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                                           A Survey to the History of English Literature (I) 

                                                     The Middle Ages   (The 5^th – 15^th Century)

Celts                                                                                                                   

The very first people and the primitive residents of England are Celts. Around 55 B.C. a powerful Roman Emperor named Julius Caesar came to this rainy, rocky island but he left it, not interested. 100 years later in 43 A.D. Emperor Claudius came to this island. The Romans were attracted toward it and invaded it; they were sophisticated and highly civilized and after they became the owners of England they influenced both Celts and the island. They started building military camps that later on changed into cities; "-ester " and "-chester", the suffixes in the names of English cities mean "camp" in Roman. Gradually, they built roads; they were supreme road builders; and little by little, people became civilized.

Romans were pagan at first, but gradually they became Christian and it took about 300 years that Christianity became dominant over people's lives. Then the land started a process of prosperity.

Anglo Saxons   (The 5^th Century A.D)

In the 5^th century, A.D. another invasion took place by a group of pagans and savages; the Germanic tribes called Anglo Saxons. The Roman's power declined and these Germanic tribes became powerful. Anglo Saxons contained 3 main tribes: Angles, Saxons and Jutes.  They were all pagans, savages, warlike, tough and greedy people and they were just interested in war and lived on loots they gained in wars. They did not have any laws. The only law they obeyed was the law of the tribe. They were completely obedient and loyal to the leader who possessed the only power and they supported him. The leader was superior and his obligation was to be generous to share loots among them.

The warriors were regarded great people and they were highly respected. They destroyed churches when they captured the island but gradually Christianity penetrated them. The first trace of this penetration was the coming to England of a missionary from Ireland who was sent by Pope Gregory, named Saint Augustine in the 6^th century, to advocate Christianity. Pope Gregory was the first archbishop of Canterbury. This Christian missioner from Ireland started to advocate Christianity in Kent and gradually the road for Christianity was paved. In that time Ireland was impenetrable and its people remained Christians.

After the invasion, Anglo Saxons divided the country into 7 kingdoms which were called Heptarchies: Saxons ruled the kingdom of Wessex (west), Essex (east), and Sussex (south). Angles possessed the kingdoms of Northumberia, East Anglea and Mercia and Jutes ruled the kingdom of Kent.

Anglo Saxon's Cultural Values

Since the leader of these German tribes was the superior power, his role was considered so important by the members of the tribes and since Anglo Saxons were warlike people, heroic ideas were ideal to them. They were pagans; so naturally, there was no belief in after life and immortality of soul among them. A name, which could live after one's death was a close substitute for immortality. Gradually, names became immortal through the works of poets, especially the names of heroes.

Old English Literature   (The 9^th and 10^th Centuries A.D.)

During this period, the language was Old English and the first verbal literature was poetry, Epic: a long narrative poem on a great and serious subject, with an elevated style, and centered on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions the fate of a tribe, a nation or the human race was dependent.

Most of the works of this era were anonymous because what mattered were the names of the heroes not the poets.

Old English Literature includes two categories:

1. Pagan Literature

A. Beowulf

This is the most famous literary work of this period. It is an anonymous epic. The story is that of a life of a hero named Beowulf. The story contains two main incidents of the hero's life. In the first one he is young and fights against a monster which attacks a Danish king's court hall. He kills this monster and its mother which was after avenging her son the next night. In the second part, Beowulf becomes the king. A dragon attacks his people and he fights it, and both get mortally wounded.                                                                                           

2. Christianized Literature

Anglo Saxons infused Bible with heroic ideas, as a result, there can be seen no fundamental change; again heroic pictures are dominant. Two poets known in this period are:

A. Caedmon   (Late 7^th Century A.D.)

He was an illiterate man and at old age he became a clergy. Venerable Bede, a historian, had a story about him as follows: Caedman used to be an unlearned shepherd and suddenly in a vision the power of poetry came to him. Caedman's short piece of poetry is titled "Hymn to Creation".

B.  Cynewulf   (The 8^th and 9^th Centuries)      

He was a Christian poet; 4 pieces of poetry are attributed to him.

C. Venerable Bede   (673 – 735)

An important literary figure of this period was Venerable Bede. He was a very learned man, a scholar of Latin, Greek and Philosophy. He was also s historian and a linguist and wrote about 40 books. His most famous book is the history of Anglo Saxons period titled: "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum" i.e. "Ecclesiastical History of the English People".

The term "ecclesiastic" refers to whatever related to churches and clergies. The Old Testament was written by Ecclesiastes i.e. clergymen. Generally speaking, this period was the period of verbal literature not written one.

King Alfred   (871 - 899)

Another great figure of this period was a king; King Alfred. He was very interested in literature and is said to be the father of the English prose. For many years during his time, different parts of England were invaded by Danish groups, who were enemies of culture and ruined libraries, churches and even some of the kingdoms. England was through a chaotic state. King Alfred was defeated by Danish invaders for about 15 years of his reign but eventually he succeeded. At peace, he resumed to enrich the culture and nourished the country. He was a learned man and wanted his people to learn and love English language; therefore, he advocated public education. His contributions to English literature and language are as following:

1. He was the pioneer of public education.

2. He commissioned writing the history to scholars and historians.

3. He supervised the translation of Latin Books into English.

He wanted Old English Prose to flourish. Thus, he sent for translators and commenced translating Latin prose into English – Latin was the language of learning.

He superintended the translation of Bede's book: "Ecclesiastical History of English Nation, and also another Latin book titled "Anglo Saxon Chronicle" into English. He translated two fragments of Latin prose himself: "Cura Pastoralis" i.e.   "Pastoral Care" by Pope Gregory and also "De Consolation Philosophiea" i.e. "Consolation of Philosophy" by Boethius,  the 5^th century Spanish monk.

The Norman Conquest   (1066)

Normans were a group of Scandinavian Vikings. They settled in the northern part of France called Normandy, 50 years before their invasion. Their ruler was a Duke and subject to a French Duke. Normandy was a province of France but it acted independently in wars and so on. William, Duke of Normandy was the one who attacked England. Originally, they were not French; they were warlike savages and when they conquered the new land, William announced that every inch of the land belonged to him. His major influences are as following:

1. He established a feudal system.

William was both the Duke of Normandy and the King of England. He possessed nothing to pay to his warriors and officers, so he divided the land into different parts and gave each part to a baron i.e. his followers. Barons were just the   tenants of the lands as long as they were loyal to the king and they were free to do   whatever they wanted to their properties. They started to exploit the lands and oppressed people.      

2. He made a change in the language.

Old English was the language of ordinary people and Latin was the language of scholars and churches. After Normans' invasion a new language was brought into the island which was a northern dialect of French and it was the language of law, aristocracy and government and in general, polite society. Old English remained in remote villages in conquered parts to speak and for 200 years there was no trace of Old English Literature.      

3. William ordered to establish great castles in each part of the land.

Each Baron had his own castle. Each castle had rounded arches and heavy pillars as its main features.                                     

4. Duke William expelled English churchmen.

He replaced each English churchman with a French one and started to build churches and great cathedrals.

Barons were subject to the kings. They divided their lands among people; this division became so narrowed that it finally reached peasants who were the actual workers on lands; yet, they possessed nothing. Besides, they had to pay:

1.  Due or the villein's share

2. Tithe i.e. one- tenth of the annual product of a farm that was paid to support                                                  clergies and churches.                                 

3. Tax; that was paid to the government and sometimes it was taken by force, to              support mostly military expenses, etc.

At first, Dukes were interested in Normandy and thought of England as a colony, but gradually, they accepted it and became real English kings, as a result, they did not consider themselves Frenchmen anymore and became quite intermingled with English culture and nation.

The changes in Old English language and literature after the Norman Conquest:

1. Old English with Germanic syntax dominance was replaced by a Norman Anglo

    Saxon language with French dominance, in The Middle Ages.

2.  Normans brought French habits, way of thinking and writing into England. The         dominant genre i.e. literary form of French literature entered English is Romance.

Romance

Romance came into existence in the late 11^th and early 12^th century. It is a long narrative poem whose fundamental theme is love; especially Platonic love. The world of romance is a marvelous one; full of fair ladies, chivalry, knighthood, supernatural beings, etc. Romance is a story of a hero, usually a night, who serves a prince or a king. He is very brave, generous, and loyal to his king, pious, religious and madly in love with a beautiful girl; but his love is never fulfilled. Mostly, marriage is impossible and eventually the hero dies. The trace of romance is evident in many ages and it was the dominant genre of the time for so long. Ideals of chivalry were advocated through these stories. While no trace of feminism can be found in Old English Literature, in romance (Middle English), women are the core of literary works.

The knight in  romantic story is either after a fair lady or in a quest for the Holy Grail i.e. a cup or container used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, in which one of his followers is said to have received drops of his blood at the Crucifixion; these two were the hero's mission. A romance hero is very faithful and in love with two ladies: The Holy Mother, and an earthly lady. The trace of romance can also be seen in the literature of later periods for instance in Shakespeare's works.

The stories of French and later on of English literature can be categorized into three distinct groups:

1. Matter of Rome

All the stories are about legendaries of the myths of the past:

A. The Story of Troy

B. The Adventures of Alexander

2. Matter of France

The hero of these stories is an emperor named Charlemagne; a powerful emperor, living about 800 and ruling over the whole Europe for a couple of years. The central figure is a night serving Charlemagne named Roland. This category is the most influential one with a great impact on Europe.

3. Matter of Britain

This category was the most important for the English. The central figure is King Arthur; he has different figures:

A. Historical Figure

     He was a Celtic king who lived before Anglo Saxons.

B. Mythological Figure

     He was a semi-legendary figure, a brave one with followers, fighting for him to          death. He is semi-godly figure who is protected by supernatural powers.

C. Romantic Figure

     He is a sample of chivalry and knighthood.

All these qualities combined in a person would make him an interesting figure. The French interested in Charlemagne were gradually attracted toward The Matter of Britain and King Arthur. These stories were in French at the beginning; but after a short time they came into English.

Geoffrey of Monmouth   (1100 - 1155)

He was a perfect story teller who dealt with The Matter of Britain. He wrote a pure literary book but he believed it to be a history book. His book was titled: "Historiae Regum Britanniae" in which he introduced King Arthur. Through it he could make Normans interested in this figure.

Major Historical Events during Norman Invasion

1. As mentioned before, the emperors were both kings of England and Dukes of Normandy; therefore, they were interested both in Normandy and England. This very fact brought about involvements outside England.

2. There were the problems of the feudal system.

A. King William did not want powerful barons; therefore, he did not give them large pieces of land; i.e. one baron had a piece of land in north, another piece in south, etc. This way a baron was unable to have a large united powerful state, thus he could not claim kingdom.

B. William devoted lands to barons and in return, he claimed their service; especially military service. Each baron had to set up his own army and in case of summon from the king, he was obliged to obey.

3. Problems with churches.

Norman churchmen were intelligent. Although they were selected and appointed by the king, they maintained their own rights. The outcome of this was certain conflicts between English kings and the church, the most famous of which was during the reign of King Henry II. Archbishop of Canterbury was at great odds with Henry II. So he was dismissed and replaced by king's intimate friend Thomas a Becket     (1118 -1170). But Becket also started disagreeing Henry later on; they were both pig-headed.

