had different gifts:
1. the gifts of Fortune (his goods and friends)
2. of grace (knowledge and good deeds)
3. of nature (strength and beauty)
He has put his gifts of Fortune before his love of God. Thus abused, these
gifts undergo a transformation and desert him first. Characters like
Fellowship, Cousin, Goods encourage him in sinful living and bear a
strong ressemblance to the vice of the later moral plays.
Everyman is not a tragedy bcs Gods strict justice at the end is tempered
with his mercy and the soul of Everyman is saved. The Castle of
Perseverence gets closer to a tragedy bcs Humanum Genius is narrowly
saved after his death - he cries for mercy, which is interpreted by Peace
and Mercy as a sign of Repentence - this is a near-tragic morality play.
Everyman also cries for mercy like H.G. but he has made sure of
receiving it by virtue of his good deeds and penitential (pokajniki) acts.
5. Towards the end of the 15 th century there developed a type of morality

play which dealt in the same allegorical way with general moral
problesm, though with more pronounced realistic and comic elements;
this kind of play is known as INTERLUDE though that name is also
given to some much earlier secular moralities. The term interludes
dnotes those plays which mark the transition from medieval religious
drama to Tudor secular drama.
John Rastells: The Nature of the Four Elements - interlude which might
be called a Humanist morality play: various allegorical characters instruct
Humanity in the new science and geography.
The shift of interest from salvation to education was accompanied by a
parallel shift from religion to politics.
Allegorical, biblical and historical morality plays existed side by side in
the middle of the 16th ct.
DEVELOPMENT OF TRAGEDIES
There were no tragedies among either the miracle or morality plays.
There was nothing that could be called tragedy in English drama before
the classical influence made itself felt (the favourite classical writer of
tragedies among English Humanists was Seneca - 9 tragedies - sombre
treatments of murder, cruelty and lust - translated into Engl. by Jasper
Heywood and others in the mid.16th ct.)
English attempts to handle classical themes in the english way can be
seen in eg. Richar Edwards Damon and Pythias (1571)
Sir Philip Sydney in his Defence of Poesie objected to this, and approved
only of Senecan tragedy Gorboduc by Sackville and Norton. According
to him, other plays are neither tragedies nor comedies, mingling all

44

together the unity of space, time and action on which Renaissance Italian
critics had so insisted.
GORBODUC by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton (1561)
The first three acts were written by Norton, the last two by Sackville.
It is a tale of a divided kingdom, civil war and the awful consequence of
split authority in a state. It is divided into 5 acts. and constructed on the
model of a Senecan tragedies.
It follows the classical manner in avoiding violence on the stage (the
events are being narrated) and is written in blank verse.
Story:
Gorboduc, King of Britain, divides his kingdom in his lifetime to his sons,
Ferrex and Porrex. The sons argue - the younger kills older because he
wants his part. The mother loved the older son more and for revenge kills
the younger. The people, moved with the cruelty of this fact rise in
rebellion and kill both mother and father. The nobility assembles and
destroys the rebels. As the issue of succession to the crown becomes
uncertain, the whole country falls to a civil war, anarchy and usurpation in which many people get killed and the land is desolate and wasted for a
long time.
Evel begets(raa) evil.
Moral: A state in unity can oppose all evil force, but being divided is
easily destroyed. Divided reigns make divided hearts - within one land,
one single rule is the best.
Ferrex, the older, is dissatisfied that the younger got half of the kingdom
because by course of law and nature it should all have been his. He does
not love his father and considers that Porrex has always envied his
honour. He refuses advice from the counsellor to assemble his force for
derence, he wants to prepare himself for revenge in secret.
Porrex, on his part, also refuses advice from his counsellors. He decides
to invade his brothers realm and will pay for his treason and his hate for
Ferrex. Gorboduc finds out that Ferrex has prepared for war, but before
he had time to do anything, Porrex has already killed Ferrex.
Porrex tries to defend himself, but the King banishes him and the Queen
kills him.
Gorboduc and Queen Videna are killed by their own subjects. The civil
war and tumults continue for 50 years.
It is the first English tragedy, an attempt to follow the example of Italy
and France and to initiate English tragedy in strict conformity to the
Senecan model.
The subject is taken from the legendary chronicles of Britain.
Structure is narrative, not dramatic. Unities of time and space are
violated.
THEATRES

45

In the meantime, schools, universities, houses of noblemen provided

opportunities for more sophisticated or more learned plays. With the
progress of the 16th century, drama became more abundant and more
various. In 1576, John Burbage had erected the 1st permanent theatre
(called simply The Theatre), on a field near Shoreditch. Other permanent
theatres soon followed: The Curtain (1577), The Rose (1588), The Swan
(1595) and THE GLOBE (1598). These theatres were built by companies
of players.
Though costumes were elaborate, scenery was practically nonexistant. It
was Platform Stage of the Elizabethans - platform could represent any
space; the illusion was to be created only by language and action. There
were no acrtesses; boys took womens parts. These were public theatres.
In addition, there were private theatres, distinguished by being roofed
and by somewhat more complicated interior arrangements. The first
private theater was THE BLACKFRIARS, opened in 1576, for the children
of the Chapel Royal. They were originally used by child actors. With time
they became serious rivals to the adult companies. They presented more
sophisticated pieces for a more sophisticated audience.
UNIVERSITY WITS
The growing popularity and diversity of the drama, its secularisation and
the growth of a class of writers and secular scholars combined to produce
a new literary phenomenon - the secular professional playwright.
The group of writers known as The University of Wits were the 1 st to
exploit this situation. They turned to playwriting to make their living, and
in doing so, they made Elizabethan popular drama more literary and in
some respect more dramatic. It could perhaps be claimed that they were
the first to associate English drama permanently with literature.
The group consists of: John Lily, Robert Greene, George Peele, Thomas
Lodge, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nashe and Christopher Marlowe.
JOHN LYLY (1554-1606)
He turned to drama after his success with Euphues (a prose romance),
adapting his courtly artificial prose to the stage to produce a new kind of
court comedy. Most of his plays were written for the Children of St. Pauls,
to be performed at the court before the Queen. His prose was balanced
and stylized, not so suitable for dramatic dialogue. For his plots he turned
to Greek legend (but he used it in a wholly original way).
His plays: Sapho and Phao, Midas, The Woman in the Moon (his only
play in the blank verse), Mother Bombie etc.
His plays are unequal: the subplots are not always effectively tied up
with the main story; but there is a delicate imagination, a sense of form,
and a new conception of comedy.
EUPHUES (1578-1580)
is a noble young Greek (his name means Gentleman) who ignores
advice and goes from Athens to Naples and then to London where he
makes a friend of Philantus, betrays him, is reconciled, lectures him in

46

moral philosophy. It concludes with a passage in praise of England,

London, the court and the Queen.
It is a dull story of a young Athenian, whom the author places in Naples
in the 1st part and brings to England in the 2nd. Lyly pays great
compliments to ladies for beauty and modesty and overloads Elizabeth
with panegyric (hvalospjev). It is a prose romance in two parts:
1. The Anatomy of Wits (1578)
2. Euphues and his England (1580)
The plot of each is but a peg (kvaica) on which to hang discourses,
conversaions, letters mainly on the subject of love.
Euphues is famous for its peculiar style. It gave name to euphemism.
There are multitude of nice sayings. It is the first attempt in England at
elegant writing. Its success is due to its elegance - courtly and polished
speech, a style devoid of simplicity, becomes the object of admiration for
its imagined ingenuity and difficulty. It was criticised and mocked by
Shakespeare some 15 years later.
The Greek Euphues means well grown, symmetrical, clever, witty - and
this is sense in which Lyly applies it to his hero.
Robert Greene (1560-1592)
He, unlike Lyly, but like Kyd and Marlowe, wrote for the public stage and
aimed at popular success rather than court favour. His plays are the 1 st
English example of the genre which is called by critics romantic comedy,
a genre of which Shakespeares Twelft Night and As you like it
represent the highest achievements.
Thomas Lodge (1558-1625)
His most interesting work is his prose romance Rosalynde, the source of
Shakespeares As you like it.
Thomas Nashe (1567-1601)
Only complete play of his is Summers Last Will and Testament - an
allegorical play. His most important work is his picturesque tale The
Unfortunate Traveller.
THOMAS KYD (1558-1594)
Known as the founder of what might be called Romantic Tragedy mingling the themes of love, conspiracy, murder and revenge adopting
some of the main elements of Senecan tragedy to melodrama.
The Spanish Tragedy
(acted 1592)
The first of revenge plays which captured Elizabethan and Jacobean
imagination.
The political background of the play is the victory of Spain over Portugal
in 1580, but it does not have much historical veracity (istinitost). The
play is a phantasy. Briefly:

