Grade 12
Unit 6
LANGUAGE ARTS 1206
ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE
CONTENTS
I.
ELIZABETHAN POETRY AND PROSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Sonnets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Translations and Prose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
II.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Theater in England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
William Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Hamlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
III.
THE CRITICAL ESSAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Defining the Critical Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Writing the Critical Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Author:
Editor:
Illustrator:
Norine J. Reed, M.A.
Alan Christopherson, M.S.
Alpha Omega Graphics
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ii
ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE
Five members of the Tudor family ruled England from 1485 to 1603. Of those one hundred eighteen
years, Queen Elizabeth I ruled for forty-five (1558-1603). During her reign, the religious, political, economic, and intellectual changes that had begun under her grandfather, Henry VII, and her father, Henry
VIII, reached a climax. The result was a flourishing of the arts and patriotism. As Queen, Elizabeth not
only ruled but also gloriously represented the spirit of her times. Both she and her people loved and lived
life with zest. The Elizabethan Age was one of exuberance and enthusiasm.
The medieval focus on life after death gave way to an Elizabethan emphasis on the here and now.
Though still religious, Elizabeth’s subjects vigorously pursued the pleasures and benefits of worldly living.
Religion itself had been a source of controversy and struggle in England since the reign of Henry VIII.
When the Catholic Pope refused to grant Henry a divorce from his Spanish wife, Catherine, so that he
could marry Anne Boleyn, Henry cut ties with the Church in Rome and established himself as the head of
the Anglican Church of England. Thus Henry VIII introduced the Protestant Reformation, begun in
Germany, to England. Though Henry generally maintained a balance between the Protestant and Catholic
elements, his successors did not. The power struggle between religions accelerated under Henry’s son and
immediate successor, Edward VI, and under Mary, Henry’s daughter by Catherine and successor to
Edward. After Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, took the throne she definitively reestablished the
Anglican Church.
One of the greatest crises England encountered during Elizabeth’s reign was an attack by the powerful Spanish navy. In July, 1588, Philip II of Spain sent his Invincible Armada to invade England. The
Spaniards lost over sixty-three ships and nine thousand men, and Spanish dominion of the seas was
ended. England ruled the seas, and her spirit of pride and patriotism soared.
The Elizabethan Age was a period of geographical explorations and expansion. Consequently, England
emerged as a leader in the European race to build commercial empires. Trade with distant countries provided a new source of wealth to the middle class merchants.
Enjoying the spirit of success, England was an eager recipient of the spirit of “rebirth” or “reawakening” that was influencing the thought of sixteenth-century Europe.
This “rebirth,” later labeled by historians as the Renaissance, was sparked by a renewed interest in
the classics of ancient Greece and Rome. It also resulted in a burst of creativity in and cultivation of the
fine arts, in a growth in the spirit of individualism, in an expansion of intellectual thought, and in a new
insight into the purpose and significance of the human person.
The Renaissance emphasis on the magnificence and wonder of the individual person as well as of the
surrounding world encouraged the Elizabethan to consider life as more than a process of waiting for life
after death. They believed that life was exciting and beautiful and should be enjoyed immediately.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet exclaims, “What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving how express and admirable.”
The Renaissance ideal expanded the concept of the individual to include all aspects—spiritual, rational, emotional, and physical—of the human personality. The Elizabethan exuberance, therefore, was a
reflection of a seemingly limitless desire to know and to do and to be.
The English literature of the Renaissance offers ample proof of the Elizabethan respect for life and
beauty, wherever it may be found. In this LIFEPAC® you will read and study the songs and sonnets of the
poets. You will study the prose of the King James Bible. You will examine the development of the English
drama and read one of Shakespeare’s plays. Finally, you will analyze and criticize the play you have read.
1
OBJECTIVES
Read these objectives. The objectives tell you what you will be able to do when you have successfully completed this LIFEPAC.
When you have completed this LIFEPAC, you should be able to:
1.
Identify characteristics of Elizabethan songs.
2.
List the basic techniques for interpreting songs and sonnets.
3.
Define the literary devices used in poetry and prose.
4.
Define the sonnet and its rhythm and rhyme patterns.
5.
Identify sonnet forms and the common themes and subjects used by Sidney, Spenser,
Shakespeare, and Donne.
6.
Explain the background of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible and three
literary forms used by Scripture writers.
7.
Explain why Francis Bacon was an outstanding essayist of his time.
8.
Trace the development of English drama.
9.
Name the major types of drama written by Shakespeare.
10.
Identify the characteristics of Elizabethan English.
11.
List the three major types of drama written by Shakespeare.
12.
Define tragedy as a type of drama as it applies to Hamlet.
13.
Trace the chronological development of plot in Hamlet.
14.
Outline the structure of the plot of tragedy and its related elements in Hamlet.
15.
Identify the personality traits of each of the seven major characters in Hamlet and their
relationships with minor characters.
16.
Explain the major conflicts in Hamlet.
17.
