Mr.

Asit Kumar Mohanty UGC NET with JRF & GATE in

English
Free Demo Class for SSB Lecturer English
For Paid Course Contact 8249083909
To Join Free Whatsapp Group Click on the Link Below
https://chat.whatsapp.com/ECns98Jlml64PoQQEuRk5C

Elizabethan Drama

Introduction
The key movements that influenced the writings of the Tudor period
are Reformation and Humanism. The Renaissance Humanism
encouraged the study of classical texts as well as placed emphasis on
the centrality and dignity of man. During this period, printing
flourished and education was given much importance. The important
writers of the early Tudor period are Roger Ascham, Sir Thomas
Elyot, Desiderius Erasmus, John Skelton, Sir Thomas More, Wyatt
and Surrey. The Schoolmaster (1570) is the famous work of Roger
Ascham. It evokes the ideals of humanistic education. The Book
Named the Governor (1531) written by Thomas Elyot contributed to
the ideal of the Renaissance gentleman. Desiderius Erasmus’ prose
satire on corruption and ignorance of the clergy is titled Moriae
Encomium (The Praise of Folly, 1511). Skelton’s irregular, energetic,
satirical style has given rise to the expression “Skeltonic verse”.
Skelton’s popular poems are The Boke of Phyllyp Sparowe (1505) and
Colyn Cloute. Utopia (1516) is the principal literary work of Sir
Thomas More. It was originally written in Latin. The protagonist is
Raphael Hythloday whom the narrator Thomas More met at Antwerp.
The Island of Utopia or “Nowhere Land” is characterized by absence
of tyranny, absence of private ownership, religious tolerance, etc. Sir
Thomas Wyatt is famous for having introduced the Petrarchan sonnet
in English while Surrey introduced Blank Verse. Tottel’s Miscellany
is the first anthology to be published in English. It established the
Petrarchan sonnet form.
William Shakespeare, who is regarded the greatest of all English
writers, lived during the late Tudor period, during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon
Avon, on 23 April 1564. His plays were performed by the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men. He owned shares in the Second Blackfriars
Theatre and the Globe. He wrote 37 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long
poems. The First Folio (1623) was compiled by John Heminges and
Henry Condell and comprised 36 plays of Shakespeare. The plays of
Shakespeare can be classified as comedies, tragedies, history plays
and romances. The early comedies of Shakespeare like Love’s
Labour’s Lost (1598), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (perf. 1593) and
The Comedy of Errors (perf. 1594) use less original plots, exotic
settings, strong heroines and clever servants as
characters, wit and word play, quibbling and slapstick. Shakespeare’s
early tragedies are Titus Andronicus (perf. 1594) and Romeo and
Juliet (perf. 1595). The English history plays comprise the Minor
Tetralogy, the Major Tetralogy and two other plays. The Minor
Tetralogy comprises Henry VI 3 Parts and Richard III (perf. 1633).
The Major Tetralogy comprises Richard II (1597) and Henry IV 2
Parts (perf. 1600) and Henry V (1599). King John (1623) and Henry
VIII (perf. 1613) are his other two history plays. Henry VIII is the last
history play of Shakespeare written in collaboration with John
Fletcher. The Roman plays written by Shakespeare are Julius Caesar
(perf. 1599), Antony and Cleopatra (perf. 1607) and Coriolanus (perf.
1608). The Mature Comedies of Shakespeare are full-fledged
romantic comedies with multiple plots, fully developed characters,
powerful heroines, sophisticated wit and excellent prose. His mature
comedies are A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1600), Much Ado About
Nothing (1600), Twelfth Night (1600), The Merchant of Venice (1600)
and As You Like It (1600). The Dark Comedies of Shakespeare are
also known as Problem Plays. All’s Well That Ends Well (c. 1604),
Measure for Measure (1604) and Troilus and Cressida (1609) are his
dark comedies built around the themes of revenge, sexual jealousy,
aging, death, etc. The Great Tragedies are the best of Shakespeare’s
works. It is said about Shakespeare’s tragic heroes that “Character is
destiny”. This means their tragedy is brought about by their own
actions. The Shakespearean tragedies are Hamlet (1601), Othello
(1602-04), King Lear (perf. 1606) and Macbeth (1606). Hamlet is the
longest of Shakespeare’s plays and is written in the form of a Senecan
revenge tragedy. The Dramatic Romances of Shakespeare are
Cymbeline (perf. 1610), Pericles (perf. 1608), The Winter’s Tale
(perf. 1610) and The Tempest (perf. 1611). These plays of the mature
phase of his career are tragicomedies and are based on the themes of
forgiveness, reconciliation and family reunion.
The main contemporaries of Shakespeare are Sir Philip Sidney,
Edmund Spenser, University Wits, Ben Jonson, Francis Bacon and
John Donne. Sir Philip Sidney is a chivalric humanist, considered to
have been an ideal courtier. None of his works were published during
his lifetime. Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella (1591) comprises 108
sonnets and 11 songs addressed to Penelope Devereux. His Arcadia
(1580) is the first Renaissance imitation of Lyly’s Euphues. Apologie
for Poetry (1595) discusses topics like the antiquity of poetry,
universality of poetry, continuity of poetry, and definition of poetry.
Edmund Spenser was an English planter who lived in Ireland. Called
“the poets’ poet”, he provided a blend of chivalric humanism and
Christian ideals. His work The Shepheardes Calender (1579) was
published anonymously under the pseudonym Immerito and dedicated
to Sir Philip Sidney. The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596) is a dense
allegory in epic form tied to the Arthurian legends and celebrates the
Tudor dynasty. Each book is titled after a knight who exemplifies a
particular private virtue. The six books are Redcrosse Knight, Guyon,
Britomart, Triamond and Cambell, Artegall and Calidore. Spenser’s
Amoretti (1595) is a sequence of 89 sonnets about his courtship of
Elizabeth Boyle followed by four short lyrics and Epithalamion.