47

Lorenzo and Bel-Imperia are son & daughter to Don Cyprian. Hieronimo is
marshal of Spain and Horatio is his son. Balthazar is the son of the
viceroy of Portugal and he has been taken prisoner by Lorenzo an Horatio
for having killed Andrea, Bel-Imperias lover. Lorenzo and Balthazar
discover that Bel-Imperia loves Horatio (Andreas best friend) and as
Lorenzo wants her to marry Balthazar in order to assemble the two
countries, he kills Horatio during the night and hangs him to a tree.
Hieronimo, Horatios father, discovers the murderers and plots with B.I. a
revenge. For this purpose he engages them to act before the court in a
play that suits his revengeful purpose. In the course of the play Lorenzo
and Balthazar are killed, Bel-Imperia stabs herself and Hieronimo
commits suicide.
Chorus: Andreas ghost. Andrea is a Spanish courtier who was in love
with Bel-Imperia and died in the battlefield with the Portugese
(Balthazar); he wants revenge.
Balthazar, the prince of Portugal, is retained at the Spanish court for
having killed Andrea. He has been caught by Horatio. Bel-Imperia seeks
revenge and falls in love with Horatio but it is rather her urge for revenge
than love which make her be with him. She actually loves him as
Andreas best friend. Lorenzo wants to make ties btw 2 courts - he wants
B.I. to marry Balthazar and his pride is hurt because Horatio and not he
himself has caught Balthazar, so he has reasons for hating Horatio.
Lorenzo, Balthazar and Serberine (Balthazars servant) kill Horatio and
Lorenzo orders Perdericano to kill Serberine. Balthazar imprisons
Perdericano bcs he does not know it was Lorenzos idea. Hieronimo
(Horatios father) finds the letter Perdericano wrote to Lorenzo, begging
him to help him get out of prison and the letter reveals the whole truth
about Horatios murderers.
Lorenzo tries to excuse himself to Bel-Imperia. He secluded her so as to
keep her away from her fathers fury (supposedly he was angry because
she was with Andrea first and now with Horatio), but actually he does not
want her to meet Hieronimo and tell him what happened.
Hieronimo manages to talk to Bel-Imperia about his revenge plan:
pretending hes reconciled with Lorenzo and Balthazar, he makes all 3 of
them act in his play about love, death and revenge. But a real and not a
fictional revenge takes place.
Meanwhile, Isabella, Horatios mother, stabs herself out of grief.
In the play - Perseda (B.I.) stabs Soliman (Balthazar) and then herself; the
Bashaw (Hieronimo) stabs Erastus (Lorenzo) and the Duke (Lorenzos
father) and then himself.
Conclusion: chorus - interesting way of soothing the tragical effect Andrea says he will lead his friends (Hieronimo, Isabella, Horatio, BelImperia) towards sweetness of eternity, while his enemies will be
doomed to hell.

48

It was written in blank verse. The speed of action is tremendous: event

following an event; it was one of the great successes of the Elizabethan
public stage.
There is a lot of violence in the play - in this respect the play is not
Sencecan. His debt to Seneca: sentences & machinery of a ghost, lust for
revenge. Virgils influence - in Kyds account of the underworld.
The characters have passions but nothing else. It is a play about a
passion for retribution and vengeance shapes the entire action.
Revenge is the main theme of the play, with the struggle of human will
against evil and destiny. The word mercy does not occur in the play; it is
not a christian play - revenge is obligaion, to oneself and to others.
There are 4 interlocked revenge schemes:
1. Andrea: being killed by Balthazar in a cowardly and dishonorable
fashion, wants revenge.
2. Bel-Imperia: Andreas mistress, wants to revenge Andrea by killing
Balthazar and she uses Horatio for that; she falls in love with him
2. Lorenzo: B.I. brother, his pride is wounded by Horatios capturing of
Balthazar and by his sisters preferring Horatio
3. Hieronimo (Horatios father): wants to revenge his son; it is his duty.
Though his wrongs are personal, God helps him through human agents.
The characters have mistaken notions about what their actions are
leading them towards - DRAMATIC IRONY
Hieronimo, distracted by the death of his son Horatio, plans his revenge
with a mixture of madness and cunning - this blending of real and
feigned madness has been used by Shakespeare in HAMLET.
Shakespeare knew it as a popular theatrical piece and took many devices
from it. The Spanish Tragedy has many characteristics of Elizabethan
tragic devices:
the revenge theme
the play within a play
the madness real and feigned
the machiavellian master of malicious ploting (begins with Lorenzo and
culminates in Iago)
The Spanish Tragedy was the first popular tragedy on the English stage.
English tragedy had not yet started to use blank verse, eloquent and
musical enough, nor had it yet turned to the themes that came truly from
the Elizabethan imagination. In the hands of Marlowe, it advanced toward
the achievement of these 2 goals.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1563-1593)
The most striking personality and dramatist among the University Wits.
He stormed his way into popular favour with
Tambourline the Great (1587) in a blank verse; use of exotic places
(which Shakespeare and Milton were to use later on).

49

Theme: Restless desire of mankind for power that ceases only in death.
The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus (1586-1589)
Next Marlowes play. A drama in a blank verse and prose.
It is probably the first dramatization of the medieval legend of a man who
sold his soul to the Devil, and who became identified with a Dr. Faustus, a
necromancer of the 16th ct. The legend appeared in the Volksbuch
published at Frankfurt in 1587, and was translated into English. The
Faustus myth reaches more profoundly into tragic aspects of human
situation. He symbolizes the story of the Fall of Man, through eating of
the tree of knowledge.
It is full of the spirit of Renaissance ambition and virtue, but there is also
a specifically Christian background. He retains elements from morality
plays (Good and Evil Angels). Tamburlaine and Faustus (in fact all
Marlowes heroes) are lonely souls.
The subject is the thirst for ultimate knowledge and power resulting from
it.
Story:
Faustus is disgusted with the poor results of human science. He is torn
between the good and bad angel. Valdes and Cornelius try to persuade
him to give up theology and to dedicate himself to necromantic skills. He
yearns for power and sells his soul to the devil in order that for 24 years
he may satisfy every desire. With Lucifer, Belzebub and Mephistophelis
he enters the 7 deadly sins (Pride, Lechery, Gluttony - lakomostm
prodrljivost, avarice - pohlepa, krtost, envy, sloth - lijenost and wrath bijes). But he obtains no answer to the great questions that haunt him.
For the vain pleasure of 24 years he loses eternal joy and felicity.
Marlowes real difficulty comes when he has to illustrate the kind of
knowledge Faustus gained - he could not illustrate superhuman
knowledge and power in concrete dramatic scenes.
Then comes retribution - in an overwhelming scene Marlowe describes
the deepening agony of Faustus as the hour of his damnation comes
nearer. Lucifer comes to take him to hell and Faustus is horrified by the
eternity of hell. But as he has a good angel to exhort him (nagovarati) to
repentance and amendment, as well as a bad angel, to urge him on the
damnation, he is not irrevocably damned until he fails in his final
temptation of despair - he gives up all hope, all possibility of repentance.
Suspense is maintained by the possibility of his repentance. Despair is
the final sin, that is why he is damned.
The fate of Faustus described in moral and spiritual terms - his inner
struggle. He is aware of the horror of his state but is unable to repent. He
has a consistency of character.
The function of knowledge is control rather than mere insight. He sells his
soul in exchange of forbidden knowledge. He is led to self-destruction by
implication of his virtues.
Faustus is full of Renaissance spirit - homocentrism, ambition and virtue.
The Jew of Malta (1592)

50

A drama in blank verse. Romantic presentation of a Machiavellian man,

full of greed and cunning, who will stop at nothing to attain his ends.
Story:
The grand Seignor of Turkey having demanded the tribute to Malta, the
governer of Malta. Ferenze, decides that it shall be paid by the Jews of
the island. Barabas, a rich Jew who resists the edicts, has all his wealth
confiscated and his house turned into a nunnery. In his revenge he
indulges in an orgy of slaughter. With the aid of his slave Ithamore he
kills Fernezes son Lodowick and Mathias, who is in love with his
(Barabas) daughter Abigail. Abigail decides to become a nun. Therefore
she becomes christian and Barabas cant forgive her that. He poisons the
whole nunnery (enski samostan), kills 2 priests, gets together with the
Turks against Ferenze and finally gets killed in one of his own traps.
Religios question in a play: his hatred for the Christians. Jews are shown
as greedy and cruel.
Edward II (1593), a historical drama in a blank verse. The study of
weakness. Shakespeares Richard II has many similarities with this play.
SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
He was a genious in handling thechniques and conventions of his time, in
understanding human psychology. He has been praised for the
knowledge of the human heart; he had great ability to create living
worlds of people. Hes the greatest poetic dramatist of Europe; Marlowes
successor.
The playwrights already mentioned (University Wits) were professional
writers. Shakespeare emerged from the ranks of actors - he wrote for his
company.
His work is distinguished from these of his contemporaries by its variety
and by and equal aptitude for tragedy and comedy, lyrical fantasy and
character study.
character study: he had the supreme gift of reviving historical characters
or of giving life to imaginary people. His character-drawing is
spontaneous and natural, while in the plays of his contemporaries the
people are almost always exaggerated, unhuman or technical. His
people, good or bad, always mentain their humanity.
Also, his love of truth is shown even in his treatment of non-historical
subjects. Pictures from national history served not only for pleasure but
for instruction and edification.
His art is essentially empiric: he was taking account only of realities,
refusing to build on the abstract. Ex: he relied on the imagination of the
spectators to see what he could not actually show them.
Shakespeares conservativeness: he preferred to rely on subjects already
used. He is not inventive, his works are revisions. Only 3 or 4 are really
his: The Merry Wives of Windsor, Loves Labour Lost, A Midsummers
Night Dream, The Tempest.