Define criticism and its dependence on evidence.
18.
Explain the methods of writing critical essays.
19.
Identify the five steps used in writing a critical essay.
20.
Write a critical essay on one of Hamlet’s characters.
Survey the LIFEPAC. Ask yourself some questions about this study. Write your questions here.
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2
I. ELIZABETHAN POETRY AND PROSE
Elizabethan poetry offers a variety of thoughts in words and rhythms that are pleasing to hear. The
prose of the King James Version of the Bible presents God’s Word in messages that are clear and direct.
The ease with which you may enjoy this literature could lead you to the mistaken conclusion that the
writer’s task is an easy one. In this section you will analyze some of the devices the writer must use to create poetry and prose that are melodious and meaningful. Your familiarity with these devices, in turn, will
aid you in interpreting what you read.
SECTION OBJECTIVES
Review these objectives. When you have completed this section, you should be able to:
1. Identify characteristics of Elizabethan songs.
2. List the basic techniques for interpreting songs and sonnets.
3. Define the literary devices used in poetry and prose.
4. Define the sonnet and its rhythm and rhyme patterns.
5. Identify sonnet forms and the common themes and subjects used by Sidney, Spenser,
Shakespeare, and Donne.
6. Explain the background of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible and three
literary forms used by Scripture writers.
7. Explain why Francis Bacon was an outstanding essayist of his time.
VOCABULARY
Study these words to enhance your learning success in this section.
abstraction
courtier
petition
archaic
deviate
pithy
complemented
equating
quest
concrete
immortalize
sequences
contrition
Note: All vocabulary words in this LIFEPAC appear in boldface print the first time they are used. It you are unsure of the
meaning when you are reading, study the definitions given.
SONGS
The exuberance of the Elizabethan Age often expressed itself in songs, some spontaneous and others carefully designed. The development of musical instruments, such as the
virginal and viola da gamba, complemented this impulse to sing. Nearly everyone in
Elizabethan times could sing or play a musical instrument. In 1577 Richard Tottel published the first collection of songs and lyrics under the title Songs and Sonnets. This book,
however, usually is called Tottel’s Miscellany. Similar song books soon appeared, some with
titles such as The Paradise of Dainty Devices and The Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant
Inventions. Like these titles, many of the Elizabethan songs were decorative and elaborate;
others, however, were clear and simple.
3
Elizabethan songs often alluded to Greek mythology. Such references are a natural way
for Renaissance songwriters to express their admiration of classical times. In the poem
“The Triumph of Charis” the poet used Charis as his subject. In Greek mythology, Charis
is the personification of beauty and charm.
“The Triumph of Charis”
See the chariot at hand here of Love,
Wherein my lady rideth!
Each that draws is a swan or a dove,
And well the car Love guideth.
As she goes, all hearts do duty
Unto her beauty;
And enamor’d, do wish, so they might
But enjoy such a sight,
That they still were to run by her side,
Through swords, through seas, whither she
would ride.
Do but look on her eyes, they do light
All that Love’s world compriseth!
Do but look on her hair, it is bright
As Love’s star when it riseth!
Do but mark, her forehead smoother
Than words that soothe her;
And from her arched brows, such a grace
Sheds itself through the face
As alone there triumphs to the life
All the gain, all the good, of the elements’
strife.
Have you seen but a bright lily grow,
Before rude hands have touched it?
Have you marked but the fall of the snow
Before the soil hath smutched it?
Have you felt the wool of the beaver?
Or swan’s down1 ever?
Or have smelt o’ the bud of the briar2?
Or the nard3 in the fire?
Or have tested the bag of the bee4?
O so white! O so soft! O so sweet is she!
Ben Jonson
1. down: soft, fine feathers.
2. bud of the briar: the wild rose.
3. nard: an aromatic substance.
4. honey: bag of the bee.
4
“Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes”
from THE PLEASANT COMEDY OF
PATIENT GRISILL
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby:
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Care is heavy, therefore sleep you;
You are care, and care must keep you;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby:
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Thomas Dekker
“Song”
from CYMBELINE
Hark, hark! the lark at heaven’s gate sings,
And Phoebus gins1 arise,
His steeds2 to water at those springs
On chalic’d3 flowers that lies;
And winking Mary-buds4 begin
To ope their golden eyes.
With every thing that pretty is,
My lady sweet, arise;
Arise, arise!
William Shakespeare
1. gins: begin
2. steeds: horses
3. chalic’d: cup-shaped
4. Mary-buds: marigolds
“The Song”
from MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more!
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore;
To one thing constant never.
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.
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Sing no more ditties, sing no moe,
Of dumps so dull and heavy!
The fraud of men was ever so,
Since summer first was leavy.
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.
William Shakespeare
“The Man of Life Upright”
from A BOOK OF AIRS: XVIII
The man of life upright,
Whose guiltless heart is free
From all dishonest deeds,
Or thought of vanity;
The man whose silent days
In harmless joys are spent,
Whom hopes cannot delude,
Nor sorrow discontent;
That man needs neither towers
Nor armor for defense,
Nor secret faults to fly
From thunder’s violence.
