English
Literature in the Sixteenth Century
English
Literature produced in the sixteenth century is considered to be the most
potent and productive in its literary essence as compared with other centuries
preceding or succeeding. At first glance one is amazed to see how barren the intellectual
pursuits had been just a century ago, as Chaucer the first ever English poet
(though a genius or master of his craft) dealt with a very raw language, and
since then no great creative work appeared except a few who tried to copy
Chaucer. Was it a miracle to find the great assets of English Literature like Spenser,
Sidney, More, Bacon, Shakespeare and hosts of other writers to appear all of a
sudden with the mastery of their craft unmatched by the predecessors or successors?
No,
it was not so. The wave of change in the thought and display of art and
literature had broken out since 13th century from Florence Italy and
reached slowly to England with its zenith in the late 16th century.
The critics of 19th century have termed this wave of European change
as “Renaissance” derived from
Italian word Rinascimanto which means
“rebirth”.
Before
discussing the effect of Renaissance on literature it is necessary to have an
understanding of medieval culture, religion and philosophy with the dull and
stale passivism prevalent across the whole Europe since the fall of Rome in the
4th century. There followed nearly a thousand years in darkness
marked by the autocratic influence of Church which, in order to keep the status
quo, ravaged each human intellectual effort towards light so comprehensively
that we seldom find any example of real revolt or challenge across the
continent. Nomadic tribes searching for food resources and fighting against the
odds of weather and climate, killings and bloodshed in the name of Christian
holiness, wars to establish the ethnic and racial authority were in a striking
contrast to their golden Roman and Greek past and contemporary Muslim
prosperity in the Western Asia and East Africa. There slowly and gradually the
times came as the traders and businessmen travelled to international markets;
navigators like discovered new lands; Copernicus and Galileo came up with the new
Scientific discoveries; the scholars fleeing from Asia after the fall of
Constantinople spread in Europe; and all these developments were so much
debated in the 13th century during the commercial activities in
Florence (the centre of trade in Europe) that there rose a reaction a ‘no’ to
papal propaganda of renunciation in the streets of Florence which ultimately ran
rampant through whole Europe. This reaction with the openness of mind and a
will to search the new truths is termed as Renaissance.
The
agents which contributed to creating an environment of change and revolt can be
categorized as:
-
The scientists and Astronomers like Galileo,
Copernicus who challenged the long established false beliefs merely because
their scriptures held them true.
-
Navigators like Christopher Columbus and Vasco ‘de
Gama who discovered new worlds through their sea expeditions. These discoveries
helped people open their minds.
-
Italian Sculptors, Painters and artists like Da
Vinci, Rafael, Michael Angelo focused on man’s individual powers and desires as
the hinge of human existence. Such thoughts were considered immoral and had
long been suppressed by Christian practice of renunciation and monasticism.
-
The philosophers like Machiavelli went a step ahead
and proposed a code of conduct based on practical maneuvering to achieve power
and excellence in worldly affairs by getting aloof of all the morality
suggested by the religion.
-
Greek and Roman teachings were retraced to be found
ideal in terms of achieving human individual excellence.
The initial Phases
The influence of Renaissance in England
assumed different forms; at some points inspired directly from the Italian
intellectual rebels like Humanists
and Educationists, and at times
indirectly with native intent but Italian in spirit i.e. Reformation. The three Movements of Humanism, Educationists and Reformists are remarkable here because
they not only affected the initial environment of Renaissance in England but also
prepared the intellectual ground with willing acceptance for some great pieces
of literature to follow.
Humanism and Educationists:
Humanism
was a revolt against the other-worldly orientation of medieval philosophy and
religion. The humanists returned to newly discovered Greek manuscripts for inspiration
and enlightenment; they saw in the ancient classics a more ‘modern’ and more
desirable world than the one they lived in. They proposed to reform education
in the direction of Ciceronian ‘Humanitas’, to make men realize their human
capabilities as individuals, to free them from the shackles of scholasticism
and the view that, as Chaucer had expressed it, “this world nis but a
thurghfare ful of wo”.
The thesis of was that man’s proper
role in the world was action, not contemplation. Wealth and power were not necessarily
evil, since they might provide the means of achieving good. The mind and the
will had to be properly disciplined, but they were to be used positively, not
renounced for the sake of the salvation of the soul. Passion, striving for
glory, the aspiring mind were to be encouraged when the motives were noble, and
becoming the master of the earth and thereby achieving benefits for mankind was
a noble motive. They studied the Greek text of the New Testament (St. Jerome’s
Latin text). In Florence, under the patronage of Lorenzo ‘de Medici, such
scholars of Plato as Marcilio Ficino (1433-99) and Pico della Mirandola
(1463-94) created the liveliest intellectual environment in Europe.