When someone committed a crime, he was sent to court. Becket declared that a clergy must be judged by an ecclesiastical court in Rome. However, Henry II believed a clergy had to be sent to an ordinary court and be judged by the government. A spiritual man as Becket, realizing the great materialistic part of the king, had no way except escaping from the country.

During his absence, Henry II resumed his opposition to the church. He founded England's first university, Oxford University in 1167. Many English students and scholars in France were summoned to establish it. Cambridge was the second one founded in 1209.

Becket returned to England 6 years later. This time he was more powerful than before; he had permission from Pope to excommunicate Henry II and his chief councilors - i.e. exclude someone as a punishment from the rights and privileges of membership of the Christian church – Beckett also threatened that he would put a ban to all churches of England later on. This made Henry II quite raged, consequently, on Christmas, he sent 4 men to the cathedral in Canterbury to kill Becket; and they did so during his service.

But martyred Becket was a greater threat as people believed his blood would cure the sick and they visited his holy shrine. Gradually, he became St. Thomas a Becket,

and the law he had designed for the clergy and the court was established. Clergy in that time was anyone who had the ability to read.

"Murder in Cathedral" by T.S. Eliot, concerns the same event.

Becket's law is called the law for the Criminous Clericks with a special court allocated to them. Even in the 16^th century, a poet, Ben Johnson killed somebody and he had to be executed but due to his ability to read, he was granted a pardon. This law was advantageous for the clergy. When a clergy was judged in a Christian court especially in Rome, where the judge was also a clergy, he would be sympathized and saved.

Many years later, Henry's grandson, Edward, decided to apologize the church for the sin his grandfather had done. He had to go around the yard of Canterbury while clergies made a symbolic act of whipping him. All the above mentioned events happened during the 12^th century.  

The 14^th Century

During this period, King Edward III, who was a warrior and had a great love for fighting, claimed the kingdom of France and this decision resulted in a war that lasted for more than 100 years.

This war was interrupted once in 1348 by a horrible and dreadful monster              The Black Death. Plague pervaded the Western Europe and hordes of helpless people died.

There were no means of preventing the disaster and about one third of the population of Western Europe were destroyed i.e. about 25 millions.

On the other hand, the illness had certain social results:

1. The population and the barons' power decreased and as a result, the wages of the working class increased. But the lords tried to keep the wages down by force and menace.

2. Villeins or farm laborers were from the low class of the society and slaves of their lords. They started demanding more wages and a great number of them escaped from the farms and headed for the towns. Consequently, the second result of the plague was the growth of towns; London grew into a city.

3. Villeins' rush toward the city made a change in the language; a new language i.e. English with German and French dominance was produced.

Wycliffe   (1328 – 1384)

An important character who brought about an important movement was Wycliffe (1328 - 1384). He was an Oxford theologian and a very learned man. He campaigned against various abuses common in the churches of his time. The points to which he proposed his objections are as following:

1. There was a strong belief in Roman Catholic Church that there is no direct connection between God and man. Such a connection is achieved by the aim of a priest. Wycliffe denied the idea and stated that there is no need for any intermediary element between God and man., or for hierarchy. (He lived 1050 years before  Martin Luther.)

2. Wycliffe was also at odds with the luxurious life style of bishops and cardinals who were actually princes of churches.

3. He disapproved transubstantiation i.e. through a ceremony called Mass in Catholic church people are given a piece of bread and a sip of wine by a bishop. It is said that through a miracle the bread would change into the flesh and the wine into the blood of Christ.

4. He also asserted that church is not the source of guidance, knowledge, and salvation of Christians. The authentic source is Bible. Consequently; Wycliffe and two of his followers translated Bible from Latin into English so that it would be intelligible for common people.

Wycliffe's power had two major reasons:

1. At first he was backed by the court men who were against Church, but gradually he

     lost his support.

2. It was a critical time for Catholic Church of Rome; because at the same time two        Popes, one in Rome and one in France claimed the papacy; thus they did not care       for Wycliffe's assertions.                                                                                         

Wycliffe's theories were the bases of a great revolt. After his theories were popularized among the poor, his followers increased in number. Lollards i.e. God Praisers, went to villages and read Bible to people and talked about Wycliffe's assertions. Besides, 100 year war demanded money and people who were not      interested in France, were forced to pay for it. They had to work hard on fields; that was a drastic and horrible task; consequently, farmers grew old before time and died soon. They were ill, hungry and barefooted and lived in huts and despite such a horrible condition, they had to pay tithe; while bishops lived luxuriously. Moreover, Black Death had taught people that they were important and essential for their lords. In general, Wycliffe's teaching, the poor condition of life and the knowledge gained by the Black Death stirred the poor to revolt; Peasants Revolt took place in 1381 whose leaders were John Ball and Watt Tyler.

The leaders believed that social classes should be abolished. They gathered a great crowd of people outside London at Thames River and marched into the city; but it was a loose revolt, for people were uneducated and disorganized and brought about panic; and as a result, they even killed the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Peasants' demands were:

1. The abolishment of all social classes

2. Community of property

At that time the king was a 14 year old child, Richard; but he was very wise. He promised the peasants that they would be granted what they demanded. Simultaneously, he killed Watt Tyler, the leader, as a result, people scattered because there were no thoughts and organization behind their revolt. John Ball also managed to escape but he was arrested and executed later. The king realized that he had to put an end to the poor condition of life; so, he abolished the feudal system. The feudal lords had to lease their fields to people. The result of the revolt was the emergence of a new class i.e. Yeomen, the first Middle Class of England.

Major Literary Works of the 14^th Century

1. The first work of art was a long anonymous poem titled "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". It is one of the greatest poetic works of Middle English literature, a romance with the theme of love and knighthood.

2. The second great literary work was a poem by William Langland titled         "Piers Plowman".

Langland was a fierce social critic, influenced by Wycliffe. He believed that poverty is the result of life style of the rich who are supported by church. This very fact makes Christianity impossible. He was against the attitude of the church and the rich toward the poor. His work was popular among the oppressed.

Geoffrey Chaucer   (1343 – 1400)

He is the greatest literary figure of the 14^th century; the only second to Shakespeare who dwarfed all his contemporaries. His works are gigantic masterpieces compared with other literary works; he was the peak of English literature. Chaucer was born to a well to do family and was ranked among the high class; but due to their blood they were excluded from aristocracy. His father was a wealthy wine merchant.

At his young age, Chaucer was brought up as a page i.e. a boy attendant of a noble man. To his father, his future progress was prior to his interests. After he finished the school he had just two alternatives: either going to university which would lead him toward the service of the church or going to a noble man's home where he would learn necessary and less important formal lessons.

King Edward III had many sons, one of whom was Prince Lionel of Antwerp. Chaucer was sent to Lionel's household. His success was also owing to his being backed by nobles, one of whom was famous John of Gaunt i.e. Lionel's brother. He was a powerful man and Chaucer's supporter. Chaucer married a girl, both a member of the queen's household and the household of wife of John of Gaunt and from that time on he entered aristocracy.

He gained high official positions and also grants of money from different kings. He was a talented man and was sent to France and Italy as a diplomatic missionary. He also became the Knight of Shire of Kent i.e. a representative of the parliament. Besides, he was the custom controller of wool for a period of time.

Chaucer's Literary Career

Chaucer's period of literary career can be categorized into 3 phases:

I. The French Phase 

Chaucer was brought up in a courtly environment, so he was familiar with French literature and knew Latin well. Under the influence of French literature, he attempted to translate a long poem in French; "Roman De La Rose", a romance. He gave a free translation to the book with his own trace.

Besides, he wrote a book of poems: "The Book of the Duchess" that is an elegy for the death of Gaunt's wife, Blache, who was the Duchess of Lancaster.

II. The Italian Phase

His travel to Italy brought him an influence of Italian writers such as Dante and Boccaccio. His major works under the influence of Boccaccio are:

A. "Troiles and Creseide"

It is a poem based on a poem by Boccaccio titled "Il Filostrato" i.e.                    "The Love- Stricken". It is a love story about a man who is madly in love with a girl but eventually finds out that his mistress is disloyal and falls into disillusionment. The book is based on the theme of the nature of earthly love.                                                      

B. "The Parliament of Fowls"

The theme is again the nature of earthly love, but the debate is held by birds.

C. "The House of Fame"

This book was written under the influence of Dante's "Devine Comedy". It is                 about a narrator who goes to a palace called Palace of Fame in a dream vision and there he meets famous people, either Biblical or mythological.     

Chaucer made a free translation of "De Consolation Philosophia" i.e.

"Consolation of Philosophy" by Boethius,  the 5^th century Spanish monk. Chaucer's philosophy of life is that "Man must live whole heartedly and happily; he must use everything but at the same time he must remain spiritually detached from the world". But the idea seems quite paradoxical.

III. The English Phase

Chaucer's masterpiece is "The Canterbury Tales" written in his last period. The story of the poem is about 29 pilgrims from different classes of the society who are headed for St. Becket's shrine. At the beginning, there is a general prolog in which the pilgrims are introduced to the readers. They gather in an inn whose host would like to accompany them on the journey and proposes that each pilgrim should tell two stories on the way to the shrine and two others on the way back to shorten their long journey. But there are only 24 stories told by the pilgrims (i.e. the work remains incomplete).

Chaucer was a great observer of life. Although he lived among high ranked people, he experienced and touched the low and depicted them realistically and visualized great knowledge of man's psychology.

The tales are courtly, knightly and even bawdy, that is why later on some of the stories were censored.

Chaucer drew his characters from his own experience. In "The Canterbury Tales" some of the characters come from the works of Bocccaccio, but they are handled by Chaucer.

                                                                      ادامه

The 15^th Century

The first English prose writer in this period was Sir Thomas Malory (1405-1471).

He appeared five years after Chaucer's death. Historians give at least 4 identities to him. He was a noble man but due to some unknown reasons he was in prison. (There had been another Malory who was a criminal but historians are not certain whether he was the prose writer).

Malory received an unknown French book in prison and under its influence he produced his own book about King Arthur i.e. "Mort d'Arthur"; it is a fascinating story of Arthur's adventures and death in form of poetry.

Historical Events

After a couple of years following Edward III's reign, another warrior king,  Henry V attacked France and defeated the French army; he was given the daughter of the old French king as his wife and a reward. On the other hand, Henry V was promised to become the king of France after the French king's death; but Henry died soon after his marriage and his one- year old son was crowned as King Henry VI.

Since the king was a child, a council of powerful people started ruling the country. The English court was divided into two households: The House of York and         The House of Lancaster.

Although the king grew up, he was insane and thus a plaything of the council and temporarily he got mad. All these factors led to a conflict between the House of York and The House of Lancaster and eventually a war, to decide who deserves the crown of England, was brought up. The war was called The War of Roses. The emblem of York was a white rose and that of Lancaster was a red rose. At last none of them won the battle. In fact, none of them deserved the kingdom, for all of them were illegitimate descendents while legitimacy was regarded a fundamental peculiarity for the kingdom.