51

But, he had extraordinary imagination that invented the ingenious

arguments by which the most varied characters justify their passions or
their interests. Each temperament has its own philosophy.
16 plays were published during his lifetime.
As a player he has excellent position to judge public taste. In almost
every instance he derived his plots from somebody elses work but
shaped the material and bodied forth the language. Sources: Italian
novella, Engl. chronicles etc.)
SHAKESPEARES TIME
In his time drama and theatre were public entertainment. The words
were more important than the actors or the scene. In order to understand
better Shs tragedies we have to know sth. more about the Greek
tragedy, tragedy based on a myth. Tragedy is more philosophical than
any other genre - it speaks about a human being in the nature and only
the forces of nature are stronger than him. The Hero in a tragedy is
usually better man than other characters, than other common people,
because only in this case is his fall more terrifying than the fall of an
ordinary man.
Hamlet is not a Revenge play, although it belongs to revenge drama, and
Hamlet is both human and superhuman. We can view it as a tragedy as
well, because it concernes a human that suffers.
What Shakespeare usually does is that after the tragic happening, he
writes sth. comic, it is so called comic relief, but in a tragic moments it
hasnt the purpose of relief or of removing of the tension but it is an
allusion to chaos that reigns the world.
SHAKESPEARES PLAYS
COMEDIES
TRAGEDIES
Comedy of Errors
Titus Andronicus
Taming of the Shrew
Romeo and Juliet
Two Gentleman of Verona
Julius Caesar
A Midsummer Nights Dream
Hamlet
Loves Labour Lost
Troilus and Cressida
The Merchant of Venice
Othello
As you like it
King Lear
Much Ado About Nothing
Macbeth
Twelfth Night
Timon of Athens
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Anthony and Cleopatra
Alls Well That Ends Well
Coriolanus
Measure for Measure
HISTORIES
Henry IV, Part
Henry IV, Part
Henry V
Henry VI, Part
Henry VI, Part

I
II
I
II

ROMANCES
Pericles
Cymbeline
A Winters Tale
The Tempest

52

Henry VI, Part III

Richard II
Richard III
King John
Henry VIII
HAMLET (1603-1604)
Dramatis Personae:
A ghost of the late King of Denmark
Claudius, Kings brother
Gertrude, Kings widow
Hamlet, Kings son, Prince of Denmark
Ophelia, his love
Polonius, Ophelias father
Laertes, Ophelias brother
Hamlet was the most popular and most discussed of Shakespeares
tragedies (1600-1606, wrote tragedies). It has a relation to a lost earlier
Hamlet, probably by Kyd.
The story originated in Scandinavia as the tale of Amleth. It is a tale of
revenge. Tragic theme - man destroyed by his own virtue. In the
character of Hamlet he takes the Brutus type (sensitivity+intelligence
produce inabillity to face the world as it is)
Atmosphere of ambition, murder, revenge.
Ghost-Senecan fashion
The struggle between Hamlet and his destiny: Hamlet is not always
consistent, the motives for his actions are sometimes in doubt,
somotimes in the soliloquies Shakespeare rather than Hamlet seems to
be speaking.
The element of mystery in Hamlets motivation helps to enlarge the
dimensions of the play.
Hamlet is a sensitive idealist in a brutal world.
Paradox of guilt and justice - justice demands appropriate action where a
crime has been comitted, but in fact no action is ever appropriate - moral
outrage demands action when no acton can be of any use.
Tragedy of moral frustration + Hamlets frustration at finding no
adequate
action produces tragedy. Revenge cant restore his lost
innocent world. Nothing you can do about the past, only forget it! No
action can undo the past - Hs delay of revenge
Shakespeare places us at the center of things (the soldiers on the guard
saw the ghost of Hs father, and the guards are in front of the castle,
because the king is afraid of revenge). It is the beginning of the revenge,
H. is going to revenge his father.
Revenge drama in Elizabethan England - through Senecas tragedy - is
specific kind of revenge drama, which has its conventions: a ghost

53

reveals the crime, and the person who is going to revenge learns about it
in this way. Hamlets father is an extravagant spirit. Extravagant spirits
meant mischief - they usually wanted to make other people do
something for them because they have left sth. unfinished; such people
were not given the remission of sins, they died abruptly without being
able to do it. Horatio has contacted the spirit of Hs father, because
spirits are willing to speak to such men as Horatio and not to corrupt
men. That is why Horatio was brought here. The knowledge purifies the
man (Shakespeare believed in this Platonic idea).
The value of Shakespeares work is in his usage of language. The
essence of his work is not so much in the plot, but in the text.
The ghost appears in the early morning and disappears with the cockcrow. The spirits have to go where they belong; all the elements have to
be in their places at the day break. Night enables chaos to come back
again and then again with the daybreak the order is established once
more. The night is an allusion to the Hell, to the dark forces of the nature,
and the day to the forces of good.
The King is often identified with the country, with Denmark.
Horatio at first doesnt believe in ghosts but soon afterwards his doubt
turns into fear. He is confronted with sth he doesnt know and
understand. Theres sth unnatural about the ghosts appearance. It
reveals the chaotic state - a sign of already shaky universal order. It is
unnatural that the king should be murdered, and when moral order is
disrupted, this should be immediately reflected on the cosmic order
because these two orders are connected. So Horatio interpretes that
because of that apparition something terrible will happen.
In 17th ct fire, air, moon (water), and earth are 4 basic elements that
make part of a value system: earth being ugliest, fire being uppermost,
signifies goodness (fire of Hell burns, but fire of Heaven purifies you).
Angel is used to carry Gods message (we see him as a cloud). God
solved chaos with separating the sky from the water. Eclypses of the
moon means that the moon doesnt direct the waters anymore and that
sth. bad will happen.
Hamlet is a character who is subversive in a sense - he doesnt any
longer believe that any order exists and it is a sign of Shs disbelief that
the Universe is highly organised. Hamlet cannot decide whether to
believe in good or evil, so he doesnt know how to solve it.
Hamlet is a tragic personality. He is highly pessimistic. His father was
murdered and his mother married his uncle, and he rejects the world. He
compared the world with a neglected garden, and so expressed the
chaotic state.
When Hamlet finds out about his fathers murder, he becomes isolated.
Prefiguration: Hamlet makes indirectly an allusion to what is going to
happen. H. has to make the world fine again. Claudius cannot be a king
because all he knows is to make parties and country should be protected
from the enemy. It was believed that King had supernatural powers and if
he didnt, he wasnt a real King, and it led to chaos.Shakespeare wanted

54

to give H. more powerful motive for revenge, he wanted H. to think only

of revenge. So, when the ghost tells him that he is poisoned by Claudius,
and that he is suffering terribly, H. thinks only of revenge and forgets
about all other trivial matters, in order to intense his hate and revenge.
Hamlet doesnt go crazy, but he is not quite normal anymore. He stops
living and devotes himself to revenge. He finds the world chaotic
because there is a wrong man on the throne, and the real king is dead,
murdered. Since the king is the part of the moral and cosmic order, his
murder will bring about chaos and disorder. The fear of chaos was
characteristic for the Elizabethan Age.
Another thing characteristic for H. is melancholy; Ophelia tells Polonius
about the strange incident that happened to her when H. acted as a mad
man. Polonius thinks that H. is really crazy. The description of the
incarnated melancholy is common in 17 th ct. Melancholy was considered
to be very serious illness and dangerous one. The emotions were also
considered to be unnatural, to be able to make a person mad. Polonius is
angry with himself because he forbade Ophelia to see H. (he was too
cautius because he thought H. didnt love Ophelia enough) and that he
would only destroy her.
Hamlet is hesitting. Although unwilling to act at once and somehow kept
in action by his thought, he is aware of the fact that the actions must be
performed, he is dugusted with himself and with the evil of the world. His
central obsession is with order and disorder.
Shakespeare describes the central beliefs of Elizabethans, both social
and cosmic order. The King like the Sun has the prominence among the
humans as the Sun has among the planets. It was believed that sun has
some curative effects, and also the King; if he touches you the illness will
drop away from you. Comet was considered sth. unusual, which brings
disorder, when that occurs it causes plagues etc. So happened to
Danmark and time which was out of joint should have been put back
again. Hamlet simply has to restore the old order although he is reluctant
to do so, and his reluctance, melancholy, delay in action is first of all
dangerous because chaos can take place. In killing Claudius he saves the
cosmic order from turning into chaos, but doing so he is necessarily a
tragic hero. The second problem, the problem of Hs melancholy is a sort
of revulsion from active, lived life and turning to ones inner life.
Inactivity was quite a revolutionary idea.
In Hamlet we have both poetry and wisdom. It praises beautiful and good
and noble and despise the wicked. It is an idealistic play.
OTHELLO (1604 acted)
Dramatis personae:
Othello, the Moor
Brabantio, Father to Desdemona
Cassio, an Honorable Lieutenant
Iago, a villain

55

Roderigo, a gulld Gentleman

Duke of Venice
Desdemona, wife to Othello
Emilia, wife to Iago
Bianca, a Courtesan
Othello - Moorish captain; based of the novel written by Giraldo Cinthio;
smaller in length and narrower in subject-matter than any other Sh.
tragedy.
Othello was probably more heroic than Hamlet, but less complex and
rich. We may notice in him the tragic error that Aristotle finds necessary
so that the tragic hero could provoke fear and pity. Some critics thought
that Os frailty was his inborn inclination towards jelousy, but today
everybody believes that it is a limitation of a person noble, but not
experienced enough who values everything around him according to
himself and cannot recognize the faculty of faulsness of others. Jelausy
arises in Othello gradually and jelausy is his disappointment in
Desdemona as a symbol of everything beautiful and noble in the world.
Othello kills her because she turned to be completely opposite to the
ideal he saw in her. But when he realizes he was wrong he kills himself,
remaining faithful to his basic sense of justice.
People around Othello think of him as cruel, inconciderate and blame for
that his moorish blood. But Shakespeare didnt think that way and didnt
show any prejudice towards Os race.
Desdemona - brilliant heroine, she is as Juliet, the heroine of love,
because she is capable of confronting her friends and family in order to
obey her heart, till the end she remains a symbol of unselfishness,
pureness, faithfulness, and only because of her angelic character, she is
not capable of living in the world of obscure forces in which she found
herself and becomes a victim. Her destiny provokes more pity than any
other in all the Shs tragedies.
Othello and Desdemona are not capable of fighting the human corruption
matherialized in Iago. Iagos inferiority complex is combined with
ambition, wish for causing evil, disdain for moral normes, he is cynic,
sadist, he succeeds in his plans but is punished at the end, because of
Shs and audiences sense of justice that couldnt bear if Iago remained
the winner.
The major themes in Othello:
1. Decit and Appereance vs. Reality
2. Jealousy
3. Betrayal
I. Deceit and Appearance vs. Reality
The characters are perceived by other characters to be what they are
not. Some characters who are actually good are believed to be bad and
vice-versa.