The humanists’ movement began in
Italy but it reached England slightly before the beginning of the 16th
century. The dutch scholar Desidarius Erasmus visited England and in 1499 he
mentioned with the great English scholars like John Colet (at oxford), William
Grocyn (at oxford, Thomas Lincare and Thomas More. (Humanists
excerpt taken from Hallet Smith introduction of Sixteenth century English
Literature given in The Norton Anthology”
The educationists directly
influenced from Humanist ideals gained subtle ground. The more remarkable are
sir Thomas Elyot with his “Governour” in which he gave a moral philosophy imitated
from the Italian and full spirit of antiquity, Sir John Cheke a professor of
Greek at Cambridge wrote “The Art of Sedition” in 1549; and Sir Thomas Wilson
who wrote “Arte of Rhetoric” which recommended the use of pure and simple
language. (Taken from
“A Short History of English Literature” by Emile Legouis).
Reformation:
The
Reformation movement in England headed by the Tudor King Henry viii was meant
in the noble cause of cleansing the religion by breaking away from the Roman Authority,
but the history reveals that the King had some dynastic gains to achieve which
had nothing to with the religion. The story tells that in order to produce a
male child the king wanted to marry Anne Boleyn in the life of his first wife.
This marriage was held unlawful by the Roman Church when the king demanded a
special exception. The refusal aroused his anger and he high handed got the
permission from the local English Church and deliberately funded the defamation
of Roman ecclesiastic existence by collecting the data of their corruption. Already
corrupt Church could ill defend it when the proofs came with the knowledge
pregnant nuns and unholy ‘fathers’. Henry VIII himself became the Head of
English Church.
Among
the first who opposed was Thomas More who was King’s Lord Chancellor. He
preferred resignation than sign such an unholy oath, and finally gave up his
life. Henry himself ensured the availability of Sriptures in English although
the great translator William Tyndale was persecuted, driven out of England and
finally killed during Reformation. The great Bible of 1539 was made available
to all who could read. The protestant theologians swarmed to England from the
whole continent, and the Book of Common Prayers was published in 1549, 1552,
and 1553.
Henry’s
son Edward VI born in 1537 and reigned from 1547-53 patronized the protestant
force of Reformation on the lines of his father. After his death, his older
sister Mary rose to the throne. She was a devout Catholic and had married to
her Spanish cousin Philip II. Catholics on the throne, and the retaliation was
obvious. Violence, fight, bloodshed broke out. The Protestants fled to other
lands. Her reign was too short; moreover, she did not produce an heir, so after
her death the Protestants got back to England again and enjoyed great status in
the court of Queen Elizabeth who succeeded Mary.
Reformation
had a far reaching effect on English Culture and literature. The controversy
ignited an endless debate of conservative and modern approach to religion which
still exists.
English Prose in Renaissance
The prose of Renaissance age, though
inferior to the contemporary poetry and drama, bears all the hallmarks of
literary peak. The great writers of the era have all the highlights of Italian
Renaissance like the novelty of thought, height of imagination, search for new
truths, and the revival of Greek ideals.
With the introduction of movable printing
machine brought to England by William Caxton, the volume of prose print
increased manifold. This genre always considered inferior from literary
perspective was infact the same when viewed as a whole, because the bulk of
prose in the sixteenth century was in the form of pamphlets, propaganda by
Protestants and Catholics for their support during Reformation. However, there
are a few literary genius who left their marks qualitatively on the
contemporary literature.
Sir Thomas More:
“what has nature ever
created more gentle, more sweet, and more happy than the genius of Thomas more”,
wrote Erasmus on his first visit to England.
An
epitome of an ideal renaissance figure, Sir Thomas More was the strongest of
English voices on the political, social, and human fronts. Voicing against the
king Henry VII attempt to increase the tax revenue, Thomas More exactly knew
his boundary line which he never stepped over. Never calling King’s name
directly More entered politics, but lost his poise only once which proved fatal
as King Henry VIII imprisoned More’s father during his conflict against the
King’s Reformative adventure. His ‘Utopia’ though written in Latin, is a typical Italian inspiration
inspired by the great Plato’s philosophy. It’s a philosophical romance, a
fanciful account of an ideal republic. His “Edward V” is the first example of
good English according to Hallam.