He only can behold
With unaffrighted eyes
The horrors of the deep
And terrors of the skies.
Thus, scorning all the cares
That fate or fortune brings,
He makes the heaven his book,
His wisdom heavenly things,
Good thoughts his only friends,
His wealth a well-spent age,
The earth his sober inn
And quiet pilgrimage.
Thomas Campion
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“Spring, the Sweet Spring…”
from SUMMER’S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
Spring, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king,
Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,
Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing:
Cuckoo, jug-jug1, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
The palm2 and may3 make country houses gay,
Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe4 all day
And we hear aye5 birds tune this merry lay6:
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet,
Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit,
In every street these tunes our ears do greet:
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
Spring, the sweet spring!
Thomas Nashe
1. jug-jug: sound of the nightingale
2. palm: willow
3. may: hawthorn
4. pipe: play a shepherd’s flute
5. aye: always
6. lay: song
➜
Answer these questions.
1.1
Which of the five songs was the least simple and clear? __________________________________________
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1.2
Which song would a mother most likely sing to a child at bedtime? ______________________________
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1.3
Which song is a morning, awakening song? _______________________________________________________
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1.4
Which song focuses on the fickleness of men?_____________________________________________________
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1.5
Which song offers praise for and consolation to the person who tries to lead a virtuous life?
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1.6
Over what does Charis triumph? (Reread lines 5–6 and 7–9 if necessary.)
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Personification. Personification is a figure of speech by which the author gives human
forms and traits to something that is not human (inanimate object, animal, abstraction).
Poets use personification to help sharpen the reader’s interest and’ understanding.
In “Spring, the Sweet Spring…” Thomas Nashe personifies “the fields” when he says they
“breathe sweet.” In giving the fields the human ability to breathe, the poet encourages the
reader to smell the fragrance that gently drifts from a springtime field.
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Allusion. If your answer to Question 1.1 was “Song” from CYMBELINE, your response
was well founded. In that song William Shakespeare uses an allusion, a figure of speech
that can add a touch of sophistication. An allusion is a reference, direct or indirect, to a well
known literary, Scriptural, or historical event or person. In “Song” from CYMBELINE,
Shakespeare refers to Phoebus, also known as Phoebus Apollo, the sun god of the ancient
Greeks. To better understand the world around them, the Greeks frequently explained a
natural—but still mysterious—phenomenon such as the sun by equating it with a god. In
turn, to better understand this god, they personified him. Thus, the sun and the god who
represented it are humanized. Shakespeare referred to this sun god when he spoke of
Phoebus as a person who “gins arise” to start the day.
Imagery. In his effort to involve the reader, the poet often uses imagery; that is, he uses
clear, concrete details that appeal to the reader’s senses. An image is sometimes defined
in literature classes as a “word picture.” More exactly, an image is a word or phrase that
encourages the reader to hear, touch, smell, taste, and see the poet’s subjects.
In “Song” from CYMBELINE, Shakespeare helps the reader to see the flowers by showing the shape (cup-shaped) of some and color (golden) of others.
Elizabethan poets frequently used an elaborate and exaggerated image called a conceit.
In this figure of speech, the writer makes a comparison between two things that are normally considered very dissimilar.
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1.7
Complete these activities.
Quote an example of personification from the third stanza of “Spring, the Sweet Spring…” (other
than “The fields breathe sweet”) and explain what the poet is trying to communicate through it.
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1.8
Reread “Spring, the Sweet Spring…” and complete the following activities.
a. Name the verbs that help you see what the lambs are doing.
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b. Name the verb that helps you feel the brush of a new daisy against your leg or foot.
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c. State the phrase that appeals to your sense of smell.
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d. Name the sense that the poet appeals to in the last two lines of each stanza.
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➜
Match these items.
1.9
__________
personification
a. first collection of songs and lyrics
1.10
__________
allusion
b. “The Triumph of Charis”
1.11
__________
imagery
c. “The Man of Life Upright”
1.12
__________
Richard Tottel
d. bag of the bee
1.13
__________
Thomas Campion
e. Charis
f. the fields breathe sweet
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To better understand the complicated image known as the conceit, read Thomas
Campion’s “There Is a Garden in Her Face.”
“There Is a Garden in Her Face”
from THE THIRD AND FOURTH BOOK OF AIRS: Book IV, VII
There is a garden in her face,
Where roses and white lilies grow,
A heavenly paradise is that place,
Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow.
There cherries grow, which none may buy
Till “Cherry ripe!” themselves do cry.
Those cherries fairly do enclose
Of orient pearl double row;
Which when her lovely laughter shows,
They look like rosebuds filled with snow.
Yet them nor peer nor prince can buy,
Till “Cherry ripe!” themselves do cry.