56

a)Iago - fools everyone into believing that he is such a great guy and
caring friend. No one ever suspects him of wrongdoing. Always referred
to as the honest Iago until the end of the play by many of the
characters.
b)Desdemona - Believed to be guilty of infidelity when she remained
completely faithful to Othello
c)Cassio
1. thought guilty of sleeping with Desdemona
2. Wrongly accused and punished for fighting Roderigo
d) Othello
1. Brabantio thinks that he put a spell on Desdemona to make her fall in

love with him

2. Emilia initially believes that he murdered Desdemona to make her fall
in love with him.
II. Jealousy and Envy

a) Othello is jealous of Desdemona

b) Bianca is jealous of Cassio
c) Roderigo is envious of Othello because Othello has Desdemonas love
d) Iago - jealous of everyone
It is only Desdemona and Cassio who do not suffer feelings of jealousy,
but Desdemona suffers the harshest results of it.
III.
Betrayal
a) Iago betrays Othello by plotting against him
b) Othello betrays Desdemona by
1. Questioning her faithfulness
2. Killing her
c) Desdemona betrays Brabantio by sneaking off and marrying Othello

without his permission

a) Emilia betrays Desdemona by stealing her handkerchief and giving it to

Iago
b) Emilia betrays Iago, who she is expected to remain completely faithful,
by uncovering his evil plan
How they all come together:
Through deceit and false appearances, Iago betrays Othello by
stimulating his jealousy and insecurity by suggesting and encouraging
the idea of Desdemonas alleged betrayal. Because the themes play such
an important role in Iagos scheme, we can argue that his plot against
Othello serves as the plot for the entire play. In essence, Iago acts as the
playwright, manipulating the characters, staging scenes, and using props
(such as the handkerchief scenario in act...)

57

ROMEO AND JULIET (1595)

Dramatis personae:
Escales, prince of Verona
Paris, a young nobleman, kinsmen to the prince
Montague
Heads of two houses at variance with each other
Capulet
Romeo, son to Montague
Juliet, daughter to Capulet
Mercutio, kinsman to the prince, and friend to Romeo
Benevolio, nephew to Montague, and friend to Romeo
Tybalt, nephew to Lady Capulet
Samson, Gregory, servants to Capulet
Friar Laurence, a Franciscan
Early tragedy (1595) - based on Italian story which had already been
handled in English (via French) both in porse and in verse
Immediate source - The Tragical history of Romeo and Juliet by Arthur
Brooke (poem)
It is a tragedy of circumstances rather than of character.
The action is rapid and tense.
Though a tragedy, it is more closely comparable to Shs romantic
comedies than any of his tragedies.
It belongs to the years 1594-1596 (A Midsummer Nights dream, sonnets,
The Merchant of Venice ... ); like them, it uses variety of rhyme schemes
(couplets, quatrains, even sonnets)
Its a love story, celebrating the exquisite brief joy of youthful passion.
True love here is destined to be crossed by differences in blood or family
background, or other uncontrollable catastrophes such as war, death,
sickness. Love is as short as a dream, swallowed up by darkness. Love so
threatened and fragile is beautiful because its brief.
The lovers are not extraordinary except in their passionate attachment to
one another. Their dilemma of parental oposition is of the domestic sort
often found in comedy; accordingly, several characters resemble the
conventional character types of neoclassical comedy: the domineering
father who insists that his daughter marry according to his choice; the
unwelcome rival wooer, nurse, lovers. Like romantic comedies it is often
funny and erotic.
Shakespeare sets the love of R. and J. against other views of love - to
Capulets it is a matter of a suitable family alliance; to the Nurse physical sexual satisfaction; to Paris - a matter of good breeding and
decorum.
Samson and Gregory are cowards hiding behind the law.
Marcutio and Nurse - are among Shakespeares bawdiest (vulgar)
characters; their view of love contrast with the nobly, innocent and yet
physically passionate love of R.+J.

58

When we meet Romeo, he is not in love with Juliet but with Rosaline
(never appears - Petrarchan beauty)
The deaths of Romeo and Juliet, main characters in the play can be
explained in several ways.
First of all we have to say that different reasons like fate, providence and
traits (osobina, crta) of characters come together. They all add up to the
tragedy in the end of the play.
The main reason overall is still the feud between the two families Capulet
and Montague. Because of the long history of the feud and its strength, it
can be regarded as the major problem Romeo and Juliet were facing on
their way to love and happiness and a peaceful life in Verona.
The Capulets and the Montagues struggle for the power in Verona.
Romeo, son of the Montagues and his wife Juliet, member of the family of
Cappulet, both get in trouble because of their relationship.
Romeo with his irrational, passionate and emotional behaviour, always
brings him into a situation which is much worse than the one before but
never clears up anything. Juliet, on the other side is more practical and
rational in her decisions but too inexperied. Under the immense pressure
of her parents she is forced to marry Paris against her own intentions.
She gets advice from Friar Lawrence to take a potion to be asleep for a
few days and Romeos ignorance brings death to them both.
In the prologue, were told that Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed, which
implies that fate has it in for them. The number of fateful coincidences
and accidents in the play are too numerous to miss. Romeo finds out
about the Capulets party from an illiterate servant; he winds up in the
Capulets orchard; Mercutio is killed under his arm - the list goes on and
on. Every plan that the lovers make is thwarted. Theyre destined to die,
and nothing can stop it.
There might be a power beyond fate that has a role in the outcome of the
story. Since the play takes place in a Christian context, this power can be
thought of as God, or Providence. Romeo, Juliet and Friar Lawrence all
call on this higher power to help them. Friar Lawrence calls the deaths a
work of heaven. We can believe that some benevolent power is working
to change the Montagues and Capulets hatred to love - and it succeeds.
Inthe first part of the play comic mood prevails. But it is overshadowed
by the certainty of disaster. The opening chorus warns us that the lovers
will die (they are star-crossed and speak of themselves as such).
THE TEMPEST (1611)
A romantic drama; the latest of his completed works.
Dramatis personae:
Alonso, King of Naples
Sebastian, his brother
Prospero, the right Duke of Milan
Antonio, his brother, the usurping Duke of Milan
Ferdinand, son to the King of Naples
Gonzalo, and honest old Counsellor

59

Miranda, daughter to Prospero

Ariel, an airy Spirit
Caliban, a savage and deformed Slave
Trinculo, a Jester
The Tempest is generally regarded as Shakespeares last play, first
performed in 1611 for King James. Scholars attribute the immediate
source of the play to the 1609 shipwreck of an English ship in Bermuda
and travelers reports about the island and the ordeal of the mariners.
The period in which it was written, the seventeenth century age of
exploration suggest immediately some of its rich themes and
ambiguities.
The play can be read as Shakespeares commentary on European
exploration of new lands. Prospero lands on an island with a native
inhabitant, Caliban, a being he considers savage and uncivilised. He
teaches this native his language and customs, but this nurturing does
not affect the creatures nature. But Prospero does not drive Caliban
away, rather he enslaves him, forcing him to do work he considers
beneath himself and his noble daughter. As modern readers, sensitive to
the legacy of colonialism, we need to ask if Shakespeare sees this as the
right order; what are his views of imperialism and colonialism.
The theme of Utopianism is linked to the explorations of new lands.
Europeans were intrigued with the possibilities presented for new
beginnings in these new lands Was it possible to create an ideal state
when given a chance to begin anew. Would humans change if given a
second chance in an earthly Paradise?
The play emphasizes dramatic effects. Because it was performed at
court, there is a lot of stage business; music, dance, masque-like shows.
The role of the artist is explored through Prosperos use of his magic.
The Tempest has also been considered the most supernatural of all of
Shakespeares plays. Elizabethian England had a great fear of the occult
and believed that the spiritual elements of the world were only
dangerous in the hands of witches and sourcerors. The witch trials that
spread accross Europe in the late 16 th century ingrained in the citizens of
Europe a fear of the occult. Shakespeare doesnt present the spiritual
elements as being able to have any individual control. Ariel and the other
spirits are under the command of Prospero, a human, and previously
under the control of Calibans mother the witch. All of the spiritual
elements of the play have been tamed or controlled by man. In the
hands of the witch, black magic spread accross the island and in the
hands of Prospero the island was tamed with his white magic.
Other themes of the play, by some considered to be central, are
isolation, re-integration and forgiveness.
Prosperos island is not subject to the normal laws of human destiny, but
Prospero controlls all with his magic.

60

Miranda represents youth and innocence, Trinculo and Stephano mankind at its lowest and Ariel - wise man spirit represents the scientists
control over nature.
This is a magical play full of rich poetry. It is a play out of this world. It
represents the garden of Eden ,with God as Prospero. Prosperos Eden
becomes uninhabitable aat the end - perhaps Shakespeares last word as
Miltons was that men cannot live in Paradise.
The Tempest is less Christian play than any other of Shs earlier plays.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM (1595 or 1596)
A comedy
Dramatis personae
Theseus, Duke of Athens
Egeus, father to Hermia
Lysander
- in love with Hermia
Demetrius
Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
Hermia, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander
Helena, in love with Demetrius
Oberon, King of the Faires
Titania, Queen of the Fairies
Puck, or Robin Goodfellow
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed - fairies
Quince, a carpenter
Snug, a joiner
Bottom, a weaver
Flute, a bellows-mender
Snout, a tinker
DRAMA FROM JOHNSON TO THE CLOSING OF THE THEATRES
Shakespeare, the greatest of all poetic dramatists dominated English
theater for more than 20 years; everything that followed his
disappearence from the scene seems as a sort of anticlimax, and really,
the literary work of Francis Beaumont and John Flecher obviouslyy belong
just to their time, and they are not, as production of Shakespeare,
eternal.
But there are some writers who created theirr works at the same time as
Shakespeare did; one of the most important is Ben JOHNSON.
BEN JONSON (1572-1637)
Was Shakespeares friend and rival, considering comedies, but also, in
various aspects, Shakespeares supplement too. Probably the greatest
difference between these 2 authors is the contrast between the
Shakespeares drama that somehow acquires a sort of realistic status
that marvellously looks like the nature itself. Jonsons drama remain
undoubtly artificial - imitating classical writers, obeying very strict rules
made during the Renaissance under the spell of classical writers.