After 5 years of war between nobles a member of the House of York, Edward IV came to the throne. After his death, his five -year old son was to become the king, but Edward's greedy and tough brother, Richard, declared that Edward's son was illegitimate and claimed the monarchy as King Richard III. "Richard III", portrayed by Shakespeare, was a villain. He killed his brother and imprisoned the two princes in the Tower of London.

Catherine, Henry IV's wife, fell in love with one of her court men, a low man named Tudor who was a Welsh. Without legal marriage Catherine brought him 5 illegitimate children. One of his grandsons, named Henry VII later claimed the kingdom of England during Richard III's reign and eventually defeated and killed him. He ascended the throne under the name of Tudor.

Tudors' dynasty belonged to neither Yorks nor Lancasters. Henry VII was very wise and a dictator. He married Edward IV's daughter and   this way he tried to make a link between all his enemies and himself. He had two sons: Arthur and Henry VIII. Arthur married a Spanish princess but he died soon and Henry VIII married his brother's widow.

William Caxton   (1422 - 1491)

After Chaucer, there was no significant literary figure in this century; yet, meanwhile, an important man, William Caxton appeared; (1422 – 1491). During 47 years of his age, he was a merchant, occupied in wool trade, and spent most of his time abroad. Once, he decided to translate a French romance about war. After he finished the translation, he was asked to copy it for some of his friends. Actually, it was a monotonous task, so he asked one of his friends engaged in printing for the job and at 50 he himself became a printer in Belgium. He began his new engagement; printing business, in England and he managed to print Chaucer, Malory and other writers' works. After his death, his pupils continued his profession and gradually, printing business pervaded the whole country.

The 15^th century was a barren period and for 150 years there was no trace of any literary figures and geniuses. Two literary forms were in fashion during The Middle Ages: Popular Ballads and Drama.

Ballad

Ballad is a kind of short narrative poem which was accompanied by music and dance and it used to be performed at public. The composition of ballads goes back to the year 1200 and some scholars esteem that the last ballad was composed in 1700.

 The Characteristics of Ballads:

1. They are mostly anonymous.

2. They are short narrative poems.

    In each ballad a story is told without further information about events and details.

    Just the climax is important.

3. They have tragic stories.

    The hero usually dies or is murdered by treachery or is a victim of love or war.

4. They have abrupt beginning.

     The story is short so it commences at the end and it starts without beginning.

5. They are simple in language.

    They were songs for ordinary people so they were not complex.

6. They have traces of supernaturalism.

     In most ballads one is able to trace supernaturalism; magic, monsters, unusual                                                                                      

     incidents and so on.

7. They are written in stanza form.

    They were written in stanzas; usually in quatrains.

8. They have refrains.

    Ballads were songs in which certain parts are repeated. Refrain is the repetition of        

    a word, a sentence, a phrase, etc, in a stanza.

9. They have impersonal narration.

    The narrator of a ballad is objective and gives no comments and shows no

    sympathy.

"Sir Patrick Spense" is an example of popular or folk ballads.

The Rebirth of Drama   (The 5^th – The 15^th Century)

A very important literary form, drama, was born during The Middle Ages. Drama used to exist in ancient Greece and Rome. But after the emergence of Christianity, the church banned it, for it was considered immoral. Drama was just read to people and was not performed. However, during The Middle Ages, the same power that had discouraged drama, gave it a birth.

On certain religious occasions, for example Easter, a very short piece of play started to emerge in the church. That is to say priests acted out a very short piece of Bible in the church. In fact, they were quite smart, for through performance they could instruct and teach people better. The very first dramatic work was a play performed on Easter, with a subject concerning the occasion. It was in Latin and was titled "Quem Quaeritis?" i.e. "Whom do you seek?"  It consisted of three sentences. The scene was after the crucifixion when three Christian women came to Christ's grave and searched for Him, but they did not find their lord. Then the angels came and asked them whom they sought. They said Christ, and the angels replied that He had risen. Although the language of the play was Latin, people understood it because they were familiar with Bible.

Little by little, people became interested in drama and more people gathered in churches to see the performance. Consequently, there was not enough room for them and the plays had to be performed outdoors. But a large number of people rushed to watch the plays as they became more interested, thus, they changed the place of the performance to market places. The players were not priests anymore since they were not allowed to perform plays outside churches; as a result, priests were replaced by ordinary people. This change brought about a change in the language of plays, thus they were performed in English.

But drama still needed a kind of authority, so a group of people called Trade Guilds took the responsibility. Despite these great changes, the subject matter remained religious.

There was an annual festival during which all the guilds had to perform their own plays i.e. a story from Bible, from dawn to dusk. They had wheeled platform with which each group entered the town and performed its play at all the stations so that all people could watch it. These plays, based on Bible and performed by ordinary people, were called Mystery Plays. "Mystery" means "job" and the name was quite appropriate since the plays were held by guilds.

Another kind of plays, Miracle Plays, also developed during The Middle Ages. The subject matter of these plays was religious, based upon the lives of the saints.

The third kind of drama was Morality Plays whose subject matter was also religious but they had no characters representing real people. They were full of allegories i.e. certain qualities in man, for instance virtue and evil were personified and performed by people. The story was a moral teaching. The most famous Morality Play is titled "Everyman". The central figure is a sample of any human being called Everyman. He is confronted with Death and is quite terrified. He was not able to postpone the inevitable. So, in order not to be alone, he asked his friends, Kindred, Friendship, Beauty, Wealth, etc., to accompany him but all of them refused. Death tells him that the best friend to accompany him is his Good Deed; but Good Deed is in prison and Everyman has to save her. The prison was actually Everyman's sins. He finds out that just through confession he will be able to save her; he does so and goes through salvation.

The 16^th Century

Accession of Henry VII   (1458)

Tudors' reign starting with Henry VII was a period during which we can trace order and governmental authority; (almost during the time of all Tudors). In the early period of Henry VII 's reign certain changes took place:

1. About a decade before Henry VII won his throne, the art of printing with                             moveable type, a German invention, had been introduced into England by       William Caxton. Literacy had been increasing during 15^th century, so that many more people could read than before. This was due to the fact that there were more copies of books available so that the books were not expensive anymore. (Before this invention, people used to write the copies down).                                                                                                                                

2. Seven years after Henry VII came to throne, Christopher Columbus discovered America. The consequence of this discovery was to affect England's place in the world profoundly for, in the next century they became great colonizers and merchant adventurers. Goods and new products flooded into the continent, thus trade flourished and England became rich.

3. Henri VII made commercial treaties with European countries; England, which had always been a sheep raising country, began to manufacture and export significant amounts of cloth.

Renaissance

A very important incident, previously started in Italy in the14^th century, pervaded the whole continent during the 15^th and 16^th centuries was Renaissance.

Renaissance was actually the rebirth and revival of art and literature after The Middle Ages on the basis of the ancient and classical thoughts of Greece and Rome. The event can be regarded as the major change during 16^th century. People started looking back on the golden age of literature and art and gradually great artists and scholars of ancient Rome and Greece became the teachers of Renaissance period. In this taking models, they approached the surface i.e. learned other genres rather than romance, and the new ideas and thoughts. A lot of Greek and Latin books were discovered by the scholars and were studied attentively.

In general, Renaissance, the growth of wealth, the appearing of the middle class, the growth of population and literacy were the major events of this century.

Renaissance is described as the discovery of man and the universe. During The Middle Ages everything was overruled by the church. They believed that man has come to this world because of the Original Sin, so he is not here to enjoy but to suffer, he is a sinful creature by nature with no hope and improvement in life and in order to become happy in another world, he has to live a pious life. This was advocated by churches during The Middle Ages. The scholars of Renaissance period were lured toward the ancient Greek philosophy of life, declaring that man is the center of the universe and the most beautiful and intelligent of all creatures. The gods and goddesses of the ancient Greece have the physical form of human beings. From this moment on, Renaissance scholars discovered man and believed in him as a perfect being. The retrieval of the Greek and Roman doctrine and art is called        The New Learning.

Humanism

Humanists were the scholars who believed in the dignity of mankind and tried to ennoble him. They also believed that through work man can have his paradise here in this world and progress awaits him. Erasmus was a famous Dutch humanist and a priest. After abandoning the church, he started wandering all over Europe and wrote tirelessly. He had a good deal of knowledge of Greek and Latin and in England he made friend with Sir Thomas More, a catholic humanist. These two scholars were both opposed to the corruption and abuses common in churches and believed in slight reforms within the church. But they were not approved by all scholars. Meanwhile, a new religious movement, the Reformation, was brought about, led by a German theologian named Martin Luther.

Martin Luther's Reformation    (1517)

From the point of view of those who supported it Reformation was a return to pure Christianity, cleansing the church of all the filth that had accumulated over the centuries.

Two great theorists of Catholicism of the time were Peter Lombard  and Sir Thomas Aquinas who brought the following theory: Man has free will but the problem is that he falls into sin easily. His nature has a great tendency toward sin unless he could be able to gain God's grace, God's mercy and favor toward mankind, thus be protected. God's grace is achieved through 7 sacraments.

1. Baptism

A ceremony making a person's admission into the Christian church by the time he   is born either by dipping him in water or by sprinkling him with water, and often giving him/her a Christian name. This symbolic action, to admit a baby to the church is administered in a church and by a priest.

2. Confirmation

When a baptized child grows up, he admits his full membership of the Christian church by his own will and in his own words in the church.

3. Matrimony

The union of a man and a woman is legitimate only if they are made couple in the church by a priest, so marriage is a holy action.

4. Penance

This sacrament includes Confession, Absolution and Penance.

When a catholic person commits a sin, he has to confess it to a priest in the church in order to be forgiven i.e. Confession.

Absolution is the formal declaration by a priest that a person's sin has been forgiven i.e. the priest is the person who decides whether God will forgive a person or not.

Penance is the punishment that one imposes on oneself to show that one is sorry for the sin he did and wants to be forgiven. He may fast or pay the church.

5. Eucharist   (Mass Ceremony, Performed on Easter)

It is a ceremony in the church during which people are given a small portion of bread and a sip of wine by the priest. It is believed that through a miracle the bread will change into the flesh and the wine will transform into the blood of Christ. A Christian with such flesh and blood will go through salvation and have a free soul.

6. Ordinance

Priesthood is possible only through a special ceremony. It is not easy to become a priest.

7. Extreme Unction

When a Christian dies, his body will undergo certain formalities e.g. the action of anointing with oil, etc. as a religious rite.

These sacraments prove the domineering influence of the church on the lives of people. Over 14 centuries after Christ's death, Catholic Church grew more and more powerful in authority and wealth. The bishops and cardinals were the princes of the churches. On the other hand, the followers of the church, ordinary people became poor. Accordingly, people could not tolerate the situation and revolted.

Martin Luther had the courage to oppose all the abuses of the church. The Protestants were those who protested the sacraments and believed that Christ's teachings had altered a lot through centuries. They declared that the very first source of knowledge is the Bible.

Protestants believed in:

1. Bible

The Latin Bibles in the churches were not intelligible for ordinary people; therefore, Protestants started translating Bible into different languages. Luther translated it into German.

2. Direct Contact with God

Catholics believed that there is no direct relationship between God and man. A sinful man has to undergo seven sacraments to gain God's grace otherwise; he will be a lost soul with no hope for salvation. Protestants denied any intermediary agent between God and man. They believed that man can reach salvation and contact God by his soul and thought and his faith.