Her eyes like angels watch them still;
Her brows like bended bows do stand,
Threatening with piercing frowns to kill
All that attempt with eye or hand
Those sacred cherries to come nigh,
Till “Cherry ripe!” themselves do cry.
Thomas Campion
➜
1.14
Complete the following activities.
Thomas Campion uses elaborate imagery to help the reader see his lovely lady. State one word to
indicate to what he compares each of these expressions.
a. her face ______________________________________________________________________________
b. her cheeks _____________________________________________________________________________________
c. her teeth _______________________________________________________________________________________
d. the combination of her lips and teeth when she smiles ________________________________________
e. her eyes _______________________________________________________________________________________
f. her eyebrows __________________________________________________________________________________
1.15
Explain the conceit in the poem. (What two dissimilar things are compared?)____________________
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Alliteration. Poets and songwriters often use alliteration to enhance the sound, and
therefore the meaning, of their words. Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant
sound at the beginnings of successive or closely associated words or accented syllables.
In “The Song” from MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Shakespeare used alliteration
when he repeated the d sound in the lines: “Sing no more ditties, sing no moe / Of dumps
so dull and heavy…” Shakespeare also used alliteration in “Ariel’s Song” from The Tempest.
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“Ariel’s Song”
from THE TEMPEST
Full Fadom1, five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell2:
Ding-dong:
Hark! now I hear them — Ding-dong bell.
William Shakespeare
1. fadom: (fathom): a unit of measure equal to six feet.
2. knell: funeral bell.
➜
Answer these questions.
1.16
In the play The Tempest, the elfin sprite Ariel sings this song to Prince Ferdinand to convince
him that his father had drowned. How many feet under the sea is Ferdinand’s father?
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1.17
What has happened to the father’s eyes and bones?
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1.18
What part of the father will not undergo a “sea-change”? _________________________________________
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1.19
Would this song be consoling or depressing for Ferdinand? Give a reason for your answer.
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1.20
Which line offers the best example of alliteration?
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1.21
What is the effect of the repetition of the consonant in the line you named as the answer to question 1.20?
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SONNETS
Lyric poetry is highly subjective. It expresses the feeling of attitude of the poet.The sonnet is a specialized type of lyric poetry that was popular in Elizabethan England.
The sonnet had its origin in Italy (the word means “little song” in Italian) where it had
been perfected by the poet Petrarch. It was introduced into England in the early sixteenth
century by Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey and soon became a literary fashion.
10
All sonnets have fourteen lines, are written in iambic pentameter, and have a definite
rhyme scheme. Iambic pentameter means each line contains ten syllables with the stress,
or accent, on every second syllable. The rhyme scheme varies according to the pattern chosen by the poet.
To scan a poem means to indicate the unaccented and accented syllables in a line of
poetry with these marks: } unaccented and / accented. The scansion of many childhood
nursery rhymes follows the pattern of / }.
Example: Mary had a little lamb.
The pattern for a line of a sonnet is } / } / } / } / } / that is, every second syllable of the
ten syllables is stressed. Occasionally, however, a poet will take the liberty to deviate from
this pattern. He usually diverges because he believes the word he must use or the meaning he wants to convey is more important than a strict rhythm.
The two common categories of sonnets are the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet and the
English (or Shakespearian) sonnet.
The Italian sonnet form consists of two parts: an octave, the first eight lines, and a sestet, the last six lines. This pattern provides a natural division for the subject or theme of
the sonnet. Often the octave presents a problem, question, observation, or fact, and the sestet expresses the poet’s reaction to it.
The rhyme scheme of the octave of an Italian sonnet is abba / abba; the rhyme of the
sestet may be cde / cde, or cdc / cdc, or cde / dce.
To determine a rhyme scheme you examine the last word in each line of the poem. You
assign the letter a to the last word of the first line and to any word thereafter that rhymes
with it. If, therefore, the last word of the second line rhymes with the last word of the first
line, it is also an a; if it does not rhyme, you assign it the letter b. Any last word in the rest
of the lines that rhymes with the word designated by b is also a b. As you continue to examine the last word in each line, you assign the next letter of the alphabet to each word that
does not rhyme with any of the end words above it.
The rhyme scheme of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” for example, is abcb.
Example: Mary had a little lamb, (a)
Its fleece was white as snow. (b)
And every where that Mary went, (c)
The lamb was sure to go. (b)
The Shakespearian or English sonnet consists of three four-line parts or quatrains and
a concluding two lines, or couplet. Each quatrain develops an aspect of the problem or
theme; the couplet provides a solution or summary. The rhyme scheme is abab / cdcd / efef
/ gg.
Three famous sonneteers of the Elizabethan Age were Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund
Spenser, and William Shakespeare. John Donne is noted for his religious sonnets.
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586). Sir Philip Sidney was a poet, critic, scholar, diplomat,
courtier, and soldier. He offers an example of the ideal Renaissance man. At thirty-two,
Sidney took part in a military expedition to Holland. He was fatally wounded during a skirmish there and, according to a traditional story, he offered his own bottle of water to another dying man because he believed the soldier’s need was greater than his own. He died as
he had lived: as a gentleman.