The University Wits were a group of writers prominent in 1580s who

attended either of the two universities – Oxford or Cambridge. The
term was first used by Saintsbury. The Oxford School comprised John
Lyly (1554-1606), George Peele (1556-96) and Thomas Lodge (1558-
1625). The Cambridge School consists of Robert Greene (1558-92),
Thomas Nashe (1567-1601) and Christopher Marlowe (1564-93).
Thomas Kyd did not attend any university, but he wrote in the style of
the Wits. Euphues (1578), a romantic intrigue written in the form of
letters, is the most important work of John Lyly. Robert Greene wrote
the famous A Groatsworth of Wit (1592) in which he mocked
Shakespeare as an upstart crow. Thomas Kyd wrote the famous The
Spanish Tragedy (perf. 1589). Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great
(perf. c. 1587) is a typical Elizabethan tragedy. In Marlowe’s The Jew
of Malta (c. 1589), the prologue is spoken by Machiavel, a Senecan
ghost. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (1592) is the most
famous of Marlowe’s works. Ben Jonson is popular for his Comedy
of Humours, where each character is marked by some eccentricity of
character based on the disproportionate composition of body
humours. This is based on the medieval physiognomic theory that the
human body is made of four humours, Blood, Phlegm, Choler and
Melancholy. The theory of Comedy of Humours is discussed by
Jonson in the Induction to Every Man in His Humour (perf. 1598).
Other major plays by Jonson are Volpone or the Fox (perf. c. 1605),
Epicoene or The Silent Woman (perf. 1609) and The Alchemist
(1610). Francis Bacon is another contemporary of Shakespeare, well-
known as a scientist and philosopher, and the author of Essays Civil
and Moral and The New Atlantis (1629 in English), an unfinished
Utopian fiction about the discovery of an island in the Pacific Ocean.
John Donne is another major contemporary known for his satires, love
elegies and holy sonnets. Some of his major poems are “The Flea”
(1633), “The Canonization” and “Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”
(1633). Donne was an influence on the Metaphysical Poets of the 17th
century who revolted against Elizabethan conventions of writing.
In a Nutshell
Renaissance Humanism
 Institution of education developed
 Important figures
o Roger Ascham (c. 1514-68)
o Sir Thomas Elyot (c. 1490-1546)
o Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1467-1536)
Dutch humanist and scholar
Moriae Encomium (The Praise of Folly, 1511)
o John Skelton (c. 1460-1529)
Skeltonic verse
The Boke of Phyllyp Sparowe (1505)
o Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
Humanist
Courtier and Lord Chancellor to King Henry VIII
Utopia (Latin, 1516), an essay in two books
o Wyatt & Surrey founded English Renaissance poetry
 Wyatt introduced Petrarchan sonnet into English
Surrey introduced blank verse from the Italian into English poetry//
Tottel’s Miscellany (1557)
o Original title: Songs and Sonnets (5 June 1557, 1st edition 271
poems)
o First anthology to be published in English
 William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
o Born as the son of John and Mary Arden Shakespeare in a small