61

Jonsons drama, as well as his poetry, seem to introduce the first aspects
(moods) of Restauration and the 18 th ct; we may say that Jonson is the
father of English Classicism.
He produced 2 tragedies as well: Sejanus and Catiline - both based on
Roman themes.
But his comedies are what make him great as a playwriter. He knew in
advance what the function of comedy was, and what art of humour was
proper to it. He was deeply concerned with classical models which were
the source of his work (he wrote plays based on Roman history).
His first important and successful play was Everyman in His Humour
(1598), a comedy of intrigue, in which he brought together the imitation
of Roman comedy with realistic and satiric picture of London life of his
own age.
The function of comedy was to ridicule human vices or virtues, and he
adapted the old explanation of human characters by the humours to
develop a Comedy of Humours - a comedy in which each character is
dominated by one particular quirk (doskoica).
A humorous character is bound to be a carricature, never presented as a
fully realised human being, but only as a jealous husband, the anxious
fuather, the hypocritical puritan, or some other similar type. He never
preserved the moral pattern, the comedy of humours avoids this
probledm Comedy becomes satire, character becomes oddity, evil
becomes forlly. He presents his obssessed characters with wit, liveliness
or comic extravagance and with absurdity. His comedy becomes farce.
Other works: Cynthias Revels, The Silent woman, The Poetaster, The
Alchemist, Bartholomew Fair, Volpone or the Fox etc.
Volpone or the Fox
Written in blank verse.
Is the first and the greatest of a series of comedies which show Jonsons
charaacteristic mixture of savagery and humour, of moral feeling and
absurdities of which human nature is capable. It is the story of a rich man
who feigned a mortal illness so that his wealthy neighbours would court
his favour in hope of being named his heir. The play shows the exposure
of depths to which lust for wealth can degrade the human character.
The scene is set in Renaissance Italy, which was thought of as a proper
home of vice. The satire is deeply misanthropic. There are moments
whren the play moves close to tragedy or to Elizabethan romantic
tragedy.
The Alchemist (acted 1610)
A satiric comedy, dealing with pretended alchemist whose victims
include a great variety of characters, all of whom are attracted by the

62

hope of easy gold. This situation enables Jonson to display a great variety
of human weaknesses and hypocrisy.
The principal theme is how greed can make people gullible. (lakovjeran)
Story:
Love-wit, during an epidemic of plague, leaves his house in London in
charge of his servant Face. Face, in the absence of his master brings
Subtle, the quack alchemist, to his masters house which they use as a
place for deluding greedy people, by holding out to them promise of the
philosophers stone. (Drugger, a tobacco merchant, Dapper, a lawyers
clerk; the ambitious and sensual Sir Epicure Mammon and 2 puritan
Brethren of Amsterdam whose conversation and behaviour give Jonson
the opportunity to ridicule the Puritan hypocrisy and absurdity.
The ation moves fast until the unexpected return of Love-wit, which puts
an end to the activities of Face and Subtle. Face confesses to him and is
pardoned, for Love-wit loves a jest, and only the unfortunate Subtle and
Doll Common meet some kind of retribution in the end.
Face and Subtle are motivated by greed in playing on the greed of
others. The master can not resist the temptation Face presents him with,
and the play ends with Love-wit in the possession of the money and
goods the gullied fortune seekers had deposited to Face.
Jonson also wrote a large number of Masques = a dramatic
entertainment of the 16th to 17th century in England, consisting of
pantomime, dancing and song) which purpose was entertainment at
court or at a great house (throughout the reigns of Henry VIII, Elizabeth,
James I, Charles I, the court masque flourished). Their important part
were spectacle and movement; the arts of the stage designer and the
composer were often as important in its production as that of the poet.
Jonson introduced ANTIMASQUE, in which, by its deliberate change of
tone from the masque proper, he could show something of his other side
and add many different kinds of contrasting notes, from the comically
realistic to the grotesque.
His later comedies are: The Devil in Ass, The Staple of News, The
Magnetic Lady etc.
Eastward Hoe - a play written jointly by J.Marston, Chapman and Jonson.
The Jonsonian comedy + Chapmans reflexive psychology + Marston
melodramatic bitterness.
Shakespeare and Jonson were two giants among Elizabethan and
Jacobean playwrights.
In spite of the enormous popularity of the drama during this period,
Puritan hostility toward the theatres increased. When the Puritans finally
gained control over the government, they closed the theatres in 1642.
The closing of the theatres brought an end to the greatest of all periods
in the history of English drama. The next phase of English drama, after

63

the Restauration, produced a very different kind of dramatic literature.

Dominant literary form between 1580-1640 was POETIC DRAMA.
Other writers of the period were: George Chapman, John Marston,
Thomas Heywood, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, Francis
Beaumont, Webster, Ford etc.
George Chapman - produced 5 tragedies which show the Elizabethan
interest in stoic philosophy, searching for a kind of intellectual drama.
(All fools - comedy; The conspiracy and tragedy of Charles, Duke of
Byron - tragedies)
John Marston - extravagant laguage, melodramatic tragedies of love and
revenge, and cynical comedies.
Antonio and Mellida, Antonios Revenge etc.
Thomas Heywood - historical and patriotic themes, domeestic tragedies.
Plays that deal with the tragic results of passion or lust in ordinary family
situations. A Woman Killed by Kindness etc.
Thomas Dekker - prose pamhlets showing knowledge of London low life;
colaborated with others. The Honest Whore
Thomas Middleton - comedies of London life (sth of a Latin comedy of
intigue)
Women beware women etc.
JOHN WEBSTER (1580-1625)
Was the master of tragic drama in Renaissance and Baroque England.
Ambition and lust are motivating factors in the behaviour of his villains.
His best plays are: The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil. They are
both episodic in structure.
The Duchess of Malfi (1623)
The young widowedd duchess is forbidden by her brothers to remarry,
but secretly marries her own steward, and when this is discovered, the
brothers prepare cunning horrors for her and then have her killed.
As usual with Webster, motivation is obscure. Early in the play, it appears
that they had forbidden her to remarry because of honour, but at the
end, one of them confesses that he had hoped to inherit her wealth if she
remained widow.
The interest and the value of the play lie in the individual episodes.
The duchess, a widow, in a charming scene reveals her love for honest
Antonio, the steward of the court. They are secretly married in spite of
the warning of her brothers, the cardinal and Ferdinand, duke of Calabria.
Their warning was induced by consideration of their royal blood of
Arragon and Castile and as Ferdinand after confessed, by the desire to
inherit her property. They place in her employment an ex-gallery slave
Bosola to spy upon her and he betrays her to them. The duchess and
Antonio separate - the duchess is captured and subjected by Ferdinand

64

and Bosola to fearful mental tortures and is finally strangled with 2 of her
children. Retribution comes upon the murderers. Ferdinand goes mad.
Remorseful Bosola wants to kill the cardinal and kills Antonio by mistake
first, but then also the cardinal, and gets killed himself by lunatic
Ferdinand.
JOHN FORD (1586-1639)
He developed interest in the psychology of frustrated and illicit love,
which produced a number of plays of which the most interesting ones
are: The Broken Heart and Tis a Pity Shes a Whore. The principal
characteristic of his work is the powerful depiction of melancholy, sorrow,
and despair. His almost clinical curiosity about the aberrations
(odstupanja)of the love passions is combined with that taste for the
melodramatic incident which is characteristic for the Jacobean drama. His
blank verse is strong, sombre, melancholic.
Story: The play deals with the guilty passion of Giovanni and his sister
Annabella for each other. Being pregnant, Annabella marries one of her
suitors (prosac), Soranzo, who discovers her condition. Soranzo invites
Annabellas father and the important people of the city, with Giovanni, to
a feast, intending to execute his vengeance. Although warned of
Soranzos intentions, Giovanni boldly comes. He has a last meeting with
Annabella just before the feast, and to forestall Soranzos vengeance,
stabs her himself. He then enters the banqueting-room, defiantly tells
what he has done, fights with and kills Soranzo, and is himself killed.
The love was so thoroughly explored, that it was necessary for tragedy to
concentrate on incestuous love.
There is an atmosphere of Italian violence. This is his masterpiece which
shows his inclination for sensations even for decadent material.
Jacobean drama: false sentimentality, melodramatic, sensationalism,
decadent. Themes of the Jacobean poetic drama:
1. injured man sought revenge
2. ambitous men overreached themselfves
3. characters displayed heroic dignity endurance in face of inevitable
doom
4. men led by great passions to self-destruction, horrible acts, violence
5. obsessed, foolish men demonstrated their folly
PROSE IN THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURY
The intellectual conflicts and shifting tides of opinion in the 16 th and 17th
centuries are more directly shown in the prose than in the poetry.
Pamphleteering, polemic religious argument, political, educational and
literary theorizing flourished as never before. There are also devotional
works, sermons, translations, histories, biographies and prose fiction.
New forces are seen at work - the breakthrough of colloquial speech