3. No Papal Authority

Protestant claimed that there is no need for priests, popes and in general hierarchy and they are all corrupt. The bishops were all subjects to Roman Catholic Church from which Protestant separated later.

4. A Church with No Property

Catholic churches were supreme proprietors all over the continent, possessing all kinds of property such as land, cash, etc. Protestants believed in a church with no property; besides, they believed in a church just as a place for gathering and being preached by an elder. The preacher according to them has to be a simple man who is familiar with the Bible. This very fact causes a difference between a Protestant priest and a Catholic one. The former can marry since he is a simple ordinary man, but the latter has to remain chaste all his life as he takes a holy place.

Accession of Henry VIII   (1509)

The second Tudor king was well-educated, a poet and a musician and knew many languages, so he raised a lot of hope for prosperity among his people. Henry VIII was the second son of Henry VII. His elder brother, Arthur, married Catherine, the Princess of Spain, when he was just a 16 year old boy. His marriage was actually imposed on him and had political reasons.

Arthur died soon and instead of sending Catherine to her homeland, Henry VII made his younger son marry his brother's widow. Henry VIII was six years younger than Catherine. At that time no one was allowed to marry his sister- in- law, but since Henry VIII was unwilling t do so and he was asked earnestly by his father by the time of his death, Pope gave him a dispensation i.e. in the Roman Catholic Church it is referred to a permission to break the normal rules of the church.

Six children were the outcome of their marriage during nine years of whom just one daughter survived. She was Mary and later became the queen of England. When Catherine was not able to bear anymore children due to old age, Henry VIII became restless for, he needed an heir, a son. Consequently, he decided to get divorced although it was illogical according to the Catholic Church. Henry believed that by marrying his brother's widow he had committed a sin and God had punished him by giving him no son. He sent a message to Pope demanding a dispensation but at that time Pope and the church were just the playthings of the king of Spain who was Catherine's kindred.

Obviously, Henry VIII did not receive any dispensation. Vexed at his failure, Henry became more restless as he fell in love with Anne Boleyn. But after a short time the conflict intensified when Anne became pregnant. A royal heir could not be an illegitimate child. Henry, who was considered a catholic champion against Luther and his opinions and who for writing a book against Luther had been given the title The Defender of the Faith by Pope, split  with the Roman Catholic Church.

Henry's motives were dynastic not religious; he needed a legitimate son and he could not get one without the divorce that Rome refused him. He insisted on being          The Supreme Head of the English Church and imposed oaths on the parliament and councilors. This was Henry's Reformation in 1535.

He divorced Catherine, forcing the archbishop of Canterbury to administer it and married Anne. But the outcome of his second marriage was another girl, Elizabeth. Three years later Anne was beheaded because of adultery. Just one day after Anne's execution Henry got engaged to Lady Jane Seymour and eventually she gave birth to the long-sought son named Edward VI who was very fragile and died at 16.

Claiming to be the supreme head of the English Church, Henry made all clergies and officials swear an oath. Those who opposed him were beheaded. He had two groups of opponents: Catholics and Protestants. The latter was not satisfied with mere break from the Roman Catholic Church; they also believed in some purifications and reformations within the English Church.

Sir Thomas More   (1477 - 1535)

More was a Lord Chancellor of Henry VIII and one of the ones who refused to take an oath. He was the crown of English humanists, the son of a judge, a graduate from Oxford, a great literary man, a close friend of Erasmus, a member of the parliament, a gentle and kind person, etc. He married twice, his first wife died and his second wife was a widow. Sir Thomas More was on one hand against the king's divorcing Catherine and on the other hand in opposition to split with the Roman Catholic Church. Accordingly, he resigned. But Henry needed his oath, for he was an influential man. Henry then kept on forcing More for two years and eventually he imprisoned him in The Tower of London, tried him on the charge of treason, and in 1535 beheaded him. (400 years later, More was given the title of Saint.)

Sir Thomas More was also a great literary figure and his great work is "Utopia". It is a satire in prose on the political and social condition of his time, written in Latin. "Utopia" contains two books:

Book 1 discusses the corruption of European societies. Book 2 is about More's ideal society. It is the story of a traveler who had been in a land named Utopia where everything was in order and perfect. It was a land where everybody shared wealth. (More lived centuries before Marx but he talked about Communism). It was a land of freedom of religion. In Utopia there is an educational system in which everybody, men and women, had to be educated. By and large, Utopia was a place of no pain but freedom and perfection. Utopia literary means Nowhere Land, derived from Plato's "Republic".

Religious Movements

During Henry's reign, there were three groups of religious people: 1. Protestants, the followers of Luther, 2. Catholics, the followers of the shattered Catholic Church; and 3. The followers of Henry VIII's Anglican Church who were composed of officials.

An Oxford and Cambridge educated follower of Luther named William Tyndale (1484 - 1536) decided to translate the Bible into vernacular English. But it was against the rules of Catholic Church, so Tyndale left England. Indeed he was forced to leave the country and immigrated to Switzerland where he translated and published his Bible. Then his Bible was smuggled into England and was distributed among Protestants. He could never return to England, so he settled in Poland and started advocating Protestantism. Later, he was strangled and burned for heresy.

Tyndale's Bible was a great help for the translation of the present Bible i.e.          King James' Bible. King James' Bible is an authorized one and was translated by a group of theologians and translators. They got a lot of help from Tyndale's Bible in which some of Catholic terms were changed. For example "Church" was changed into "Congregation", "Priest" was transformed into "Elder" and "Confession" was changed into "Knowledge".

John Calvin was another Protestant leader who was a French theologian living in Switzerland. He had his own doctrine and added a few rules to those of Luther. The Protestants of England were mostly the follower of Calvin and are called Puritans.

Puritanism

It is a great aspect of American culture and the basis of a great war; hence quite important. In his idea of Puritanism, John Calvin shared two rules with Luther. The following are the bases for Puritanism:

1. Belief in the Bible

He believed in the Bible as a source of knowledge. He declared that the Bible and faith are means of salvation.

2. No Papal Authority

He also denied any hierarchy and Papal authority.

The above mentioned rules were common between Protestantism and Puritanism. John Calvin also added the following rules of his own:

3. The Doctrine of Election

Calvin believed that God chooses among people i.e. He chooses who is damned forever and decides who is rescued forever. Damnation and salvation of the souls are predetermined by God before one's birth, i.e. Predestination.

4. The Covenant of Work

Due to Calvin's stipulation there had been a contract between God and Adam by which God promised Adam immortality and peace in Paradise. But Adam broke the covenant by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and this way he brought pain and sin to this world.

5. The Covenant of Grace

God has mercy on man and cares for his soul's salvation. He sent his son, Christ, to make another covenant due to which man goes through salvation if he believes in Christ. Jesus Christ sealed the covenant with his own blood through Crucifixion. Therefore, this covenant is between Christ and his followers.

Edward VI

By the time Edward VI was born his mother, Lady Jane Seymour died. Henry VIII waited two years in her honor. (He married 6 women, two of whom he divorced and two others he beheaded). When Henry VIII died, Edward VI who was just a 9-year old boy ascended the throne, having his uncle as his councilor. Edward's reign was a period of political and religious disorder, no money was left and the young king could not regulate the situation.

Henry VIII's Anglican Church, established for political and royal reasons, intensified the situation. It was founded by a layman and needed some sort of doctrine to believe in. Thus, the ministers of the new church started establishing a kind of theological doctrine which was a mixture of Catholicism and Puritanism. They kept the framework of Catholic Church, hierarchy. Forty two articles were established by the name of Doctrinal Foundation of Puritanism.

Accession of Queen Mary   

After Edward's death, Mary mounted the throne. She hated her father and brother, for she was a Catholic and established her government as Catholic. She was the first queen of England, the Bloody Mary.

Queen Mary suffered a lot before her reign. She was the daughter of Catherine and was proclaimed illegitimate by her own father. She was not allowed to go to her mother's grave after her death. In order to receive her father's favor, she had to renounce Pope and proclaim her father's supremacy over the Church of England. All these facts were the major reasons for her acting cruelly during her reign.

When she became the queen she was 37 years old and still unmarried. After two Protestant rulers, (her father and brother), she was the first ardent Catholic one who undid whatever her father had founded. She needed the alliance of a matrimonial union between the prince of Spain, and herself. She married Philip II, who became the emperor of Spain later. Mary beheaded many people for heresy and almost burned 300, for Pope had allowed Catholics to arrest and burn Protestants if they did not accept to convert to Catholicism. She died soon after five or six years ruling the country and her reign was a period of terror and harsh execution.

Accession of Queen Elizabeth   (1558)

Elizabeth was the second queen of England mounting the throne after Mary's death. She was 25 years old, quite intelligent, bright, a perfect politician, a master of languages, (English, German, French, Latin), a musician, and a master of sciences. She was also a humanist and a Protestant.

During her childhood, she and her mother, Anne Boleyn used to be the favor of Henry VIII. Throughout Mary's reign she had a hard time, for she was a Protestant but had to use a little hypocrisy to deny her Protestantism. When she came to the throne, she was still unmarried; meanwhile, she thought of the future of the state. "Who would be her husband?" was a very important question. She was taught to need a man to accompany her in ruling the country.

She had a lot of suitors, yet she was very difficult to please and never married. In fact, the general assumption was that she would marry since her father had undoubtedly taught her that one of the monarch's major duties is to provide an unquestioned, strong, legitimate heir to the throne.

Condition of the Country

England's weakness was its political and religious divisions. The Catholics, who had never been reformed during Mary's reign and the Protestants, were the extremes. In matters of religion, Elizabeth chose a middle way which satisfied neither the Catholics nor the Puritans. She followed her father's way, The Anglican Church, and became the supreme head of England's national church. Between two religious extremes, were the majority of Englishmen whose main desire was for order, stability and peace; as a result, they followed their queen.

Meanwhile, Pope excommunicated Elizabeth and encouraged plots to overthrow the monarchy. Accordingly, he sent a group of Catholic terrorists to kill or dethrone her. Mary, Queen of Scots was one of Catholics and a friend of the emperor of Spain who performed a lot of plots against Elizabeth. So she was imprisoned by Elizabeth and by the last plot she was executed. Elizabeth pretended that her execution was against her will.

James VI of Scotland was Mary's son. Elizabeth told him either to support his mother or she would give him the throne of England. James VI consented to his mother's death in order to become the prince.

Mary, Queen of Scots was a real Catholic supported by the Roman Catholic Church and the emperor of Spain; consequently, her execution led to a great war between Spain and England in her avenge. In 1588, Philip II, the Spanish emperor arranged an armada and invaded England. Spain excelled in navigation and was the superpower of that period. Spanish armada was sure about the victory since England was quite insignificant to them. However, quite unexpectedly, Spanish Armada was defeated and the survived ships withdrew from England. The reasons of the defeat were:

1. Northern tempest

2. English commanders set ships on fire and sent them toward the Armada; Spanish              ships were burned and 20,000 people were killed.

