Historical Background

- House of Tudor, an English royal dynasty of Welsh origin, which gave five sovereigns to

England: Henry VII (reigned 1485–1509); his son, Henry VIII (1509–47); followed by
Henry VIII’s three children, Edward VI (1547–53), Mary I (1553–58), and Elizabeth
I (1558–1603).
- The early Tudor period, particularly the reign of Henry VIII, was marked by a break with
the Roman Catholic Church and a weakening of feudal ties, which brought about a vast
increase in the power of the monarchy.
- Because of the conflict between the king and the Pope, clergy, officeholders, and others
were forced to select sides.
- The other effect of the English Protestant Reformation was the Dissolution of
Monasteries, under which monastic lands and possessions were broken up and sold
off.
- Henry died in London on 28 January 1547 and his son Edward became King.

Characteristics of Early Tudor Period

- The Tudor period has been defined as a golden era in British history; a time of
extravagance, music, queens and Shakespeare.
- The beginning of the Tudor dynasty coincided with the first dissemination of printed
matter.
- After breaking with the Roman Catholic, it associated with the wider European Protestant
Reformation, a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity
in western and central Europe. Causes included the invention of the printing press,
increased circulation of the Bible and the transmission of new knowledge and ideas
among scholars, the upper and middle classes and readers in general.
- Literature has strong tradition of English vernacular which gradually use as English use
of printing press
-  Italian poetic forms, especially the sonnet, became models for English poets.
- Drama flourished in England as never before or since
- Poetry divided into two periods: early renaissance poetry and late renaissance poetry

Prominent Authors of Early Tudors Period

1. Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 – 11 October 1542)

- He was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet credited with
introducing the sonnet to English literature. Wyatt's poetry reflects classical and Italian
models. Many of his poems deal with the trials of romantic love and the devotion of the
 suitor to an unavailable or cruel mistress. His most famous poems are “Whoso List to Hunt,”
“They Flee From Me,” “What No, Perdie,” “Lux, My Fair Falcon,” and “Blame Not My
Lute.” Wyatt also wrote three satires in which he adopted the Italian terza rima into English
(“Thomas Wyatt,” 2013)

2. Nicholas Udall (December 1505-December 1556)

- He wrote the first known English comedy, Ralph Roister Doister was probably presented
to Queen Mary as an entertainment around 1553, but not published until 1566. Udall was
educated at the University of Oxford, where he became a lecturer and fellow. He became a
schoolmaster in 1529 and was teaching in London in 1533 when he wrote “ditties and interludes”
for Anne Boleyn’s coronation.

3. Thomas More (February 7, 1478-July 6, 1535)

- Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1516, which was the forerunner of the utopian literary genre.
More served as an important counselor to King Henry VIII of England, serving as his key
counselor in the early 1500s, but after he refused to accept the king as head of the Church of
England, he was tried for treason and beheaded (he died in London, England, in 1535). More is
noted for coining the word "Utopia," in reference to an ideal political system in which policies
are governed by reason. He was canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint in 1935, and has
been commemorated by the Church of England as a "Reformation martyr."

Elizabethan Period (1558-1603)

Historical Background

- Elizabeth I - the last Tudor monarch

- The Elizabethan Age is the time period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth
I (1558–1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. It was an age
considered to be the height of the English Renaissance, and saw the full flowering of
English literature and English poetry.
- The Elizabethan age saw the flowering of poetry (the sonnet, the Spenserian stanza,
dramatic blank verse), was a golden age of drama (especially for the plays of
Shakespeare), and inspired a wide variety of splendid prose (from historical chronicles,
 versions of the Holy Scriptures, pamphlets, and literary criticism to the first English
novels).

Characteristics of Elizabethan Period

- Tragedy was a great boom in literature

- Development of Drama
- Popularity of Poetry
- Translations in Elizabethan Age
- Theater and poetry were the dominant forms of literature during this period.
- Originated from the Italian word sonetto, meaning "little song," Sonnet, a 14 line lyric
poem, was also one of the poetic elements that gained a deep interest in this period.

Prominent Authors of Elizabethan Period

1. William Shakespeare

- William Shakespeare was an English writer who was regarded as one of the best writer during
the Elizabethan era. Shakespeare is known for many of his poems and plays that he wrote. He
was an English poet and playwright and was regarded as the greatest writer in the English
language. He is even known as the ‘national poet’ of England and the ‘Bard of Avon’. The
respect and reputation of Shakespeare did not rise to what it is now until the 19th century. The
most famous among his tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. Shakespeare also
wrote 4 poems, and a famous collection of Sonnets which was first published in 1609.

2. Edmund Spenser (1553-1599)

- He was the leading non-dramatic poet of the Elizabethan age. He wrote his magnificent epic
romance The Faerie Queene. Earlier, his poem The Shepheardes Calendar had presented
religious and social satire through innovative poetic forms.

3. Christopher Marlowe (Feb. 26, 1564-May 30, 1593)

- Christopher Marlowe was an Elizabethan poet and William Shakespeare's most important
predecessor in English drama. He is noted especially for his establishment of dramatic blank
verse. In a playwriting career that spanned little more than six years, Marlowe's achievements
were diverse and splendid. Among the little available information we have, Dido is believed to
be the first Marlowe play performed, while it was Tamburlaine that was first to be performed on
a regular commercial stage in London in 1587.