With his Astrophel and Stella, Sidney sparked the popularity of writing sonnet
sequences. He addressed his sequence to Penelope Devereux; but, as did some of the other
Elizabethan poets, he gave his lady a name taken from Greek and Roman literature.
11
“Stella” means star; “Astrophel’’ means star-lover. Like most other Elizabethan sonnet
sequences, Astrophel and Stella focuses on the poet’s love for a beautiful woman. The sonnets you will read are two of the one hundred eight sonnets in Astrophel and Stella.
Although he used variations, Sir Philip Sidney followed the Italian sonnet form more
closely than any other Elizabethan writer.
“Sonnet XXXI”
With how sad steps, Oh Moon, thou climb’st the skies!
How silently, and with how wan1 a face!
What, may it be that even in heavenly place
That busy archer2 his sharp arrows tries?
Sure, if that long-with-love-acquainted eyes
Can judge of love, thou feel’st a lover’s case;
I read it in thy looks; thy languished grace
To me that feel the like, thy state descries3.
Then, even of fellowship, Oh Moon, tell me,
Is constant love deemed there but want4 of wit?
Are beauties there as proud as here they be?
Do they above love to be loved, and yet
Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess?
Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness?
Sir Philip Sidney
1. wan: pale
2. busy archer: Cupid, god of love in Greek mythology
3. descries: proclaims
4. want: lack
➜
Answer these questions.
1.22
What two figures of speech, or poetic devices, are used in the first two lines?
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1.23
Which line contains an allusion? _________________________________________________________________
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“Sonnet XLI”
Having1 this day my horse, my hand, my lance
Guided so well that I obtained the prize,
Both by the judgment of the English eyes
And of some sent from that sweet enemy, France,
Horsemen my skill in horsemanship advance2,
Town-folks my strength; a daintier judge applies
His praise to sleight3 which from good use4 doth rise;
Some lucky wits impute it but to chance;
Others, because of both sides I do take
My blood from them who did excel in this5
Think nature me a man-at-arms did make,
How far they shoot awry! The true cause is,
Stella looked on, and from her heavenly face
Sent forth the beams which made so fair my race.
Sir Philip Sidney
1. Having: This word is part of the complete verb “having guided” (see line 2).
2. advance: praise
3. sleight: cunning or cleverness
4. good use: experience
5. Others…this: Others say I inherited my ability to win in tournaments from both sides of
the family.
➜
Match the reason given by each group for the narrator’s victory with the group.
1.24
__________ “horsemen”
a. cunning
1.25
__________ “town folks”
b. chance
1.26
__________ “a daintier judge”
c. skill in horsemanship
1.27
__________ “lucky wits”
d. the prize
1.28
__________ “others”
e. inherited ability
1.29
__________ “narrator”
f. strength
g. Stella
➜
Complete these activities.
1.30
Use letters to indicate the rhyme scheme of Sidney’s Sonnet XXXI.
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1.31
Use letters to indicate the rhyme scheme of Sidney’s Sonnet XLI.
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13
1.32
Which of Sidney’s two sonnets most closely follows the division between the octave and the sestet? Explain your answer.
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Edmund Spenser (1552-1599). Considered one of the greatest English poets, Edmund
Spenser was the successor to Chaucer in the development of English poetry. After his graduation from Cambridge, Spenser spent four years in the household of the Earl of Leicester,
Philip Sidney’s uncle and a favorite courtier of Queen Elizabeth. Then he accepted a government assignment in Ireland, where he remained until shortly before his death.
Spenser’s most famous work is The Faerie Queen, the longest poem in the English language. The “Faerie Queen” of the poem is Gloriana, a symbol of Queen Elizabeth to whom
he dedicated this masterpiece.
The name of Spenser’s sonnet sequence is Amoretti (“Little Loves”). Spenser’s sonnets
sprang from a real, personal love for Elizabeth Boyle, his future wife.
Spenser wrote in a quaint and archaic language; therefore, his poetry is often reprinted in Elizabethan spelling to give a true representation of his style. You should have no
trouble understanding the sonnets if you pronounce the words as they are spelled and keep
in mind that a u is used as a w or a v.
“Sonnet XV”
Ye tradefull Merchants, that with weary toyle,
Do seeke most pretious things to make your gain;
And both the Indias of their treasures spoile,
What needeth you to seeke so farre in vaine?
For loe my loue doth in her selfe containe
All this worlds riches that may farre be found,
If Saphyres, loe her eies be Saphyres plaine,
If Rubies, loe hir lips be Rubies sound:
If Pearles, hir teeth be pearles both pure and round;
If Yuorie1 her forhead yuory weene;
If Gold, her locks are finest gold on ground;
If siluer, her faire hands are siluer sheene.
But that which fairest is, but few behold,
Her mind adored with vertues manifold.2
Edmund Spenser
1. Yuorie: ivory
2. manifold: of many sorts
➜
Answer these questions.