65

- the attempt to develop a consciously artistic

English prose
Nearly all Elizabethan prose writers, as well as those of the subsequent
period, wrote a highly idiosyncratic prose - there was no common
tradition of prose style. Every prose writer had first to solve the problem
of creating his own style.
Humanism and Protestantism made their own contribution to the
development of English prose.
Sir Thomas More, whose Latin Utopia (1616) makes his chief literary
contibution as a Humanist, made his contribution to English prose in his
religious works. He also wrote: Dialogue and Dialogue or Comfort
against Tribulation.
William Tyndale, Mores opponent in his religious controversities; the
great Bible translator; he published the translation of Bible into English
from the original language + translation from Erasmus Exortations
Sermons - new style came into English preaching. The open controversy
between Puritan and Anglican church
Pamphlets - attacking the bishops, colloquial in style, full of wit, vulgar,
humorous. The Elizabethan satirical pamphlet - Nashe, Lodge
Translations - of: Italian novellas which provided plots for Elizabethan
drama - of Boccaccio, Bandello etc.
The 16th ct. was both Protestant and Humanist; as the criticism of the
Church brought about the Reformation, the demand for Bible translation
also grew. In 1535. the 1st complete English Bible appeared - Miles
Coverdale - his work mainly derived from Latin and German versions - he
lacked Tyndales original scholarship.
In 1537 appeared a composite version known as Matthews Bible made
up of Tyndales translation + Coverdales translation; it was the basis for
the series of revisions that culminated in the King James or Authorized
Version of 1611.
1540. The Great Bible - a revision of Matthews Bible made by Coverdale
The Catholic Queen Mary on her accession stopped abruptly the printing
of vernacular Bibles in England - many Protestants interested in Bible
translation went into exile - in Genova appeared the next English
translation of the Bible, The Genova Bible - 1560.
1568. The Bishops Bible; 1611, under James I who appointed a company
of learned men - a great new revision that has remained the Eng. Bible
eversince.
Bible translation (concise)
Caedemon and Bede (part of Gospel of St. John)
9th and 10th ct - Aelfrics translation of the Old Testament
14th ct - Wycliffe and his followers version
1525. William Tyndale version - he was the first to translate the New
Testament

66
1535. Miles Coverdale - the first complete version

1537.Matthews Bible, Tyndales translation+Coverdales translation

1540. The Great Bible
1560.The Genova Bible
1611. The Authorized version under James I
THOMAS NASHE (1567-1601)
One of the great individual prose stylists in English
The Unfortunate Traveller or The Life of Jack Wilton (1594) is a
prose tale of adventure, the earliest picaresque romance in Rnglish, and
the most remarkable work of the kind before Defoe. The whole story is
told with much spirit and wit. The picaresque novel was a suitable form
for prose narrative in the infancy of the novel, for it did not demand any
real integration of plot. Taking his hero on a series of adventures in
different places enabled the author to engage in a great variety of
miscellaneous (mjeovit, raznovrstan) descriptive writing. The
Unfortunate Traveller has been called the 1 st English historical novel.
Nashe introduced some pseudohistorical episodes.. The hero tells the
story in the 1st person, its basis is episodic narrative linked by memory
and coincidence.
FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)
He was meditating a scheme for an understanding and control of nature.
To this scheme he gaave the name General Instauration or renewal based knowledge on observation; it would restore a relationship between
the observing and observed nature and so make scientific progress
possible.. From observation to understanding - to practical application.
6 stages in realization of the scheme:
1. classification of existing knowledge
2. mapping of all gaps and deficiencies
3. the development of a new inductive method
4. collection of basic data
5. report of the achievements
6. presentation of the new philosophy and method in explaining the
natural phenomena of the universe
He was the first to propose the inductive scientific theory and to attack
scholasticism.
Works:
The Advancement of Learning - 2 books, the furthest end of
knowledge - control over nature for the benefit of man
The Novum Organum - the 4 classes of idols that beset (opkoliti)
mens mind: 1. idols of tribe 2. idols of the cave 3. idols of the
marketplace 4. of the thatre
The New Atlantis
History of Henry VII, a study of the kings policy
Essays

67

Volume of 10 essays, 1597. Consists of reflections on human affairs by a

practical psychologist. He wishes to base his ethical prescriptions on a
sound knowledge of human nature. The essay as a litarary form has been
invented by Montaigne shortly before Bacon adopted it. The essays deal
as much with private life, discussing nobility, empire, truth, death,
parents and children, marriage, envy, love. He speaks as a man of the
world, illustrating his generalizations by reference to history and to his
own experience.
The essays are famous for their aphoristic style.
THOMAS HOBBES (1588-1679)
Materialist, rationalist and empirical psychologist; broke completely with
tradition and worked out a new science of man by the application of
natural reason to the understanding of bodies.
As a philosopher Hobbes resembles Bacon in the practical or utilitarian
importance that he attches to knowledge. The basis of all knowledge,
according to him, is sensation, and the causes of all sensations are the
several motions of matter. Motion is the one universal cause, and our
appetites are our reactions in the direction of self-preservation, to
external motions. Accordingly man is essentially a selfish unit. Upon this
theory Hobbes bases the political philosophy which is expounded in his
Leviathan.
Leviathan - attempts to deduce a complete political theory from his
point of man, which is in turn based on a view of human passions, and
the view of passions is based on his materialist view of sensations. On
the whole, Leviathan is an argument in which he builds up the theory of
state based upon his analysis of men. The state is essentially an
instrument for preventing perpetual conflict between men; its aim is
security and freedom from the perpetual risk of sudden death.
Men are naturally prone to strive for ever increasing power. To avoid such
a state, men have made an implicit contract with each other to surrender
their natural rights to do as they think fit, on condition that everyone else
does the same.
Disorder, social and political chaos is for Hobbes the ultimate basis of all
good political action, just as vanity is the main principle of disorder and
conflict. There is no supreme good for Hobbes, there is supreme evil, the
prospect of sudden death. The best way of organizing a commonwealth
for Hobbes is the way which minimizes that prospect..
THE RESTORATION 1660 - 1700
Restoration is the re-establishment of monarchy on the accession of
Charles II (1660). The term often refers to the whole period from 1660 to
the fall of James II in 1688. After the death of Oliver Cromwell, reaction
against Puritan and military control favoured the recall of the exiled king
Charled II. Upon his return to power. Charles and others restored militant
Anglicanism and tried to assert the old Stuart absoluties. Both Charles
and his brother and successor James II were unvilling to accept their
financial dependance on Parliament and this was marked by the birth of

68

the Whig and Tory parties (liberals/conservatives), by the opposition to

Roman Catholicism and by the revival of the drama and poetry. Important
event: foundation of the Royal Society for the Improvement of Natural
Knowledge - institution for coordination of scientific efforts. Isaac
Newton, Robert Boyle, William Harvey, John Locke
Reopening the theatres in 1660 after a 18 years break during the Puritan
rule did not mean the revival of Elizabethan or Shakespearean theatre,
but a new phase in English drama. A lot of factors brought this change.
During Restoration - for the first time we have actresses in theatres.
In Elizabethan time, all classes of society were going to the theatres, but
in Restoration only higher nobility and the courts circles.
The most popular sort of drama was The Comedy of Manners, which
usually showed unrestrained society and turned to ridicule jealous or
cheated husbands and so on. In this sort of comedy usually amoral or
cynical types prevail. It is a social satire. The models were Ben Jonson,
John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont and Moliere.
WILLIAM CONGREVE (1670-1729)
The best comedist of the English Restoration. He wrote comedies of
which 2 best known are Love for Love and The Way of the World.
He has a witty style and an elegant perfection of expression. He takes
pleasure in making all his characters formulate their own doubtful moral
code.
The Way of the World(1700) - in some way the culmination of the
Restoration comedy, as well as the turning point. Its supreme
achievement of the age in comedy. It has polish and brightness.
Congreve wrote artificial rather than realistic comedy. The plot is based
to keep the play in motion, not to reveal the truths of life.
The finished portrait of Milamant, the heroine finely tempered in sense
and intellect, is Congreves most brilliant creation; there are also several
amusing characters.
Story: Young Mirabell is in love with coquet Millamant; they want to
marry, but have various problems in doing it.
He has succeded in depicting a pair of lovers completely absorbed in the
world, a man of free morals and a supremely coquettish woman, and yet
giving the illusion of two hearts capable of feeling. It includes comic
elements, but also serious problems of personal integrity and social role.
Characters:
Fainall - in love with Mrs Morwood, married
Mirabell - in love with Mrs Millamant
Sir Witfull Witwoud - half brother to Witwoud, nephew to lady Wishfort
Lady Wishfort - enemy to Mirabell for having falsely pretended love for
her
Mrs Millamant - niece to lady Wishfort, in love with Mirabell
Mrs Morwood - friend to Mr.Fainall, likes Mirabell

69

Mrs Fainall - daughter to Lady Wishfort, wife to Fainall, former friend to

Mirabell
Foible - lady Wishforts servant
Act I: Mirabell loves Millamant. His friends are Petulant, Witwoud and
Fainall. We learn about Mirabells uncle who has come to town.
Act II: Fainall loves Mrs Morwood though he is married. He suspects her
to be in love with Mirabell, just as his wife is. It was Mrs Morwood who
told lady Wishfort (Mrs Fainall mother) that Mirabell actually does not
love her. Mrs Fainall and Mirabell had an affair too.
Mirabells uncle - a pretended uncle, actually his servant. He wants to
deceive lady Wishfort. His name is Wontwell, he married Foible, lady
Wishforts servant.
ActIII: Sir Rowland - Mirabells uncle - lady Wishfort thinks that if she
marries him, Mirabell will be disinherited
Act IV: Millamant tells Mirabell under which conditions she is going to
marry him She wants her liberty, that is very important to her. Mirabell
tells her his wishes and they agree to marry.
Act V: lady Wishfort discovers that she was deceived by Foible who
claims to have been seduced by Mirabell. Even lady Wishforts daughter,
Mrs Fainall was a part of the plot and knew about everything all the time.
Fainall orders lady Wishfort never to marry without his consent, to give
money to her daughter and his wife as well. Millamant agrees to marry
Sir Witfull Witwoud only to prove her aunt, lady Wishfort, that she was
not part of the plot. It is discovered that Fainall and Mrs Morwood have
been complices. He wanted lady Wishforts (his daughters) fortune to
enjoy it together with Mrs Morwood . Everything ends happily.
The play was not well received and the author in disgust renounced any
further writing for the stage. Puritans did not like the comedy of
Restoration. In 1689 Jeremy Collier attacked severely the theater of
Restoration, considering those dramas as cynical and amoral. As a result,
later on, comedy did not have any more such unrestrained
characteristics.
Heroic drama - another popular genre (besides the comedy of
manners) during the Restoration. It has elements in common with the
heroic poetry. Heroic drama aims to incite admiration for courage, beauty
and love. The characters in a typical heroic drama are not convincing and
have superhuman characteristics. The heroes are incarnations of
heroism, bravery and devotion, while the heroines are beauties. The
themes are usually war, jealousy and love; the heroes are mostly princes
and kings. They have a happy ending. Heroic plays replaced tragedies.
The most known authors were Nathaniel Leej and Thomas Otway.
JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1700)
The best representative of the literature of Restoration. He wrote dramas
and critics and translated.