town, Stratford-upon Avon, on 23 April 1564
o Educated at the local grammar school
o At the age of 18, married Anne Hathaway
o Departed to London sometime in the 1580s
o In 1592, we have the first clear reference to Shakespeare as an actor
/ playwright in London
o Wrote 37 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems
o The Lord Chamberlain’s Men performed his plays
o Shakespeare owned shares in the Second Blackfriars Theatre, an
indoor theatre built by James Burbage, and later, the Globe
o The First Folio (1623)
 Titled “Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &
Tragedies”
Only 36 plays included in the First Folio (Pericles not included)
o Elizabethan Tragedy
Gorbodoc (1561)
First play to be written in blank verse
Revenge Tragedy
o Elizabethan Comedy
 Ralph Roister Doister (1566)
Gammer Gurton’s Needle (1575)
 Shakespeare’s works
o Early Comedies
Love’s Labour’s Lost (1598)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (perf. 1593)
The Comedy of Errors (perf. 1594)
o Early Tragedies
Titus Andronicus (perf. 1594)
 Romeo and Juliet (perf. 1595)
o Minor Tetralogy
Henry VI 3 Parts
 Richard III (perf. 1633)
o Major Tetralogy
 Richard II (1597)
Henry IV 2 Parts (perf. 1600)
o Two other history plays
King John (1623)
Henry VIII (perf. 1613)
o Mature Comedies
 A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1600)
Much Ado About Nothing (1600)
Twelfth Night (1600)
The Merchant of Venice (1600)
 As You Like It (1600)
o Problem Plays / Dark Comedies
 All’s Well That Ends Well (c. 1604)
Measure for Measure (1604)
Troilus and Cressida (1609)
o Great Tragedies
Hamlet (1601)
Othello (1602-04)
King Lear (perf. 1606)
Macbeth (1606)
o Dramatic Romances
Cymbeline (perf. 1610)
 Pericles (perf. 1608)
The Winter’s Tale (perf. 1610)
The Tempest (perf. 1611)
 Shakespeare’s Contemporaries
o Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86)
Ideal courtier
Chivalric humanist
 Major works
.
 Astrophel and Stella (1591)
 Arcadia (1580)
Defence of Poesie (1595)
o Edmund Spenser (1522-99)
Chivalric humanist
 Lived in Ireland as an English planter
Called “the poets’ poet”
The Shepheardes Calender (1579)
The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596)
 Amoretti (1595)
 Epithalamion (1595)
 Prothalamion (1596)

o University Wits
Prominent in the 1580s
Created regular drama
Attended either of the two universities – Oxford or Cambridge
 Thomas Kyd did not attend any university, but wrote in the style of
the Wits
 Term first used by Saintsbury
 The Oxford School
 John Lyly (1554-1606)
 George Peele (1556-96)
 ThomasLodge (1558-1625)
 The Cambridge School
 Robert Greene (1558-92)
 Thomas Nashe (1567-1601)
 Christopher Marlowe (1564-93)
o Tamburlaine the Great (perf. c. 1587)
o The Jew of Malta (c. 1589)
o Doctor Faustus (1604)
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
 Wrote Comedy of Humours
 Every Man in His Humour (perf. 1598)
 Volpone or the Fox (perf. c. 1605)
The Alchemist (1610)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
The Advancement of Learning (1605)
Novum Organum (1620)
John Donne (1572-1631)
 “The Flea” (1633)
 “The Canonization” (1633)
 “Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (1633)
Holy Sonnets (1633)