1.33
In which two lines of Sonnet XV did Spenser explain why the merchants need not seek for precious things in India or other far away places?
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14
1.34
Where, according to Spenser, may merchants find sapphires, rubies, pearls, ivory, gold, and silver?
a. sapphires _______________________________________________________________________________________
b. rubies __________________________________________________________________________________________
c. pearls ___________________________________________________________________________________________
d. ivory ____________________________________________________________________________________________
e. gold ____________________________________________________________________________________________
f. silver ___________________________________________________________________________________________
1.35
According to the poet, what is the fairest treasure of his loved one?
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“Sonnet XXXIV”
Lyke as a ship that through the Ocean wyde,
By conduct of some star doth make her way,
Whenas a storme hath dimd her trusty guyde,
Out of her course doth wander far astray.
So I whose star, that wont with her bright ray,
Me to direct, with cloudes is ouercast,
Doe wander now in darknesse and dismay,
Through hidden perils round about me plast1.
Yet hope I well, that when this storme is past
My Helice the lodestar2 of my lyfe
Will shine again, and looke on me at last,
With louely light to cleare my cloudy grief.
Till then I wander carefull comfortlesse,
In secret sorow and sad pensiuenesse3.
Edmund Spenser
1. plast: placed
2. lodestar: guiding star
3. pensiuenesse: deep thoughtfulness
Spenser used a simile to develop Sonnet XXXIV. A simile is a figure of speech that directly—through the use of like or as—expresses a similarity between two objects. A metaphor is
a figure of speech that indirectly—does not use like or as—compares two objects.
Spenser, as you have seen, developed a sonnet pattern of his own. In the Spenserian
sonnet the thought is developed through three sets of rhyme. Each set introduces the
rhyme of the next: abab / bcbc / cdcd. The last two lines introduce a new rhyme (ee) that
summarize the idea of the sonnet.
➜
Answer true or false.
1.36
_________________ In Spenser’s “Sonnet XXXIV” the ship is guided by Helice.
1.37
_________________ The poet compares himself to a ship.
1.38
_________________ The rhyme scheme of “Sonnet XV” is abba / abba / cdcd / ee.
1.39
_________________ The rhyme scheme of “Sonnet XXXIV” is abab / bcbc / cdcd / ee.
15
1.40
1.41
_________________ The poet wanders in darkness without Helice.
_________________ The Italian sonnet is also called a Petrarchan sonnet.
1.42
_________________ The English sonnet is also called the Spenserian sonnet.
1.43
_________________ Spenser’s sonnet sequence was called Astrophel and Stella.
1.44
_________________ A metaphor compares two things without using like or as.
1.45
_________________ Spenserian sonnets are developed through three sets of rhyme.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The most widely known Elizabethan writer,
William Shakespeare, wrote one hundred fifty-four sonnets. These sonnets may be divided
into two groups: the first group (Sonnets 1–126) he addressed to a dear friend, a young man
of noble birth; the second group (Sonnets 126–152) he addressed to an unkind “Dark Lady”
whom the poet loved in spite of her unworthiness. The last two sonnets do not belong to
either group. Although friendship and love are the general themes, the sonnets offer a wide
range of related themes and moods. Shakespeare frequently considered the destruction
caused by the passing of time and the poet’s power to immortalize beauty and love in his
verse.
“Sonnet XVIII”
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st1,
Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
William Shakespeare
1. of that fair thou ow’st: of your own beauty
➜
Complete these statements.
1.46
The “eye of heaven” is the _______________________________________________________________________ .
1.47
The poetic device used in Line 6 is ________________________________________________________________
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1.48
According to the poet, the summer is inferior to the subject of his poem because_________________
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16
1.49
The two reasons why all fair things decline are___________________________________________________
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1.50
This in the last line means ________________________________________________________________________
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1.51
The subject of the poem will “not fade” nor be a victim of Death’s bragging because _____________
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“Sonnet XXIX”
When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless1 cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope2,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply3 I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen4 earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
William Shakespeare
1. bootless: useless
2. scope: range of mind or abilities
3. Haply: by chance
4. sullen: gloomy
➜
Complete these activities.
1.52
Write the rhyme scheme of Sonnet XXIX. (Presume possess’d rhymes with least.) _______________
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1.53
Write the rhyme scheme of Sonnet XVIII. (Presume temperate rhymes with date.)_______________
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17
“Sonnet CXVI”
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark1,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his highth be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
William Shakespeare
1. bark: ship
➜
Answer these questions.
1.54
What is an impediment? __________________________________________________________________________
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1.55
What is the message of the first four lines? ______________________________________________________
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1.56
What is the metaphor in Line 7? _________________________________________________________________
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1.57
Have you ever seen time personified as an old, bearded man who carries a sickle? At what time
of the year is this personification most likely to appear and why? ________________________________
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John Donne (1573-1631). John Donne’s early poetry reflected his youthful quest for
worldly pleasures. His later writings reflected his own search for spiritual satisfaction.