70

His comedy Marriage a la Mode is the typical product of the theatre of

Restoration, just as his heroic dramas. In these dramas, he usually used
heroic couplet in iambic decasyllable, but in his later tragedy All for
Love (which is an adaptation of Shakespeares tragedy Antonio and
Cleopatra) - he uses unrhymed decasyllable.
His other dramas are The Indian Emperor, The Spanish Friar etc.
With his prefaces and other critical writings, he is considered as one of
the most outstanding representatives of english criticism.
Essay on Dramatic Poetry (1668)
Is written in a form of a dialougue among 4 friends, each representing a
different point of view. The conversation starts with praise of classical
conception of drama and of traditional unity of time, place and action.
The discussion gradually goes in the direction of recognition of English
drama with all its inconsistencies and irregularities. The chief matter of
such a drama is Shakespeare, so Dryden shows acknowledgement for
him.
He includes in his essay an examination of Jonsons play Epicone or the
Silent Woman
Dryden was a great poet of his age (Heroic Stanzas on the Death of
Cromwell, poem in praise of Cromwell; Astrea Redux - celebrates the
return of the Steward dynasty on the throne)
Dryden wrote other satires and is the best satirist of the period. He is
also the representative of the traditional phase of English literature from
imaginative Elizabethan period to a phase of neoclassicism of 18 th ct. He
also translated the classics.
Absalom and Architophel (1681)
A satirical poem in heroic couplets .
It deals with the politic crisis of 1679-81.
Charles II had his methods of maintaining the royal authority and there
was an opposition to him, concentrated in the Wigs party. They also
wanted to destroy the alliance with catholic France.
Charles II had no heir and he would be suceeded by his catholic brother
James; Duke of York. The Wigs set to exclude James and to promote the
Duke of Monmouth as the great confessor for the protestant religion. As
demands for James exclusion increased, Charles kept him out of England
as much as possible.
He shows, allegorically, the attempt of Lord Shaftesbury to prevent the
Duke of York to become the heir of Charles II and to set the Duke of
Monmouth in his place. Dryden wrote this satire in order to incite revolt
against Shaftesbury, but he did not succeed in it, and Shaftesbury
(Whigs) was released from prison.
Tory pamphleteers branded Shaftesbury as a diabolus.
Achitophel - the Earl of Shaftesbury

71

Absalom - Duke of Monmouth (natural son of Charles II)

David - Absaloms father, Charles II (Israels monarch in the story)
The Jews - the English
Jesuites - Roman Catholics
Egypt - catholic France
This is biblical disguise. Achitophel was Absaloms evil counsellor who
incited him to rebel against David.
Dryden was not the 1st to apply the biblical parallel of David and Absalom
to Charles and his illegitimate son, but he was the 1 st to exploit it so fully,
creating a constant interplay btw biblical narrative and current history.
The events of these years increased the possibillity of Absaloms history
as political allegory, Dryden drew Hebrew and English history together
and enriched his allegory with allusions to the Bible.
The poem opens with character sketches of the protagonists. The grand
dialogue of seduction between Achitopel and his victim, Absalom,
follows. Absaloms unlawful ambiton becomes active under Achitophels
flattering and has its origin in his nobility.
A&A is a part history and propaganda, part satyre, part panegyric. The
main purpose of A&A is the vindication (obrana) of a king. The style is
heroic. Everything is exalted above the level of real life. This is
appropriate both to biblical allegory and to a narrative of great politic
events.
It is heroic in the panegyric descriptions of the kings friends - their
qualities of loyalty and service are depicted in ideal terms.
It is heroic too in the portraits of Absalom and Achitophel. Heroic in lifting
the Torys presentation of Shaftesbury as a diabolus to a level where he
quite ironically presents Achitophels virtues and abilities.
For the epic treatment of a biblical story, Dryden has precedents in
French religious epic and Miltons poems.
All for Love or The World Well Lost (1678)
a tragedy; in this, his finest play, Dryden abandoned the rhymed couplet
for blank verse.
The subject of this play is the death of Anthony and Cleopatra. It was
treated by many poets because of the moral: the chief persons
represented the famous pattern of unlawful love.
The central character, Anthony, hasnt got perfect virtue, neither is he
altogether wicked and thus he can be unhappy and pitied.
But the story as such can not allow Dryden to promote pity because the
crimes of love which A&C comitted were not occasionned by any
necessity or fatal ignorance, they were wholly voluntary since their
passions are, or ought to be, within their power.
The unities of time, place and action are carefully observed, just as the
English theatre requires. The action is so much one that it is the only of
the kind without episode or underplot. Every scene is conducing
(pridonijeti) the main design and every act concluding with a turn of it.

72

The greatest error in the contrivance is in the person of Octavia (As wife)
because the compassion she moves towards herself and the children is
destructive to that which Dryden reserved for A&C.
Their mutual love, being founded upon vice, must lessen the favour of
the audience to them.
Dryden does not agree that the excellency of poetry lies in the nicety of
manners. It is important to make the audience either laugh or cry, not to
make them sleep. He tries to imitate Shakespeare and in order to do it
more freely he abandoned rhyme.
Characters:
Mark Anthony
Ventidius, his friend
Dollabella, his friend
Octavia, his wife
Cleopatra, queen of Egypt
Alexas, the queens eunuch
Story: Although Rome and Egypt are at war, Anthony is seduced by
Cleopatra, and thus forgets his manliness and duties. He even turns
against Octavius, Roman emperor. His loyal friend Ventidius warn him
about Cleopatras dangerous charms bcs she managed to turn him into
her toy. Octavius is willing to forgive Anthony if he takes back his
estranged wife Octavia and goes back to Rome. Anthony accepts and
refuses to see Cleopatra for the last time bcs he knows that she would
charm him once again, so he sends his friend DOllabella to say good-bye
for him. Alexas talks Cleopatra into a jealousy game and she decides to
make Anthony jealous by seducing Dollabella. Anthony goes mad and
helps Caesar win over the troops of Egypt, banished Donabella. Alexas
lies to him that Cleopatra killed herself because she did not want to
surrender to Octavius. Overwhelmed with grief, Anthony stabs himself
but Cleopatra is not dead yet. They talk and confess their love, he dies
and she decides to follow him in death.
JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688)
2 contemporary types of plain prose:
1. Drydens prose styles flexibility
2. Simplicity of Bunyans prose

The Pilgrims Progress or From this World to that which is to Come

(1678,79), an allegory
The allegory takes form of a dream by the author. In this he sees
Christian, on the advice of Evangelist, fleeing from the City of
Destruction. Pt. I describes his pilgrimage through the Slough of Sespond,
the House Beautiful, the Valley of Humiliation, the Valley of the Shadow
of Death, Vanity Fair, the Delectable Mountains, the country of Beulah, to
the Celestial city.

73

Pt II relates how Christian wife, Christiana, moved by a vision, sets out

with her children on the same pilgrimage, accompanied by her neighbour
Mercy.
The work is remarkable for the beauty and simplicity of its language
(Bunyan was permeated - proet with the English of the Bible), the
vividness and reality of the impersonations, and the authors sense of
humour and feeling for the world of nature.
Pilgrims Progress deals with archetypal theme of mans life as a journey
(Christs journey from the City of destruction to salvation on Heaven).

POETRY AFTER SPENSER

The Jonsonian and the Methaphisical Tradition
Spenser was the greatest nondramatic poet of his age with patriotic
impulse. He has woven together Pastoral, Patriotic, Didactic, Allegorical.
These threads in the 17th century come apart and are found separately in
those poets who came under his influence. The Elizabethan age in poetry
flowed into the Jacobean (1603 - James VI of Scotland becomes also King
James I of England). No single poet had the stature to continue the
Spenserian tradion as Spenser had developed it.
Ben Jonson - Brought a lyric which owed much to classical poets of Rome
(Horace). His best love lyric are very beautiful. He wrote poems of
compliments to friends and patrons, autobiographical poems, devotional
poems, epistles, elegies, epigrams.
He is the father of the CAVALIER strain in English poetry which ran
through the 17th ct. Donne is the father of metaphysical strain, which was
parallel.
Jonson set classical symmetry, Donne set a petry which combined
violence of personal passion with intelectual ingenuity. For both, the
personality of the poet and not a poetic subject determined the choice of
tone and image.
The term METAPHYSICAL was first used for Donne and his followers by Dr
Johson denoting the intellectual strain in the poetry..
Metaphysical poetry - blend of thought and passion, of the colloquial with
the ingenious, of realistic violence and meditative refinement.
Distinctions among the metaphysical poets themselves - Donne stands
apart both chronologically and temperamentally.
METAPHYSICAL POETRY