1588 was a turning point in the history of England, for it manifested itself as a       superpower and ruled over other countries for almost 300 years afterward. Nationalistic spirit started from Elizabeth's reign and the popularity of the queen increased. Elizabeth became a mythic figure whom people admired and was given the title of "The Virgin Queen", especially by the Protestants. Trade and commerce flourished and England started a phase of prosperity and grew in wealth. People were proud to be English.

Predominant Literary Forms and Modes of Elizabethan Period

1. Pastoral

2. Sonnet

3. Mythological Erotic

1. Pastoral

It is a literary mode in which the urban poet, who is tired of his environment, chooses an ideal setting. This ideal land is occupied by simple people, mostly shepherds, living a peaceful life. They are not ambitious, often play the pipes, fall in love and compose poems. It is a simple life of leisure in a golden land. Their only suffering is disappointment in love.

2. Sonnet

It is a kind of lyric poem made up of 14 lines of iambic pentameter with different rhyme schemes. Thus, as far as rhyme scheme is concerned there are different sonnets:

A. Italian Sonnet / Petrarchan Sonnet

Petrarch was the 14^th century Italian practitioner of this mode. Sidney's sonnets are also examples of this. It includes an octave i.e. a stanza of 8 lines, and a sestet i.e. a stanza of 6 lines, with the rhyme scheme:  a b b a a b b a   c d e c d e.

B. English Sonnets / Shakespearean Sonnet

Includes 3 quatrains i.e. stanzas of 4 lines and 1 couplet i.e. a stanza of 2 lines with the rhyme scheme:  a b a b   c d c d   e f e f   g g.

During the Elizabethan period sonnet was a predominant poetic form i.e. all great poets composed sonnets. But Petrarch gave the subject matter and treatment to the English sonnets; that was Petrarchan Convention.

Petrarchan Convention

In such a sonnet a lover is the speaker and is madly in love with a lady. His beloved is a goddess-like creature, possessing a divine beauty and exists to be admired. Yet, she is cold and cruel toward her lovers. The lover keeps awake at night, engaged in tears, groans and sighs. He experiences different kinds of feeling both sweet and bitter like love, jealousy, despair, etc.

3. Mythological Erotic / Ovidan Convention

This is the third genre of poetry during the Elizabethan period, composed by Christopher Marlow for the first time. It is a new form borrowed from classical literature. It is the story of a passionate love with a sexual connotation. The character of the story comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The classical practitioner of this genre was Roman, Ovid, whose book was titled "Metamorphosis".

Sir Philip Sidney   (1554 – 1586)

Sir Philip Sidney, a courtier, soldier, humanist, scholar, philosopher, critic, poet, a great friend and a patron to Elizabeth, embodied all the traits and virtues of the character and personality Elizabethans admired.

 He was the son of Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and the sister of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the most spectacular and powerful of all the queen's subjects. Earl of Leicester was the one with whom Queen Elizabeth fell in love. His mother was an exceptionally literate figure. He had a very good education and attended Oxford, but he left without getting a degree. He went to Europe and spent mostly in Italy, Venice under Italian influence.

He found it very easy to enter the court of Elizabeth and he was a close courtier of the queen. He enjoyed Queen's favor until he was dismissed from the court for two reasons: 1. Once he opposed to the projected marriage of Elizabeth and               Duke of Manju and 2. His uncle who was a favorite of the queen married secretly.

After his dismissal, he went to his sister's state who was The Countess of Pembroke, where he wrote a romance in prose for her enjoyment: "Arcadia". It is the first English prose fiction, including some pieces of poems, too.

Later, the queen forgave him and he was titled as Knight. He was a member of the parliament from Kent and was sent to diplomatic missions by the queen and was successful in all of them. He was an ardent Protestant and chose military service as his profession but during the war with Spain, he was wounded and died.

Sidney was also a critic. Once he received a book written by a Puritan in which all kinds of entertainments were condemned and called immoral. Sidney wrote a book in answer and in defense of poetry by the title of "An Apology for Poetry" in which he believed in the following points:

1. Poetry is as old as man, it is antique.

2. Poetry is universal; thus, it spreads through time and place.

3. Poets are like prophets. A poet is a mirror to nature and tries to show things beyond      

    nature. He was after showing the Golden World not the Bronze one.

Aristotle was the first person who defended poetry. Plato believed that art is an imitation of the world which is an imitation itself of something genuine; as a result, art is a second-handed imitation and has no values. Plato did not allow poets into his "Republic".

Sir Philip Sidney fell in love with a young girl named Penelope, the daughter of    Earl of Essex. Though he was engaged to her, she married Lord Rich. Sidney wrote a sonnet sequence in Petrarchan convention titled "Astrophil and Stella". Astrophil means The Lover of the Star and Stella means Star in Latin. The speaker of the sonnet is a lover named Astrophil whose beloved is Stella and there are hints that the poet is telling his own life story.

Edmund Spenser   (1552 – 1599)

The greatest non dramatic poet of the English Renaissance, Edmund Spenser was born in London. All through his life he faced financial problems. He went to Cambridge as a sizar i.e. a poor student who receives meal in return for his work in a Puritan college. Finally, he received his BA and MA at Cambridge. He had no money and was in poor health so he tried to find an official job but did not succeed. He was introduced to Earl of Leicester, Sir Robert Dudley, the queen's favorite and in his household he came to know Sir Philip Sidney and since then he made a deep and lifelong friendship with him.

Spenser dedicated his first volume of poetry, in the form of pastoral, titled,           "The Shepheardes Calendar" to Sidney. After its publication, Spenser decided to leave Leicester's employment, for there was no sign of progress and promotion. Then he became a perpetual governmental official to Lord Deputy of Ireland. He settled in Ireland for the rest of his life. In Ireland he met a lot of people one of whom was       Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 – 1618), a poet. Raleigh listened to Spenser's poetry which seemed so real to whim and was greatly impressed.

During the time Raleigh was in Ireland, Spenser was working on his masterpiece: "The Faerie Queene". Raleigh suggested him to go to the court and read it to the queen. He completed and published 6 volumes of the book and dedicated it to Elizabeth.

"The Faerie Queen" was projected to have 12 volumes but only 6 of them were completed. It is an epic romance, a heroic poem full of adventures and marvels. It is an allegory i.e. a story which is true on different levels; each element on the surface is related to one in the deep story. Therefore, it is a complex story that can be enjoyed on different levels of interpretation. Although the book was a romance, it deals with Elizabethan life, politics, religion, etc. and in short it was the result of a growth in nationalism. In the book Spenser celebrates national and empirical England due to his patriotism and Protestantism. "The Faerie Queen" was written for the glorification and gratification of Queen Elizabeth.

Although his poetry was written to gratify the queen, she gave him a pension of 50 pounds a week which was a very small amount. Spenser needed a financial support to return to England and could not give up his job in Ireland; consequently, he remained in Ireland. Meanwhile he met Elizabeth Boyle and married her; the outcome of the marriage was four children. Spenser composed a lot of poetry for her, a collection of sonnets. At 47 he died in poverty and Earl of Essex paid for his funeral. He lies in the poets' cemetery in West Minister Abbey near Chaucer's tomb.

Spenser is called the poets' poet, for a lot of English poets imitated him after his death. He was a master of meter and rhyme and had his own form known as Spenserian Sonnets with the rhyme scheme:  a b a b   b c b c   c d c d   e e.

He was a master of versification and used archaic language and antiquated words. His tendency to use such language was because:

1. It was a kind of homage he paid to Chaucer, whom he believed to be a great poet.

2. He wanted to give his poetry a rustic effect.

The title of his sonnet sequence is "Amoretti" which means Little Love Songs and was written for the one he loved, his wife. Besides, he wrote marriage songs for her in celebration of their marriage: "Epithalamion" and "Prothalamion". Moreover, he wrote another poem titled, "Colin Clouts Come Home Again" which was a satirical eclogue in "The Shepeardes Calendar" and presented his own view of the English court during Renaissance. "The Shepeardes Calendar" consists of 12 pastoral eclogues.

Eclogue

It is a classical form practiced by Virgil, a short pastoral poem which is a dialog between shepherds. By talking about shepherds, Spenser commented an ordinary and realistic life. He talks about its simplicity, beauty and peacefulness.

Sir Walter Raleigh   (1552 – 1618)

Sir Walter Raleigh was a soldier, courtier, poet, philosopher, explorer and colonizer; a student of science and a historian. He is popularly known as the founder of Virginia and the introducer of tobacco in Europe. He attended Oxford, became a soldier and worked in France and Ireland. He was the queen's favorite and was made rich by her. Raleigh was an influential figure. After the queen's death, King James I accused him of treason and imprisoned him for 13 years in the Tower of London and eventually beheaded him.

He wrote a long poem of which one or two stanzas survived: "Cynthia" which was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. During his imprisonment, Raleigh worked on a scientific and historical book titled "History of the World" which is an unfinished narrative / descriptive prose.

Elizabethan Drama

Toward the end of The Middle Ages a new kind of drama appeared: Interlude. It was a short play coming in the middle of a longer one as a humorous entertainment. Gradually, interlude became a separate entity. With its growth the subject matter grew unreligious with the purpose of entertainment and semi-professional actors. At the beginning, they had no certain place of performance. There were numerous performers traveling to different cities, wearing masks and performing on tours; at first there was no actress playing roles. But a group of men with no proper home gradually started to grow a kind of immoral reputation. People thought they had no values and considered them as men with no morality attached to them.

During Renaissance, interlude went into a new era. Renaissance was the age of new learning with more educated people. Since the educated audience were not satisfied with this kind of simple play, the subject matter of the interludes were improved. The source of New Learning in Renaissance was classical literature. Educated people started to know the ancient Roman dramatists and perceived drama as an art. Roman literature was actually a copy of that of Greece. Following these changes, English scholars became familiar with the ancient Greek dramas indirectly; tragedies, comedies or history plays in 5 acts.

50 0r 60 years later, a kind of drama appeared in England, flourishing into the highest degree of perfection and interludes grew more sophisticated. At first, there were no writers but little by little university educated started writing plays. Interludes were performed in the castles of the lords during festivals and parties to entertain the nobles; accordingly, they became more refined. University students started writing and acting plays for their own entertainment. Drama was appreciated and played at schools, too. The first dramatists were not significant; among them only one or two were popular and famous. All these events led to the beginning of a new era in the history of drama.

The plays were performed in special areas, the first of which was built in England called The Theater in 1576. It was a public place for watching the performances. But still the actors did not have a positive reputation and were categorized with thieves, criminals, etc. Accordingly, each group of actors attached themselves to a powerful man and called themselves his servants and wore the costume of his family.

During the Elizabethan period, two important groups came into existence:

1. The Lord Chamberlain's Men   (Shakespeare's actors)

2. The Admiral's Men

When King James I came to throne, the first group became his men and they were called King's men. The only thing the actors received was the name and attachment. Actors of those days were composed of:

1. A company of shareholders or the major actors like those of Shakespeare's

2. Hired men including the minor characters, musicians, gatherers, etc. who were paid

    for their jobs.

3. Apprentices; young boys of ten or twelve years of age acting women's parts.

The Theater was considered wild so it was built outside London.