Unlike the sonnets of earlier Renaissance poets, Donne’s sonnets offer an exercise in
religious meditation, and as such, help form a bridge between the poetry of the
Renaissance and that of the seventeenth century.
18
“Death, Be Not Proud…”
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures1 be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy2 or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then3?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
John Donne
1. pictures: imitations
2. poppy: a drug, specifically opium
3. why swell’st thou then: why do you swell with pride?
➜
Answer these questions.
1.58
What reasons does Donne give for telling Death not to be proud? ________________________________
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1.59
What Christian belief does Donne express in the last two lines? _________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.60
What is the rhyme scheme of this sonnet? ________________________________________________________
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TRANSLATIONS AND PROSE
During the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, English prose style began to develop.
Several Biblical translations were written during this period culminating in the King
James Version in 1611. First attempts at novellas and essays were also made.
19
King James Bible. In 1604 King James I held a conference at Hampton Court to settle the growing differences between the Puritans and the High Church party of the Church
of England. The conference failed to unite the two groups, but it did authorize a revision of
the Bible. Fifty-four scholars were assigned to write a translation to replace the English
versions in common use. They studied the texts that were available in the original languages and examined other English, Latin, and German translations. In 1611 the scholars
published their results: the Authorized King James Version, written in English the people
could understand.
Characterized by its simplicity and eloquence, the King James Version is often considered the most beautifully written of any English translation. Today its language is a familiar one, not only to scholars but also to the millions for whom God’s Word was intended.
➜
Complete this activity.
1.61
Look on the title page of a Bible and write down what it tells you about its translation.
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Adult Check
___________________
Initial
Date
The word psalm comes from a Greek word that literally meant a pulling or twanging
with the fingers. It came to signify a song sung to the accompaniment of a harp. The book
of Psalms in the Old Testament is a collection of sacred songs and hymns that often read
like poetry.
The Psalms focus on subjects well known to anyone concerned about a relationship with
God: petition, contrition, thanksgiving, and praise. The psalmist frequently used imagery
to make his message clear. He did not just say “all people” should praise God; he created a
deeper impression by showing (naming) specific kinds of people.
➜
Complete these activities on the Psalms.
1.62
Use a Bible to answer these questions.
a. How many Psalms are in the book of Psalms? _________________________________________________
b. Numerically, which book of the Old Testament is the book of Psalms? _________________________
1.63
Read Psalm 148 in the King James Version.
a. List the images the psalmist uses to make the idea of “all people” a concrete one.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. List the images that make concrete and specific the elements of weather. _____________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. List the animal images. _________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
d. List the images of the sky. ______________________________________________________________________
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20
1.64
Read Psalm 71 in the King James Version.
a. What two words in the eighteenth verse help you to see the speaker? _________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. Name and explain the figure of speech in the third verse.______________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.65
Read Psalm 100 in the King James Version. Name and explain the figure of speech in the
third verse. _______________________________________________________________________________________
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1.66
Read Psalm 51 of the King James Version.
a. What image does the psalmist use to express his purity after forgiveness?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. Grateful to God for His mercy and forgiveness, the psalmist presents specific images of the
parts of his face that he will use to praise God. What are they? _______________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. What, according to the psalmist, is the sacrifice that God most desires?_______________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.67
Although many Psalms express an interweaving of petition, contrition, thanksgiving, and praise,
some do have one identifiable main purpose. From the four Psalms you read, select by number the
one that best corresponds to each of these main purposes.
a. to praise __________________________________ c. to petition ______________________________________
b. to thank __________________________________ d. to express contrition ___________________________
A parable is a short fictitious story that illustrates a moral or spiritual lesson. The most
known parables to Christians are those told by Christ in the Gospels. Parables are written
in prose rather than poetry, but often include figures of speech to convey the lesson.
An epistle is a letter. The term is used to characterize the books of the New Testament
which contain the letters of Paul, James, Peter, and John to various Christian communities.
➜
Complete these activities.
1.68
Name two parables with which you are familiar. _________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.69
Read the parable of “The Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:11–32) and answer the question. What is
the lesson or message of the parable? _____________________________________________________________
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1.70
Read the first two verses of Luke chapter 15 and explain in your own words why Jesus
told the parable of “The Prodigal Son.”____________________________________________________________
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21
1.71
Read 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
a. Write one sentence in which you state the main idea of Paul’s message to the Corinthians in
chapter 13.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. Explain the simile in 1 Corinthians 13:1.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. To which of the five senses does Paul appeal with the imagery in 1 Corinthians 13:1?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
d. Explain what you think Paul means in 1 Corinthians 13:12.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Elizabethan prose. The King James Version of the Bible was not the only prose published in the Elizabethan Age. A notable amount of prose appeared as the results of the
efforts of Francis Bacon (1561–1626). A statesman, philosopher, and essayist, Bacon was
recognized for his philosophical and scientific contribution. He is best known, however, for
his literary work commonly called Essays, a collection of fifty-eight essays. Covering a wide
variety of subjects and written in a witty, pithy style, the essays were an immediate success in England.