74

Metaphysical poets were men of learning and to show learning was their
whole endeavour. This school has an aim the introduction of a more stern
intellectual strain into poetry.
Physics deals with observative reality, and metaphysics with things
beyond it. 3 main subjects of metaphysical poetry:
1. immortality of soul
2. freedom of will
3. the existence of God
Characteristics of metaphysical poetry:
1. Its conception - it demands that we pay attention and read on; tends to
be brief, and is always closely woven, we may say that its and
expanded epigram. M. poets favoured either very simple verse forms
octosyllabic couplets or quatrains, of ellse stanzas created for the
particular poem.
2. CONCEITS - a conceit is a comparison whose ingenuity is more striking
than its justness; all comparisons discover likeness in things unlike; a
comparison becomes conceit when we are made to concede likeness
while being strongly conscious of unlikeness ( A Valediction; Forbidding
Mourning - the comparison of the union in absence of 2 lovers with the
relation between the 2 legs of compass)
ROBERT SOUTHWELL (1561-1595)
His poems were mainly written in prison. He was executed after three
years imprisonment. His chief work was St Peters Complaint, a long
narrative of the closing events of the life of Christ.
He was a Catholic poet, and stands rather apart from the other English
religious poetry of the period.
The Burning Babe is his best known lyric. It is a Christian poem with a
certain visionary power. This poem is perhaps the most famous piece of
recusant(nepokoriv) verse since he was refusing to attend protestant,
Church of England services. He was a Jesuit and was hanged for this
activities in England.
JOHN DONNE (15721631)
Stands apart from the other metaphysical poets, but is considered as the
father of met. strain. This tradition has its roots in the tradition of rhetoric
and symbolism. He set a poetry which combined violence of personal
passion with intelectual ingenuity. His poetry consists of 5 satires, 20
elegies and the Songs and Sonnets.
1. tone of wit in his early poetry -

Satires (colloquial glimpses of the London of the period)

Elegies - poems about love, written in iambic pentameter couplets
Songs&Sonnets - the most interesting poems; love poems. The opening
of these poems shock the reader into attention, sometimes by a
question. This is Donnes characteristic method - first the shock, then the

75

ingenious development of the thought. His chief quality is the union of

passion and ratio.
2. later he abandoned Roman Chatolicism for the Church of England. He
wrote poetic arguments about the decline of the world and the
discomforts of earthly life.
1. Divine Poems - last phase of his life, written after his wifes death religious poems
The 2 Anniversaries (belong to his second phase), were written as
funeral elegies for the death of a 15 year old daughter of Sir Robert
Drury. They are elaborately worked out poetic arguments about the
decline of the world since the death of the girl.
The first is entitled The Anatomy of the World and broods with many
illustrations over the worlds decay and disorder
The second: Of the Progress of the Soul - about the incommodities of
the Soul in this life and her exalation in the next
The Holy Sonnets - they contain the core of his religious poetry, such as
Death, Be no Proud. They are a combination of passion and argument of
a religious man, serching for the rught relationship with God and aware
both of his own unworthiness and Gods infinite greatness. These poems
are the most metaphysical of all his religious poems.
GEORGE HERBERT ( 1593 - 1633)
The finest of the religious metaphysicians. He postponed his religious
vocation for many years, during which he faced the temptation of
academic and public life, resisting them in the end. His collection of
religious poems:
The Temple (1633) - where he expresses the conflict between the world
and Christian devotion, also exploring the significance of the main
symbols and beliefs of protestant christianity. He explored analogies btw
emblematic objects and religious truths (such as parts of the human
body and parts of the church building and its furniture)
He uses musical devices and analogies to a greater extent than any
other metaphysician. The combination of shock and repose in Herberts
poetry is difficult to parallel in English literature. He used a remarkable
variety of stanwa forms, constantly creating new ones. There is no search
for the true religion, but the struggle between the world and the
complete surrender to God.
He combines the strongly individual with general.
Death - Christian interpretation of death; body is just half we have (soul)
The Pulley - God created a man as a little world (microcosmos)
Man - question: Whats man? - microcosmos
The Collar - God controls us
HENRY VAUGHAN (1622 -1625)
He regarded himself as the disciple (uenik, sljedbenik) of Herbert. His
collection of religious poems: Silex Scintillans (1655) - poetry of religious

76

contemplation. He is counscious of a veil that separates time from

eternity, man from God and is seeking for ways to penetrate it. His most
characteristic poems have an indivuduality of tone that distinguishes
them sharply from any other metaphysical poetry. There is a mystical
strain in this thought. He is familiar with hermetic and alchemical love.
This led into entirely new kind of poetry.
Poems: Man, Religion, Retreat (longing for the return to childhood,
innocence), Corruption
Other metaphysical poets: Richard Crawshaw (religious passion) etc.
Parallel tradition - The Sons of Ben - they had Jonsonian themes, his lyric
strain, although inlfuenced to some extant by Donne. They were heirs to
both Jonson and Donne: Robert Herrick (classical paganism+English folk
themes), Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling etc.
Secular Metaphysics - continues the Donne tradition not in religious
poetry, but in poetry of love, compliment, elegy or meditation: Henry
Icing, John Clevelan, Abraham Cowley and
ANDREW MARWELL (1621-1678)
He combines true metaphysical wit with classical grace. His poems were
not published in his life time. He stood alone like Milton creating his own
synthesis. His poetry is contemplative, formal and mysteriously
suggestive. He also wrote poems in praise of gardens and country life,
including The Hill and Grove at Billborow and The Garden.
After the Restoration he entered parliament and became a violent
politician and wrote satires and pamphlets.
To His Coy Mistress - he was a Christian humanist and wrote prose
writings in defense of religious toleration.
As the time passes quickly lets not lose it and lets have sex while we
can. Lets consume our love phisically since we are alive now (sort of
retort - otar duhoviti odgovor, to Extasy, by Donne). If the pint of love is
not sex then there would be no life at all (the iron gates of life).
The poem is full of daring metaphors.
The Garden - by finely ordered imagery and cunning progression of
thought. The lovely garden felicity is a symbol of the unfallen life in Eden.
The garden, like the biblical paradise of pleasure, satisfies the senses,
but also calls for contemplation of the source of these delights. There is
no woman in the garden and the poem suggests that Adam was better
off without Eve.

JOHN MILTON (1608 - 1674)

He stands by himself in 17th ct. English literature. With him ends the
English renaissance. He attempted seriously to fuse into one the spirit of

77

the Renaissance and of the Reformation. He felt the conflict between

paganism and christianity, nature and religion.
His life falls into 3 divisions:
1. youth and early manhood - minor poems
2. 1640-60; mainly prose
3. the last 14 years - major poems
He received Christian Humanist education from the start. He studied
Latin, Greek, Hebrew and classical rhetoric. He travelled a lot, especially
to Italy, but then returned to England. During 26 years he devoted
himself to political life.
The great debate btw religion and politics which divided the English
nation in the middle of the 17 th century helped ot determine the course
of his career and shape his literary ambition.
1. Youth

The platonic notion of the music of the spheres was his favourite notion,
it haunted him throughout his life, appealing both to his sense of music
and his love of order and hierarchy, as well as to his passionate belief in
purity and chastity (for only the pure and the chaste could hope to hear
that divine harmony).
He began his career with verse paraphrases of Psalms and Ovidian Latin.
His first formal poem is probably Ode on the Death of a Fair Infant Dying
of a Cough, where he uses both classical mythology and Christian ideas.
Then he wrote the first of his Latin elegies - fluency of his elegiac Latin
verse shows a remarkable mastery of the language.
elegies - the Christian and the Humanist - one of the main problems of
his career was the possibility of fusion of these two strains.
He was also an accomplished writer of Italian verse and he wrote a
number of Italian sonnets which show him in Petrarchan style.
(Lallegro, Il Penseroso)
His first fully successful English poem (1629) - On the Morning of
Christs Nativity - appears to be intended as the first of a series of
poems in a high religious vein, celebrating different occasions of the
Christian year.
It consists of an introduction and a hymn, has a lot of imagery and
conceits. It celebrates the end of paganism. The real theme of the poem
is the victory over pagan gods and superstitions by the divine Babe, who
figures as a classical hero. It is a lovely hymn of adoration and rejoicing.
It is the only of his poems that may be called baroque but it is already
Miltonic in its controlled development and interweaving of themes from
different mythology which shows his humanistic orientation.
The poem is a celebration of order and harmony in heaven and earth.
Lycidas is the last poem of his youth (1637)

78

It is an elegy in pastoral form. Written on the death of Edward King, a

fellow from Christs College, Cambridge, who had been a student there at
the same time as Milton. He was drowned while crossing from Chester
Bay to Dublin, his ship having struck a rock.
It is the greatest of his early poems. He asks the old question why should
the just men suffer. If God takes virtuous and promising servant, while He
allows corrupted clergy to flourish, is it worth while for anybody to scorn
delights and live laborious days?
3 answers:
1. first (is the narrowest) gives Feb (the God of Art). He says: even when a
man dies, his fame continues to live after him
2. the Christian consolation for the death of Lycidas is in fact that he is in
heaven now
3. the widest: the most human and the least direct answer lies in the end
of the poem; Milton now speaks in the 3rd person and says that the
shepard has ended his song over his dead friend, and tomorrow he will
again pipe his song wondering through woods and pastures; the sorrow
passes, and man turns to the new tasks; we know that the death is
always present and that after the death the fame or heaven comes, or
maybe something else; we have to go on living and working ,trying to
achieve our aim no matter if sth stops us.
The conflict between doubt and faith ends in the triumphant vision of
Lycidas soul in Heaven.
When the Puritan and Parliamentary struggle reached its climax, Milton
allied with the Presbyterians and participated in the murder of the king.
The general aim of Puritans, whose power was increasing, was the
fulfillment of the Reformation; Milton was for Cromwell and the Puritans
and against royalists.
II Maturity
he wrote many works during his political career (On Education, his most
important prose work)
The Restoration (1660) - Milton was forced into poverty, blindness,
leisure
When the new government came in, Milton was in danger.
His chief works; Paradise Lost (1667)
Paradise Regained9
Samson Agonistes, tragedy, a lot of autobiographical
elements.
Personal unhappiness and the nations agony had darkened his thought.
He wrote in blank verse. He turned his back on Renaissance as on
trivialities, fixing his inward light on the Bible. He sang of Creation, the
fall of angels, the fall of man, the reconquest of Paradise by Christ
He remained a Christian humanist, although he is a puritan. He accepts
the fall of man and his redemption through Christ.

79