In 1599 another kind of theater was built; The Globe. It was built in an oval shape and included the following sections:

1. Pit; an unroofed seat for the poor.

2. Platform

3. Alcove; a room at the back, divided from the whole scene by a curtain. For a               

    tragedy a black curtain and for a comedy a blue one was used.

4. A hole; used for either a grave in tragedies or as a passage to hell.

5. Roofed Seats; in three stories, for noblemen. The yard was surrounded by this  

    structure.

6. Entrance; a place for the gatherers.

7. Rooms, for the musicians.

8. Tiring Room

9. Backstage, for actors, waiting for their roles.

10. The Flag

Before a play started, someone introduced the play to the audience.

In Europe, drama was revived by the church, but gradually it grew wild and since the emergence of the Interludes it grew unreligious and actually, the born of the church turned into a rebel. In some plays especially Shakespeare's, the subject matter was bawdy. Consequently, a deep gap appeared between the church and drama and Puritans abandoned theater.

Christopher Marlowe   (1564 – 1595)

Christopher Marlowe was born two months before Shakespeare. He was the son of a shoemaker. He is called the father of the English dramatic poetry. Marlowe received a scholarship which was ordinarily awarded to the students preparing for ministry i.e. priesthood; he held the scholarship but did not become a priest. Instead, he began to write plays and received his MA. Marlowe was of a violent nature, having reputation for atheism and eventually, his wild nature led to his early death. When he was in an inn with his friends, they started to quarrel over the check and one of his friends stabbed him and killed him. At the university Marlowe started writing plays. His first play was a great one regarded as the first real Elizabethan play.                                                                                            

1. "Tamburlain"

This is the story of a shepherd who after becoming a king attacked and defeated almost all eastern powers violently; the story of ambition and thirst for power. This was actually the first time that the English drama had a great subject matter.

2. "Dr. Faustus"

Marlowe's masterpiece, is the story of a great man of learning and science; a scholar.

The story is based upon an old belief in Christianity according to which there are 2 kinds of knowledge:

A. Lawful Knowledge or Knowledge of Science

B. Forbidden Knowledge i.e. Curiositas

Dr. Faustus, tired of the first kind of knowledge, longs for the second kind. Magic was regarded forbidden and that was why people accused of being magicians were burned. But Faustus wants Curiositas. He desires a new type of life; therefore, he makes a deal with the devil to sell his soul to him for 24 years of his life and to earn whatever he desires in return. From that time on he is attended by the devil and at the end he is destructed by his ambition for knowledge.

Marlow's next play is titled:

3. "The Jew of Malta"

This is the story of a Jew, Barabas, whose ambition is for money for which he is ready to destroy anyone even his own daughter. Finally, he is destroyed.

Marlow also wrote a chronicle i.e. history play: "Edward III" which inspired other writers, especially Shakespeare to write chronicles as "Richard II".

Marlow's mythological erotic was titled: "Hero and Leander", the story of two lovers which is unfinished and might have inspired Shakespeare's mythological erotics.

Marlow's Contribution to Literature

Marlow's fame, being the father of drama in England is because:

1. He introduced new subject matter and elevated it and made it heroic.                      

2. The second contribution was his characterization. He started a realistic                      characterization. His characters are not puppets but real human beings with desire,        passion, etc.

3. Elizabethan drama was poetic in blank verse, a classical form of verse in iambic                pentameter with no rhyme. Marlow changed and reformed Elizabethan drama and made it more flexible. He took it from Latin but made it appropriate for English language and drama. His new verse became a model for Shakespeare and other dramatists.

The English took comedies and tragedies from Latin dramatists. A tragedy is usually full of bloodshed. The hero is a man of high rank; a prince like Hamlet, a king like King Lear, a great man of rank and office like Othello, but suddenly he has to face a catastrophe and loses his life and happiness.

There was a belief in classical times according to which there was a goddess, Goddess of Fortune who had a wheel, The Wheel of Fortune. The noble hero is first placed on the top of the wheel, but the wanton goddess turns the wheel and he falls down. This is why no mortal creature is able to avoid the turning of the wheel; reminding us of not being attached to the present state of affairs.

William Shakespeare   (1564 – 1616)

Shakespeare was a genius whose works are symbols of English culture. He was pre-eminent in English art; and English literature has never enjoyed such a status. Although all his plays come from a source; that is the plot of his plays existed before him, in his works he proved to be quite outstanding. The reasons of his pre-eminence are:

1. Any of his works is a combination of the qualities that are scattered in the works of other writers.

2. He has a vast store of words. Regarding this, some scholars have compared him to Milton. Milton's vocabulary is estimated between 8,000 and 10,000 words while that of Shakespeare is about 50,000. Besides, Shakespeare is the father of metaphorical language i.e. symbol, metaphor, imagery, irony and so on.

3. Over 35 plays are attributed to Shakespeare in which he dealt with whatever subject one might imagine. He gives a universal impact to his subject matter; he deals with human being and his nature. Because of his profound awareness of human nature, his characters are characterized vividly and subtly. His characters are lifelike and believable. Shakespeare has a gallery of characters, yet they are quite different from one another.

Shakespeare was not highly educated. He lived in a small town and had just attended a grammar school. Some scholars believe that he was a genius; others declare that he had nothing internal but was a great observer of people and the world. He knew his audience and their demands very well and came up to their expectations although there were two different groups of them: 1. a majority of ordinary and mostly illiterate people who sought entertainment and 2. aristocrats and literate people , even poets. He was actually both a genius and a great observer of the world.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon in April, 1564 in a family with a Catholic background. He was the third child of eight children and the eldest son. His father was a prominent citizen and a well-to-do trade man; and his mother was from a Catholic family. Shakespeare attended Stratford grammar school, where he acquired a respectable knowledge of Latin, but he did not proceed to Oxford or Cambridge.

There are legends about Shakespeare's youth but no documental facts. The first record left of his life was that of his marriage at the age of 18 with Anne Hathaway who was 8 years older than him. After 5 months, a daughter was born and was named Susanna. Two years later a twin, a boy and a girl were born; Hamnet and Judith. At the age of 23 Shakespeare was in London, working as an actor and a playwright.

In 1592 a plague broke out in the country and led to the closing of the theaters for 2 years. During these years, Shakespeare wrote two lyric poems in form of mythological erotic, the first and the second of which were respectively titled  "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of the Lucrece". These two poems were written after the fashion of Marlowe's mythological erotic and were dedicated           to Earl of Southampton who was his patron and is said to have helped him financially during the pervasion of the plague.

After the plague, the acting groups of London started to sort into 2 major groups and Shakespeare belonged to Lord Chamberlain's Men. In 1603 by the time              King James I took over the country, Lord Chamberlain's Men were promoted to the king's servants; i.e. King James' Men.

During this period Marlow was already dead and Shakespeare had no rivals; as a result, these years were a period of his success and popularity. About 1610, Shakespeare apparently retired himself and returned to Stratford where he bought a large house and lived peacefully with his family till the end of his life. His works are listed as following:

Nondramatic Works

1. "Venus and Adonis"

2. "The Rape of the Lucrece"

3.  Sonnets

4. "The Turtle and the Phoenix"

Shakespeare's sonnets surpassed all his proceedings. 154 sonnets are attributed to him. Unlike Sidney and Spenser, Shakespeare's sonnets are not autobiographical; i.e. there is no certain real person to whom these sonnets can be devoted. They are completely imaginary. Shakespeare's sonnets are divided into 3 groups; the first is addressed to a young handsome, aristocrat man, the second, to a dark lady and the third, to a fellow poet. All these figures are admirable but not trustworthy. The language of the sonnets is simple but metaphorically complex.

Shakespeare's dramatic works are as follows:

Early Comedies and Tragedies

1. "The Comedy of Errors"

2. "The Two Gentlemen of Verona"

3. "Love's Labour's Lost"

4. "Titus Andronicus"

Early Chronicle Plays

1. "Henry VI"

2. "Richard III"

Great Chronicle Plays

1. "King John"

2. "King Richard II"

3. "King Henry IV"

4. "King Henry V"

Fantasy and Serious Comedy

1. "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

2. "The Merchant of Venice"

Romantic and Historical Tragedy

1. "Romeo and Juliet"

2. "Julius Caesar"

Farce Comedy

1. "The Taming of the Shrew"

2. "The Merry Wives of Windsor"

Great Comedies

1. "Much Ado about Nothing"

2. "As You Like It"

3. "Twelfth Night"

Problem Comedies

1."All's Well That Ends Well"

2."Measure for Measure"

3."Troilus and Cressida"

Great Tragedies

1."Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"

2. "Othello, the Moor of Venice"

3. "Macbeth"

4. "King Lear"

Late Romances

1."Pericles, Prince of Tyre"

2. "Cymbeline, King of Britain"

3."The Winter's Tale"

4. "The Tempest

Late Tragedies

1. "Anthony and Cleopatra"

2. "Timon of Athens"

3. "Coriolanus"

"Henry VIII" and "The Two Noble Kinsmen" were written in collaboration i.e. other writers helped him with writing them.

The 17^th Century

The Armada year (1588) was a crucial time for England during which the country was pervaded by a sense of nationalism. Before the Armada, people had to be united due to the menace of the foreign enemies. England was a weak country in comparison with Spain and France, but the Armada grew England into a superpower.

After 1588 certain internal conflicts appeared which included a great deal of disagreements between Elizabeth and her parliament due to the

following reasons:

1. The members of the parliament were mostly Puritans and demanded that the churches of England had to become purified.

2. There were disagreements concerning the foreign policy.

3. The parliament demanded certain rights especially immunity right.

After Elizabeth's death, her Scottish cousin James I, the first Stuart king, came to the throne; (at that time Scotland was still an uncivilized country). Despite his Presbyterian tendencies, James I supported the Anglican Church. (Presbyterians believed in the ecclesiastical government by a presbyter i.e. an elder in a protestant church; hence, they had no belief in hierarchy). At the beginning of his reign, Puritans were content and expected the purification of the church; but little by little they fell into disillusionment; therefore, the problems and disagreements became intensified.

Charles I, a man of weak character and instable personality, came to the throne after his father's death as the second Stuart King. The new king further intensified the problems between the parliament and the court and during the first 4 years of his reign. He called for 3 parliaments, dismissing one after another. Eventually, he dismissed the third parliament and ruled the country with no parliament for 11 years; but since he was of a weak ruler, two ministers ruled over the country especially during these 11 years.

Different taxes and money were taken from people by force and the non conformists, those opposing the Anglican Church, were oppressed and were put under a great deal of pressure. Due to his tactlessness and foolishness, Charles I developed the problems with Scotland and Scots decided to attack England. Consequently, he felt the need for a support from the nation and thus decided to summon a parliament. But, instead of supporting the king, the members of the parliament asked for a trial and the execution of the 2 ministers, in addition to a reformation in the Anglican Church. The king, as a result, raged and attacked the parliament with armed forces but failed to arrest the leaders; for they had already been informed and had escaped. This was the starting point of a civil war between the king and the parliament. Those who were on the side of the parliament were Puritan clergies, businessmen and laymen and those under Puritan propaganda. The supporters of the king were composed of courtiers, high clergies, land owners and those close to the royal family.