Elizabethan Age
 This age is named after Queen Elizabeth I who reigned over
England from
1558 to 1603.
 This is called The Golden Age of English Literature.
Main Literary Features of the Age:
 Elizabethan literature reflects a great variety of creative Genius.
It demonstrates experiments and innovation in dramatic and poetic
forms
and techniques.
It is deeply influenced by the Renaissance spirit, especially by the
Renaissance literature of Italy, France, and Spain.
In style it exhibits romantic exuberance.
Its writers are all men (not women) from all classes of the society.
It is an age of exquisite poetry, unparalleled drama and splendid
prose.
It marks a shift from man’s Fate to his free will.
It develops English Language to a level of Stable standard.
Its spirit ranges from the Platonic Idealism or the delightful
romance to the
level of gross realism.
 The literature of this age shows a quest for “the remote, the
wonderful and
the beautiful.”
It reflects original romanticism that revived during the beginning of
Romantic Age in 1798.
It initiates literary Criticism.
Major Writers of the Period and Their Major Works
 Thomas More (1478 - 1535)
Utopia (or Kingdom of Nowhere)
 The book was originally written in Latin in 1516.
 Thomas Norton (1532 - 84) and Thomas Sackville (1536 - 1608)
Gorboduc (1562), the first English Tragedy.
 Edmund Spenser (1552 - 99)
He is called the Poet of the Poet’s because many later English poets
followed his art of poetry.
 The Faerie Queene (1590)
 The Shepherd’s Calendar (1579)
Nicholas Udall
Ralph Roister Doister (1553), The First English Comedy.
Sir Philip Sidney (1554 - 86)
“An Apology for Poetry” (1595), a critical treatise.
Arcadia (1590), a book that bears the embryo of English novel.
John Lyly (1554 - 1606)
He is called a University Wit
Campaspe (1584)
Sapho and Phao (1584)
 Midas (1589)
 Euphues (1579), a book that tears the embryo of English novel.
 Thomas Kyd (1557 - 1595)
He is another University Wit
 The Spanish Tragedy (1585)
Robert Greene (1558 - 92)
He is another University Wit
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1589)
James – IV (1591)
George Peele (1558 - 98)
He is another University Wit
David and Bethsabe (1599)
Arraignment of Paris (1584)
Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
He is called Natural Philosopher
 Essays (1597)
Christopher Marlowe
He is another University Wit
 Tamburlaine the Great Part I and II (1587 - 88)
 The Jew of Malta (1589)
 Edward II (1591)
Doctor Faustus (1592)
 William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
 The Greatest English Dramatist, famous for the objective
presentation
of his deep knowledge about human psychology.
He is often called bard of Avon.
He wrote 37 plays and 154 Sonnets.
Of the total 37 plays he wrote 25 before the death of Queen
Elizabeth
 Thomas Nashe (1567 - 1601)
He is also called a university Wit
 The Unfortunate Traveller (1594)
Ben Jonson (1573 - 1637)
A neo classicist though he wrote in the time when romantic mode
of
literature was prevalent.
He is called a neo-classicist because he followed the classical rules
of
drama.
 Every Man Out of His Humour (1600)
 Every Man in His Humour (1601)
Beaumont (1584 - 1616) and Fletcher (1579 - 1625)
Philaster (1611)
A King and No King (1611)
 The Maid’s Tragedy (1610)
Explanation of The major Writers and Their Works

Mr. Asit Kumar Mohanty UGC NET with JRF & GATE in
English
Free Demo Class for SSB Lecturer English
For Paid Course Contact 8249083909
To Join Free Whatsapp Group Click on the Link Below
https://chat.whatsapp.com/ECns98Jlml64PoQQEuRk5C