Age of Shakespeare( non-dramatic verse)

Question 1

What is the Shakespearean Age?

Answer 1

Accession of Elizabeth in 1558 to death of James I in 1625

Question 2

How can we divide the Shakespearean Age?

Answer 2

First 21 years of Queens reign( springtime or time of preparation);

24 years between publication of Shepheardes Calendar and her death( summer or full fruit borne);

22 years of reign of James I - Jacobean era ( decline or autumn)

Question 3

Which period is one of the greatest in the history of world literature?

Answer 3

Age of Shakespeare

Question 4

When were Spenser, Bacon and Shakespeare boys and when did they reach maturity?

Answer 4

During early years of Elizabeths reign; reached maturity during closing decades of 16th century when tides of life were at highest

Question 5

England now felt the full effect of?

Answer 5

The revival of learning

Question 6

Why was the revival of learning no longer restricted to scholars at court?

Answer 6

Many translations carried the treasures of classics far and wide to the public

Question 7

” every breeze was dusty with the pollen of…”

Answer 7

Greece, Rome, Italy

Question 8

Renaissance aroused what senses?

Answer 8

Intellect and aesthetic sense

Question 9

The Reformation awakened what sense?

Answer 9

Spiritual nature

Question 10

The same printing press which printed the classics also …? What happened next?

Answer 10

Put the English Bible into the hands of the people ,
Spread of interest in religion also deepened moral earnestness

Question 11

Who were some men who discovered new worlds on the seas?

Answer 11

Drake,Raleigh

Question 12

What did the discovery of new worlds do?

Answer 12

Made popular curiousity, zest for adventure and gave fresh ideas

Question 13

The general prosperity of England
increased and for the first time in many years it enjoyed internal peace. WHY?

Answer 13

England had thrown off the yoke of foreign power in rupture with Rome

Feud of Catholics and protestants were over

In the collision with Spain Englishmen stood together against a common foe

Question 14

An intense patriotism was one of the features of Shakespeare’s age. How did it show itself thus?

Answer 14

An interest in England past
Pride in England greatness
Hatred of Englands enemies
Loyalty to Englands queen

Question 15

Whatever might be the individual quality of his work, the manysidedness of life about him was certain to be reflected in his work. In Shakespeare’s age…men…?

Answer 15

Lived intensely, thought intensely and wrote intensely.

Question 16

Elizabethan poetry before Spenser.

What marked the golden age of Elizabethan literature?

Answer 16

Publication of Spensers Shepheardes calendar 1579

Question 17

In the first half of the Queens reign, while there was lot of poetic activity, little verse of any distinct value was produced. Who wrote the best poetry then? What was the work?

Answer 17

Thomas Sackville, lord Buckhurst in ( Myrroure for Magistrates ) as a continuation of Lydgates ( Falles of Princes) - series of long tragical histories of famous Englishmen

Sackville’s 2 poems ( Induction)/intro and ( Complaint of Buckingham) are superior to rest of the collection. The noble but sombre ( Induction) is the finest single poem between Chaucer and Spenser.

Question 18

First regular verse satire in english?

Answer 18

( Steele Glas) George Gascoigne

Question 19

Spenser and his poetry.

Edmund Spenser, the greatest NON DRAMATIC poet of an age which was chiefly producing great drama was born when and educated where?

Answer 19

London 1552
Educated at Merchant - Taylor’s school and at Cambridge– where he read the classics and Italian literature, came under influence of strong Protestant spirit of Cambridge

Question 20

Where did Spenser meet his intimate friend and who was it?

Answer 20

Spenser found a place in household of Earl of Leicester with whose nephew Sir Philip Sidney he had intimate friendship.

Question 21

Where did Spenser travel and how did he feel about it?

Answer 21

Spenser went to Ireland as secretary to the new Lord Deputy Lord Grey de Wilton. He passed most of his life in Ireland miserably and hated the Irish.
He couldn’t secure a position at court and return to England so his only relief was writing the Faery Queene .

Question 22

How did Spenser die and what happened before that to crush his spirits?

Answer 22

1598 Rebellion broke out in Tyrone where Spenser lived and his castle was plundered by a mob. His family barely escaped and he reached London at end of the year 1598. On 1599 next year he died at an inn in Westminster.

Question 23

Spensers voluminous minor poetry itself wouldve assured him fame. Talk about the Shepheardes Calendar(1579)

Answer 23

Pastoral and artificial poem

Many classical allusions, Spenser follows model set by Greek poet Theocritus , by Virgil in Bucolica and by Renaissance French and Italian imitators of these

It’s divided into 12 parts for each month of the year

Question 24

Story of the Shepheardes Calendar (1579)?

Answer 24

Under the guise of conventional pastoral imagery, the poet writes of his unfortunate love for mysterious Rosalind , deals with many moral questions and discusses religious issues of the day from standpoint of Protestantism.

Question 25

What is Spensers other pastoral poem and who was the Calendar dedicated to?

Answer 25

Astrophel, an elegy on death of Sidney
Calendar was dedicated to him

Question 26

Which melodious verses in honor of love and beauty were written by Spenser?

Answer 26

Foure Hymnes

Question 27

Talk about some of Spensers minor love poems to Elizabeth Boyle - what is the finest of all his minor verses?

Answer 27

Amoretti a series of 88 sonnets in Italian Petrarchs manner, describes progress of his love for Elizabeth Boyle, whom he married.

His marriage inspired Epithalamium, the finest of all his minor poems and the noblest English wedding hymn.