The war lasted for 4 years. At the beginning, the king's forces were more powerful and trained; but gradually, the forces of the parliament became trained as well; some of them were pious Puritans and considered the war as a religious duty upon them; but the majority of people remained indifferent.

After 2 years, the parliament forces defeated the king and rearrested him after his escape; brought him to trial and executed him. Despite his weakness, Charles I died heroically. His death appalled many people, for the killing of the king was regarded a sin. Following these events, England had a government of the parliament

Oliver Cromwell

He was the leader of the parliament forces and a pious Puritan and the one who beheaded Charles I. He dismissed the parliament and ruled over the country for several years with his government named Common Wealth. Although he was not popular, he ruled successfully by using military forces. Cromwell was religiously strict but never persecuted people for their religious beliefs. As long as he lived, he ruled ably and achieved success in foreign trade.

After Cromwell's death, England came to a state of chaos. He had no systematic government to replace the king; thus, people were happy to have another king who would bring peace and order. The son of Charles I crowned himself as Charles II in Scotland and attacked England. He was defeated, as a result, he went to French court, accompanied by all the royalties; and settled there for 9 years. Finally, in 1660 he was recalled from exile and came to the throne. 1660 is thus the significant date of the Restoration of the Stuart Reign.

Sir Francis Bacon   (1561 – 1626)

Bacon was an essayist, born to an aristocratic family. His father was a lord keeper and his mother a learned woman; deeply religious with a strong character. Bacon studied at Cambridge for two years, but left it for studying law in London. At the age of 23 he was allowed to practice law and after 2 years he became a member of the parliament.

Bacon had good connections; his father was a lord keeper and Lord Burgley was one of his kinsmen and he himself became a close friend of Earl of Essex who was the queen's favorite and was given privileges. However, his connections would not do for him and he could not achieve high positions. He had a thirst for status and was ready to sacrifice everything and everybody to gain one. Once he aroused his friend, Earl of Essex to make the queen invade Ireland and they were defeated; consequently, Earl of Essex was tried for treason and was beheaded.

During Jacobean period i.e. James I's reign, Bacon flattered the king in order to achieve a position and eventually he was knighted by the king and became Lord Chancellor. But his joy was quite short, for King James I and the parliament came to disagreements and the parliament accused Bacon of receiving bribes. He was tried and confessed guilty; admitting that the bribes never affected his judgments. He was fined 40,000 pounds, was deprived of his governmental status and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Tower of London; but the next day King James I exempted him from all his punishments and released and retired him due to his disagreement with the parliament and the fact that he was his close friend.

During the last years of his life, Bacon worked on literature and science. He was an essayist, influenced by Montaigne, a French essayist whose style was plain. Bacon wrote about practical matters. His first contribution was his introducing                 The Inductive Method of Reasoning. In The Deductive Method which was an old Aristotelian one, reasoning is from general principles to a particular case. For instance: "All men die" is a major premise or hypothesis and "He is a man" is a minor premise; therefore, the conclusion out of these two premises is "He dies."

The Inductive Method is a scientific method of logical reasoning that obtains or discovers general laws from particular facts or examples. Bacon advocated experiments. He had a book in which he discusses the inductive method of logic titled, "Novum Organum" i.e. The New Instrument of Knowledge. Bacon had a number of essays all published under the title of "Essays" concerning the rules which governs every day life, especially the practical ones. In "An Advancement in Learning" Bacon attempts at classifying all fields of knowledge. He discusses a systematic categorization of all sorts of knowledge. He also had a history book titled, "History of Henry VII". Bacon's "New Atlantis" resembles Sir Thomas More's "Utopia" in which Bacon talks about his ideals; a perfect society where knowledge and intellect rule.

John Donne   (1572 – 1631)

He was a great poet who was recognized in the 20^th century and a founder of a school of poetry. He was born in a wealthy Catholic family; his father was a merchant and his mother a Catholic relative of Sir Thomas More. His mother's brother was imprisoned, for he held a Jesuit mission. (Jesuit pertains to Roman Catholic Church; a member of the Society of Jesus.) His brother was also accused of helping Catholics – giving refuge to a Catholic priest. Donne received Catholic education at home, and later, he was sent to Oxford and Cambridge, spending 3 years at the former and 3 years at the latter. But in spite of the fact that Donne was diligent, he received no degrees, for the Catholics were not allowed to attain an academic degree. Afterwards, he studied law in London. He studied law, languages and theology constantly. Meanwhile he had gentle women friends and was interested in theaters.

Donne's "Songs and Sonnets" are secular, dealing with eroticism and love. But the love that he and his followers wrote about is not gentle but a harsh masculine one with no allusion to mythology. The lover never sheds tears; he might die but never faints.

Gradually, Donne abandoned his Catholic beliefs and his faith in the Anglican Church. Then he started a tour around the continent. With Raleigh and Earl of Essex he made a naval expedition to Spain where he was acquainted with the son of         Sir Thomas Eagerton, a lord keeper. When he returned to England he was appointed as Eagerton's private secretary. But unfortunately, his whole life and position was ruined when he secretly married Lady Eagerton's niece, Anne More.  Donne was never forgiven; therefore, he was imprisoned and dismissed from his post. The following years were a period of misery and poverty for the couple; he was poor, sick and hopeless.

He wrote a book in approve of suicide: "Biathanatos". Then he started working with Bishop Morton in composing anti-Catholicism and after that he wrote in defense of Anglican Church: "Pseudo-Martyr". His book was read by King James I and was extremely approved. Being King James I's friend, Donne was persuaded by him to enter ministry. At first he refused but then he was ordained as the                          Dean of Saint Paul's. His sermons are quite famous.

In addition to his early secular "Songs and Sonnets", Donne composed a series of religious sonnets; "Holy Sonnets". After that, he wrote another book against Catholicism: "Ignatius His Conclave".

Donne's language is simple, yet his poetry is deliberately and extraordinarily complex. His poetry deals with different fields of knowledge. The interesting aspect of his poetry is his use of far-fetched metaphors. This is the reason he is accused of being metaphysical.

The characteristics of metaphysical poetry are as follows:

1. They include metaphysical conceits i.e. far-fetched metaphors.

2. They have dramatic style i.e. a person seems to be talking to someone rather than              

    the reader; it is conversational; a monologue.

3. They are in form of arguments as if the speaker is trying to reason or prove

    something.

4. They have simple language.

5. They are abrupt and sudden. With the very first line the poet tries to give a shock

    to the readers.

6. They have complexity of thoughts and ideas.

    A. They are non- Petrarchan; the lines are harsh, strong and masculine.

    B. The subject matters are drawn from different fields of knowledge either secular       

         or religious.

Izaak Walton   (1593 – 1683)

When Donne died  Sir Henry Watton, a friend of his decided to write his biography. He asked another mutual friend Izaac Walton to help him. But Sir Watton died soon and Walton wrote the biography himself under the title of "The Life of Dr. John Donne" – Donne was a doctor of divinity. The picture that Walton gives of Donne resembles a saint, for at that time Donne was outstanding for his sermons in which he used the same diction, conceits, passion and intellect.

Walton has another work: "The Complete Angler", concerning the art of fishing, but it is actually a philosophical book with poetry and quotations of great men.

Walton lived a long life so that he was contemporary with Queen Elizabeth up to the Restoration of Charles II.

Ben Johnson   (1572 – 1637)

He was born simultaneously with Donne and to the same extent; he had a great impact on the people of his age. Johnson was a(n) actor, playwright, poet, scholar, critic, sincerely brave but quarrelsome and tough with a sharp tongue. He was born one month after his father's death. After 2 years his mother married again and Ben's stepfather was very careful about his stepson's education and welfare.

Ben entered Westminster's school where the great scholar William Cadmon, to whom many of his works were devoted, was a teacher. After his school he entered the army and was sent to war and during one of them he killed a man. At the age of 20 he returned to London where he married, but none of his children outlived their father and Johnson wrote poetry in memory of them. In London, he worked as an actor and a playwright.

Once, he had a quarrel with a fellow actor and killed him in a duel. But Johnson was exempted from being punished by the aim of the Benefit of Clergy or the law for the Criminous Clericks, first established by Saint Thomas a Becket in the 12^th century. He proved he was able to read and write and appeared before a less severe court, spent a few years in prison and was eventually relieved. In prison, he changed his religion and became a Catholic. After 12 years he changed his religion once more and became an Anglican.

After the accession of James I, a new atmosphere came to the court i.e. a new court entertainment appeared called Masque.

Masque

It is a kind of poetic drama in which a great deal of music, songs, splendid costumes and decorations and legends from mythology are used. Masque was held either in court or in the great palaces of the nobles. The myth were performed in an elaborate form and sometimes the royal family even the king took part in it. It seemed to be quite amusing.

Ben Johnson major contribution is: "Comedy of Humours", that was a new form of comedy.

There was an ancient belief that 4 fluids exist within every human's body; determining his temperament: blood, choler, phlegm and melancholy. Blood is hot and moist in nature; choler is naturally hot and dry, phlegm is cold and moist and melancholy is cold and dry. According to this theory, there is no balance in the existence of these 4 humors within human's body i.e. one of them predominates the others. The predominance of choler thus results in an angry person; that of phlegm causes the person to become dull and sluggish; the predominance of melancholy makes the person depressed and that of blood makes him cheerful, good and humored. Ben Johnson portrays his characters imbalanced because of their unequal humors. All his characters are abnormal and funny in his "Comedy of Humours".

In addition to masque, satire, poetry of compliment and elegy were the other genres Johnson practiced.

At 35 he was given the honorary title of Poet Laureate by King James I. In the same year he published a book which was a collection of all his works. He was the first English poet to publish his own collection of works. In his later years he became the unofficial literary dictator of London and engaged the affection of younger followers who called themselves Sons of Ben. Sons of Ben provided the nucleus of the entire Cavalier School of English poets. (After Charles I's war with the parliament, his followers called themselves Cavaliers meaning nights or horsemen of the king).

Cavalier Poets were in opposition with the metaphysical poets. They were a group of courtier poets who dealt with urbanism, aristocracy and the elegance of the court in their poetry; opposite to metaphysical poetry which is harsh and tough. Besides, the Cavalier Poets did not pay much attention to composing sonnets as their leader Ben Johnson did not, either. The Cavalier Poets were Richard Lovelace, Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling and Robert Herrick; the latter was not a courtier.

Ben Johnson's major works/plays are as following:

1. The Alchemist

2. Everyman in His Humour

3. Volpone

4. Cheron

5. The Silent Woman

6. The Devil is The Ass

7. Batalomew's Fair

George Herbert   (1593 – 1633)

A John Donne's follower, George Herbert was born in an ancient aristocratic and distinguished Welsh family. His father died when he was 3 years old, and he was brought up by his mother, Magdolen Herbert, a friend of Donne and an eminent lady; and when George was about 15 years of age his mother married  a man 20 years her junior. George had a great love for his mother.

He attended Cambridge University where he was a very distinguished student and after taking his degree, Herbert was elected Public Orator of the university. Public Orator was one who wrote letters and speeches on special occasions for the university. Public Orator of the university was carrying dignity and a stepping stone to a higher position. At first, Herbert seemed ambitious for high official posts. He was a member of the parliament for 2 years and had intentions to become an ambassador, yet military police disillusioned him so that he refused to hold any worldly status and decided to be ordained.