Sir Walter Raleigh: A soldier,
navigator, courtier, author wrote “A History of the World” during
Prison. Other works are “A Nymph’s Reply”, “A Lie”, “On Sidney”.
John Lyly: A courtier, a soldier, a
poet, a knight the brilliant John Lyly’s ‘Euphues;
Anatomy of Wit’ is a prose romance with poetic expression and subtlety of
thought. Lyly pioneered a new genre of Euphuism in English literature. Its
subject was the adventures of a young man (Euphues) well-endowed by nature but
not disciplined by education. Apparently, the hero is an Athenian and Naples is
the town of temptation, but beneath the disguise Euphues is an Oxford
undergraduate corrupted by Italianate society of London. Lyly cared little of
the criticism launched against him, and stuck to his style as in 1580 he came
up with “Euphues and his England”.
Sir Philip Sidney: Another
remarkable man with an all-round genius was Sir Philip Sidney whose famous
attempt in prose was his “An Apologie
for Poetrie” which defended poetry and poets in the same way as Aristotle
did in his times.
Religious Prose:
As
mentioned earlier, the bulk of prose written in the age of Renaissance was
religious in nature, sometimes serving the people with translations of the
Bible, and at another merely abusing the teachings of opponents’ faith for
propaganda. The pamphlets printed during the conflicts of Catholics and
Protestants were in millions which developed a taste for the printed things
though but did no practical good to the literary spirit of the age. However,
the remarkable attempts in this respect are:
-
The translation of the Bible in English by William Tyndal
-
Thomas
Cranmers “The Book of Common Prayers”
Sir Francis Bacon: Bacon’s
Essays titled as “Novum Organum” though
in Latin, are considered the greatest attempt in prose literature of that age
because of two reasons: first, it is the maiden introduction of French literary
genre of Essay which became increasingly popular in the ages to follow;
secondly, the philosophy presented in them reflects the true Renaissance
freedom of thought infused by the Italian Renaissance philosopher, Machiavelli.
Non Dramatic Poetry of
Sixteenth Century under Renaissance
Poets of
Sixteenth century were impressed more by Renaissance than Reformation. They
remained aloof of the frivolous controversies. They, however, sought the light
from Humanism. The revival of poetry was an uphill task chiefly because of two
reasons: Chaucer being the only main predecessor was eyed with suspicion of
having faulty metre because of the major change of language over past one and
half century. His words with ending “-e” had been freed of it by then.
Secondly, his successors like Stephen Hawes had rent much of a languor to
English poetry, and John Skelton’s attempts were no more than the impression of
‘disorder’.
EARLIER POETS:
Two courtier poets of Henry VIII undertook
the task for which Italy provided both model and stimulus. These pioneers whose
works were ended by their untimely deaths were Wyatt and Surrey.
Wyatt’s stay in
France and Italy introduced him to the languages and styles unknown in England.
His main contribution to English is the introduction of Sonnets from Italian
models. His taste found nothing English poetry to build on. His sonnets in the
beginning were very clumsy but he achieved smoothness and regularity. His
sonnets carry new lyric style, richness of images, metaphors, subtlety and
diction Petrarch and his followers.
Earl of Surrey further
beautified Sonnet after Wyatt. “Though lacking in Wyatt’s energy and
independence Surrey was more graceful, more sensitive, more given to Elegy and
more loving to nature”, says Legouis.
What Surrey excels greatly is in his
metrical innovations. His three quatrains with different rhyming schemes
followed by a couplet is exactly what today we call Shakespearean sonnets in
structure, because of the perfection Shakespeare
had, otherwise it was Surrey who not
adapted it for English language. Both of these poets’ work was not published
till years after their death when in 1557 a joint collection appears known as “Tottel’s Miscellani”. Following Surrey
and Wyatt are literally no one before Edmund Spenser, however, it would be
injustice if not mention the contribution of George Gascoigne and Thomas
Sackville. Gascoigne’s “Steel Glass”
is considered to be the first long English satire and Sackville’s “The Mirror for Magistrates” (Stories from English
history in verse) carries meritorious parts.
THE STAR POETS OF
RENAISSANCE:
It will not be exaggeration at all
to credit Edmund Spenser as the only
non-dramatic genius of sixteenth century English poet with only John Donne a very distant second to
follow in a different way. In him, we find a marvelous union of intellectual
and creative powers with “brilliant
imagination, fertile invention and flowing rhythm” according to
Chateaubriand.