Question 28

The Faery Queene.

Originally was supposed to have? How many came out ?

Answer 28

12 books but only 6 were published in his lifetime and portions of 7th posthumously.

Question 29

What is one of the longest and greatest English poems?

Answer 29

Faery Queene

Question 30

What was Spensers own statement on the structure of Faery Queene? Where did he give this statement?

Answer 30

Each of the 12 books should be independent but connected as part of a general whole.

His scheme is explained at length in a prefatory letter to friend Sir Walter Raleigh.

Question 31

Story of Faery Queene?

Answer 31

The Fairy Queen is keeping her annual feast for 12 successive days and on each day a certain knight at her command took an adventure, each such adventure is subject of one whole book.

Prince Arthur, his central figure, the hero of the greatest British legend of chivalry , having dreamed of the Fairy Queen went forth looking for her, meeting the various knights in their adventures along the way.

Question 32

The appearance of Prince Arthur in each story of Faery Queene serves as a…

Answer 32

Critical link between each story

Question 33

The Faery Queene is like its principal models of the Italian romantic epics of chivalry. What are its traditional characters and plot?

Answer 33

Characters- beautiful damsels, dragons, wizards

Plot- enchantments, tournaments, love passages

Question 34

Spensers genius was fed by the reformation as well as by the Renaissance. He was unlike his Italian master Ariosto who only wrote to amuse..How?

Answer 34

Faery Queene is a didactic romance. The poet uses stories as vehicles for messages he wants to convey. Romance turns into allegory.

Question 35

Allegorical story of Faery Queene? Give all the 6 knights and their story names.

Answer 35

The 12 knights are the 12 cardinal virtues of Aristotle’s philosophy. The adventures of each one are arranged to embody the experiences and conflicts each virtue has in the world.

Virtue also has ultimate triumph with aid of Arthur, an incarnation of the Divine Power.
1) Legend of Knight of the Red Cross or of Holiness
2) Sir Guyon or of Temperance
3) Britomartis or of Chastity
4) Cambell and Triamond or of Friendship
5) Artegall or of Justice
6) Sir Calidore or of Courtesy

Question 36

Spenser has an ethical allegory. He also has allegory directly connected with the political and religious problems of his age. How?

Answer 36

Characters stand also for individuals or institutions representing those mental or moral qualities

Eg; Red Cross Knight goes to rescue parents of Lady Una from a dragon who kept them in a castle. As general allegory this is True Religion rescuing Humanity from Satan. But Spenser identifies True Religion with Protestantism and the foes of it as the Papacy and Romes political allies.

Question 37

Demerits of allegory in Faery Queene?

Answer 37

As many of the political and religious allegories are relevant to his time only, they only have a historic value now.

His allegory is sometimes inconsistent and obscure.

The constant symbolism distracts from the human interest of the poem.

Question 38

Defects of Faery Queene in general?

Answer 38

It suffers from extreme artificiality.

Old theme of romance almost collapses under the new spiritual meaning given to it.

Spenser lacks energy as a storyteller and has little dramatic power.

Question 39

PLUS points of Faery Queene in general? WHY is Spenser called the poets poet?

Answer 39

Spenser has a wonderful sense of beauty. And picturesque power.

His work has a noble moral spirit which is the quality of pure poetry.

This is why Spenser is called poets poet. He exercised an influence on 18th century romantic revival.

Question 40

Spenser was not only the greatest poet of his age but also the most representative. How?

Answer 40

Elizabethan England had the spirit of Renaissance combined with reformation which Spenser also had.

Question 41

What was the kind of artistic langauge Spenser used to write?

Answer 41

He was a lover of Chaucer and made a dialect of his own which was purposely archaic.

He also made his own 9 line stanza ababbcbcc( last line is an Alexandrine with 6 iambic feet instead of 5) - Spensarian Stanza

Question 42

Other Poets from 1579 to 1625. Minor poets of Shakespeare’s age.

These poets were numerous. What poetry collections followed in the wake of Tottels Miscellany?

Answer 42

The Paradyse of Daynty Devises, An Arbor of Amorous Devises

MOST famous was Englands Helicon

Question 43

A special type of lyric in vogue was the?

Answer 43

Sonnet

Question 44

Sonnet was introduced from Italy by Wyatt and Surrey. The Italian plan of writing sonnets in sequences was also adopted by many poets. Give some example of poems in sonnets( where all are love poems in the Italian manner) ?

Answer 44

Sidneys Astrophel and Stella
Sonnets of Shaskespeare
Spensers Amoretti
Draytons Idea
Daniels Delia

Question 45

Another class of historically significant poetry?

Answer 45

Patriotic poetry

Question 46

Examples of Patriotic poetry in Shakespeares age?

Answer 46

William Warners( Albions England) a poem setting forth history of England from prophet noahs days to elizabeths days

Samuel Daniels versified chronicles of many books on( The Civil Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and York)

Michael Draytons spirited ballad ( Battle of Agincourt) and ( The Barons Wars) - and (Polyolbion) an enormous ‘ Herculean toil ‘ in 30 books with poetic description of England

Question 47

Jacobean era was age of decline in Shakespeares age. A tendency to imitation was beginning with new generation. But also a new kind of poetry was beginning with…

Answer 47

John Donne

Question 48

Talk about John Donne and his poetry. Which school of poetry did he start ?

Answer 48

He was a celebrated divine and preacher

His poems are characterized by genuine feeling, harsh metres and strained, whimsical images, speech called ‘conceits’.

He started metaphysical school of poetry.