Tim Lambert Honors English III November 21, 2011 The Renaissance Writers 1 Sir Thomas Wyatt He was

was imprisoned and tortured in the Tower of London He was involved with Anne Boleyn He was imprisoned with five other men who were involved with Anne Boleyn but while the others were executed he was released. 2 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey He introduced blank verse to the English language Received his title out of courtesy after the death of his grandfather He was executed 3 Sir Francis Bacon The parentage of Sir Francis Bacon is often controversial He is also one of the contenders in the Shakespeare identity controversy In addition to being a great writer, he was a champion of science 4 Sir Walter Raleigh He is famous for not only being a writer but being a courtier and a navigator He was imprisoned for having being secretly married to one of the Queens maids of honor His son was killed in a fight with Spain which he was ordered not to engage in 5 Edmund Spenser Unlike many other poets at the time, Spenser was actually paid for his works He created a new type of nine-line stanza He also created a form of the Sonnet known as the Spenserian Sonnet 6 Sir Philip Sydney When he was wounded on the battlefield he insisted that the water offered to him be given to another soldier He was very popular with Queen Elizabeth I He wrote the first great sonnet sequence in the English language 7 William Shakespeare Very little is known about Shakespeare. What is known is gathered from legal and church records or references in his works There is controversy over whether Shakespeare had a love affair with a man and wrote several sonnets to that man It is questioned whether Shakespeare wrote some of the works attributed to him 8 Christopher Marlowe Killed at a young age, before 30 He has been described as a scoundrel, a ladies man, and a hothead

It is said that he was killed for his drunken refusal to pay his bill but some believe he was murdered for his undercover activities for the government 9 Ben Jonson He was full of energy and often times violent He was very good in a fight he fought an enemy one on one in front of the Spanish and English armies and won He was jailed for his part in a slanderous play and almost hung for killing a fellow actor in a duel 10 Richard Lovelace It is said that charmed by his looks, the king and queen of England ordered that Oxford grant him a degree before he completed his studies He was imprisoned twice for loyalty to the king No one knows how he died, but it is believed he died in poverty at age 39 11 Robert Herrick He is considered to be the greatest of the Cavalier poets He never married and the women mentioned in his poetry are most likely imaginary His poems were not widely popular at the time of their publishing 12 John Donne He is known as the founder of Metaphysical poetry His poetry is known for its ability to surprise the reader and paradoxical imagery He had a fear of death 13 George Herbert He is known for his incredible use of imagery in his poetry His poems show Gods love as he experienced in his own life He came to be known as Holy Mr. Herbert 14 Andrew Marvell Most people thought of him as a satirist until the 19th century His first famous work Miscellaneous Poems is a controversial work it is not known who wrote the work He used his political clout to save John Milton from prison and possibly saved his life 15 John Milton He is considered one the greatest English poets, yet he wrote very little poetry He described himself as Gods Poet His most important work is Paradise Lost, written when he had gone blind and been imprisoned