Men such as John Lyly, Thomas Lodge, George Gascoigne, and Sir Philip Sidney wrote
early fiction works and contributed to the development of English prose style.
Several men translated the classics into English. Some of these translations of Ovid,
Homer, Virgil, and Plutarch were used for more than a hundred years.
The Elizabethan period pioneered prose, but excelled in poetry and drama.
➜
Write the letter of the correct answer on each line.
1.72
Sir Francis Bacon was a statesman, a philosopher, and ______ .
a. an essayist
b. a priest
1.73
c. a farmer
Elizabethan prose saw experiments with ______ .
a. metrics
b. style
1.74
c. scansion
A pithy style is ______ .
a. funny
b. to the point
c. sarcastic
➜
Complete this project.
1.75
Look up one of the following topics and write a two-page report on it.
a. Biblical translations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
b. Sonnet Sequences
c. Francis Bacon
Adult Check
___________________
Initial
Date
22
Review the material in this section in preparation for the Self Test. The Self Test will check
your mastery of this particular section. The items missed on this Self Test will indicate specific
areas where restudy is needed for mastery.
SELF TEST 1
Match the figure of speech with the quotation that best illustrates it (each answer, 2 points). (A
letter may be used only once.)
1.01
__________ “Golden slumbers kiss your eyes”
a. alliteration
1.02
__________ “And be you blithe and bonny”
b. allusion
1.03
__________ “At last he set her both his eyes;
She won, and Cupid blind did rise.”
c. metaphor
1.04
__________ “Fair-lined slippers for the cold
With buckles of the purest gold.”
e. imagery
__________ “We are…the sheep of his pasture”
f. simile
d. personification
1.05
Define these terms (each answer, 4 points).
1.06
abstraction ________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.07
concrete ___________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.08
immortalize _______________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.09
conceit (as a literary device) ______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Match the poet with the phrase that describes his sonnets (each answer, 2 points).
1.010 __________
addresses his sonnets to Stella
a. Shakespeare
1.011 __________
bases his sonnets on a love for his future wife
b. Spenser
1.012 __________
bases his sonnets on religious thought
c. Donne
1.013 __________
addresses some of his sonnets to a “Dark
Lady”
d. Sidney
Complete these statements (each answer, 3 points).
1.014
All sonnets contain __________________ lines.
1.015 The rhythm pattern of all sonnets is called ___________________________ .
1.016 A short fictitious story that illustrates a moral or spiritual lesson is a ________________________ .
1.017 A statesman, philosopher of the English Renaissance who is noted as an outstanding essayist
was _______________________________________________________________ .
23
Answer true or false (each answer, 1 point).
1.018 __________________ All the Elizabethan songs were decorative and elaborate.
1.019 __________________ All sonnets have the same rhyme scheme.
1.020 __________________ The sonnet as a definite form of poetry originated in Italy.
1.021 __________________ No English version of the Bible existed before the King James Version.
1.022 __________________ Phoebus Apollo is the sun-god of Greek mythology.
Complete these items (each answer, 5 points).
1.023 Name the three types of sonnets characteristic of the Elizabethan Age and explain, in general
terms, how they differ from each other.
a. __________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. __________________________________________________________________________________________________
d. __________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.024 Explain the origin of the word psalm._____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.025 Define the word epistle and explain its place as a literary form in the New Testament. __________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.026 Name the four subjects by which the Psalms may be categorized.
a. ____________________________________________ c.__________________________________________________
b. ____________________________________________ d. _________________________________________________
24
Read Shakespeare’s Sonnet LV and answer the questions (each answer, 5 points).
“Sonnet LV”
Not marble nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this pow’rful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents1
Than unswept stone, besmear’d with [untidy] time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils2 root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars3 his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
“Gainst death and all-oblivious emnity4
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity5
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.
William Shakespeare
1. these contents: the lines of this poem
2. broils: quarrels, battles
3. Mars: god of war in Roman mythology
4. all-oblivious emnity: anything that
would destroy your memory
5. all posterity: the future
1.027 In which line does the poet use allusion? _________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.028 What, according to the poet, are elements that normally destroy man-made monuments and
remembrances? a. ______________________ , b. ______________________ , and c. ______________________
1.029 How long will the subject of this poem “live”? _____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.030 Why will the subject “live” so long? _______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.031 Write the first line of “Sonnet LV” and scan it with the appropriate markings.___________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.032 Using letters, name the rhyme scheme of the entire sonnet. ______________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.033 What theme, commonly used by Shakespeare, does “Sonnet LV” illustrate? ______________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.034 To which of your senses do the images in Lines 1 and 4 appeal? _________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
109
Score
136
Adult Check
_______________
___________________
Initial
25
Date