He took a minor office in a church in a remote village where he settled the rest of his life with his wife, his stepfather's cousin. As a priest he was always present at the beds of sick people, was backed by the poor and was a source of energy and charity for them. Accordingly, to the poor villagers Herbert was Holy Mr. Herbert. Meanwhile, he wrote poetry which was published after his death in one volume:   "The Temple".

George Herbert is a poet of profound religious belief and used poetry as a means of devotion and prayer. He was a metaphysical poet under the influence of Donne.   "The Temple" is a collection of poems, each having a title. In each poem he talks about different places inside the church e.g. the altar etc. and applies all these elements as metaphysical conceits and as a whole, his collection makes up a church/temple.

Andrew Marvell   (1621 – 1678)

He was a metaphysical poet, yet different from Donne and Herbert. He was the son of a Yorkshire Calvinist clergyman, born in the town of Hull. He attended Hull's grammar school then went to Cambridge. After graduating from the university he went on a tour around Europe for 4 years by the time the civil war started. When he returned to England he became a tutor to the daughter of Sir Thomas Fairfax, Lord General of the parliamentary forces. This way, he made a connection with the parliamentarian government. At the same time, Marvell had friends among the royalists. Afterwards, Marvell was appointed assistant to the blind Latin secretary for the Commonwealth, John Milton; and he seemed to have been responsible for saving Milton from imprisonment and possible execution after the Restoration - after Cromwell executed the king, he had to explain his deeds and ideals to other European courts; so he needed a Latin secretary to write to European courts in Latin and in favor of his government.

Marvell maintained as a member of the parliament to the end of his life. What is interesting about him is that nobody is sure about his political ideas. His ideas were vague and he always had a safe position.

Marvell's poetry seems light, playful and gay but the poet holds great philosophical ideas and profound thoughts. His famous poem "To His Coy Mistress" is a profound metaphysical one. On the surface, it is a bout a sexual love, but it really concerns time and mortality. His other poem is "An Oration Ode upon Cromwell Returning from England". It is an ode in praise of Cromwell on the surface; but the reader doubts whether he praises Cromwell or King Charles I.

Henry Vaughan   (1621 – 1695)

Vaughan was the last metaphysical poet, - John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marwell and Henry Vaughn - a physician and a native of Wales; he was born with his twin brother, Thomas, and the two were brought up in Wales. His career as a student at Oxford was interrupted by the civil war in which he took a brief part on the king's side. But after the royal defeat, he retired to his native Wales and began to practice medicine and got married. After a serious illness, a profound and enthusiastic religious belief dominated him. His poetry was influenced by George Herbert. He published a thin volume of poetry called: "Silex Scintilans" meaning "The Fiery Flint".

Although Vaughn was a religious poet, his treatment is not as tough as those of Donne and Herbert.

John Milton   (1608 – 1674)

Milton was born in a Protestant family whose father was a well-to-do real state man and quite careful about his son's education; and the son proved to be a great scholar. He received his BA and MA degrees from Cambridge and studied Latin, Greek and Italian.

 Milton's life falls conveniently into three divisions:

1.  The Period of Youthful Education and Apprenticeship.

This era culminates in the writing of "Lycidas" and Milton's foreign travels. His education was continued by 6 years of host studies i.e. he stayed in his father's house for 6 years when he read everything in English, Latin, Greek and Italian.

Afterwards, he traveled around the continent and spent mostly in Italy, where he was attracted by Italian literature. Meanwhile, the political problems took place inside the country, especially the Scottish war in which Milton was on the side of the parliament- he was a pure Puritan. The war was brought about by Charles's attempt to change the Presbyterian Church of Scotland into an Episcopal one.                Episcopal Church was the one with the hierarchy of bishops and Presbyterian was the one with no hierarchy i.e. Puritan and Protestant.

2. The Political Period

Milton became a Latin secretary of Cromwell and wrote pamphlets in Latin in which he advocated the ideas of parliamentarian reign and in defense of Charles' execution.

He married Mary Powell, of a royal family, though he was a parliamentarian himself. Thus, within 6 weeks, she returned to her parents' and Milton published a series of pamphlets, advocating that divorce should be granted on the ground of compatibility. But later on his wife returned to him and died after having born him 3 daughters. After a couple of years Milton married Katherine Woodcock who died at child birth two years later.

Little by little, he became blind and by the accession of Charles II he was to be executed. He was imprisoned but after a while he was released and was retired to his house and started a state of seclusion. He married his third wife who served him as a secretary.

3. The Period of Literary Career

All throughout his life Milton wanted to write an epic, yet he was too busy with politics to be able to attain his objective. His major works are:

I. "Lycidas"

It is a pastoral elegy written when Milton was still at university. Edward King was one of his friends at university who drowned. Scholars believe that "Lycidas" was dedicated to Edward. It is actually a consoling elegy with the theme that "A poet dies but never does a poem."; it was an elegy on a dead poet.

II. "Areopogitica"

It is a prose addressed to the parliament, concerning the freedom of writers and condemning censorship.

III. "L'Allegro"

     "Il' Penseroso"

They are twin poems presenting two opposite nations. In the former, he talks about a female figure that stands for light, mirth, activity and spring. But the latter addresses a lady dressed in black who stands for brooding thoughts, melancholy and solitude. Each poem appreciates what it talks about.

IV. "Paradise Lost"

It is a Christian epic which is composed of supernaturalism; with a hero, undergoing adventures with monsters, etc. in an elevated language and according to an elevated subject matter, and the decorated language of Renaissance period.

Milton's "Paradise Lost" is influenced by Spenser, Virgil and Homer but the story is handled in an individual manner. In this epic Milton tells the story of Adam and Eve's Fall i.e. the first Adam loses paradise.

V. "Paradise Regained"

It is a Biblical story in form of poetry: Christ or the second Adam faces Satan in a desert and is tempted. But he rejects all the earthly values and resists Satan and this way Jesus Christ regains the lost paradise.

VI. "Comus"

It is the title of a masque.

VII. "Samson Agonistus"

It is a closet drama i.e. one written to be read rather than performed.

John Bunyan   (1628 – 1688)

If Milton is a bard of Puritanism, Bunyan is its story writer who inspired a lot of his subsequent story writers. He was the son of a poor Bedfordshire tinker and received only a meager education and then learned his father's craft. When he was 14 years old, he participated in the civil war on the parliament's side. Two years later, he lost his mother and his father remarried. When the war ended he married a young poor girl and they lived happily for 7 years; after that, his wife died, leaving him 4 children one of whom was a blind daughter.

Milton started his new career as a preacher. Despite his poor education, he was talented, fearless and a pious preacher. After the accession of Charles II, he kept on preaching his Puritan ideas despite the dominance of the Anglican Church; consequently, he was imprisoned. Yet, he was a favorable and respected figure in the society and even his gaolers let him leave the jail to attend congregations. Thus he was sent to another prison and was released.

He remarried and his wife petitioned different authorities for her husband's release. Still her husband was arrested and released for several times and eventually he was imprisoned for the rest of his life.

Bunyan presented Christian doctrine in his stories allegorically. His masterpiece is "Pilgrim's Progress". It is the story of an Everyman living in the City of Destruction and is informed that he has to go to the Heavenly City. He undergoes different adventures throughout his journey. Bunyan's second important work is            "Grace Abounding to Its Chief of Sinners", a spiritual autobiography concerning his own sins. It is a simple, clear and allegorical prose.

A Survey to the History of English Literature (II)

The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century   (1660 – 1785)

Charles II returned to his country in 1660. He was 30, a perfect handsome gentleman. Actually and secretly he was an ardent Catholic while his people were protestant and he was the head of an Anglican church. He wore the mask of Anglicanism; he showed it in words but he was Catholic at heart.

During the time of his exile he was wandering about the countries. The kings of other countries especially France protected him financially and he was under the influence of Catholic Church of France. Two years after his return, in 1662 he married Catherine of Braganza, the princess of Portugal. She brought the port of Bombay as her dowry and a lot of cash. Actually, she did not have much of her husband; he was a sensual man and had an army of mistresses but he had no intention to hide them. Except for his pleasure–seeking activities, he was a lazy man and picked up ministers to carry the burden of the government.

As far as the Restoration government policies and economy were concerned, they paid no attention to colonies in Africa, India and America. Before then, the whole economic situation of England was based on commercial activities concerning wool. Now it changed. From these colonies certain other goods came to England; then they were shipped to other countries. As a result, the country became economically secure and prosperous. The prosperity of the country brought about the prosperity of certain class of society that is the wealthy whom the Restoration government supported.

Since Armada, the first clash between the parliament and Queen Elizabeth started. At the beginning of Charles II's return again the clash happened. There were three major reasons for this:

First: Charles II was in agreement with the parliament at the beginning, but he was not that secure on his government and gradually forgot his duties and that brought about certain results. Second: Charles II pretended to be an Anglican. Twice during his reign, he proposed a Declaration of Indulgence i.e. all the religious sects and all the believers of other religions must be free in their beliefs and that means the toleration of other beliefs thus more privileges for Catholics; this disappointed the church. So the church sought a monopoly i.e. sole right to supply or trade in some service as well as religion. But the church could not tolerate Charles' monopoly. Third: After his return, Charles II did some foolish actions which intensified the clash. He gave some privileges to the Royalists who had lost their states and gave their land back. He also started a war with Holland while both countries were Protestant, so gradually the clash took place.

An important incident which took place during Charles II's reign was The Popish Plot.

The Popish Plot

It was believed that a plot against Charles life was planned by Catholics. It is a very suspicious incident since Charles was a Catholic himself. The incident resulted in important consequences. Charles II had many illegitimate children but no legitimate heir by Catherine to come to the throne; so, naturally, his brother James II, another Catholic king came to throne.

When James II came to the throne the atmosphere of crisis intensified. He was the first frank Catholic king after Bloody Mary who openly admitted his Catholicism. The Protestant politicians faced a great danger, so they sought a plot and found a Protestant heir, one of Charles illegitimate children named Duke of Monmouth who was ambitious, brave and good-looking and popular with people. He was supported by Earl of Shaftsbury, one of those politicians who pretended that James had a hand in this plot and was successful. Charles would not allow such manipulation; as a result, Earl of Shaftsbury lost his palace, fled to Holland and died. The Duke of Monmouth was also caught and beheaded after Charles' death and before James II's reign.

Dryden's allegorical satire "Absalom and Achitophel" points to this event. Absalom stands for the Duke of Monmouth but he is indicated as a biblical figure, David's son. Achitophel is also introduced in the place of Earl of Shaftsbury.

The Glorious or Bloodless Revolution   (1688 – 1689)

In spite of the fact that James promised not to attend any persecution, he ruled quite short and he himself was responsible for its shortness for a couple of reasons:

1. He prohibited the Anglican clergies to preach against Catholicism; consequently,                   

    the church was vexed.

2. He brought an army of soldiers around London to threaten the Protestant               

    population.

3. He gave his coreligionists, well-known powerful Catholic officials and important               

    positions and even made some of them the heads of colleges of Cambridge and       

    Oxford.

These brought the disappointment of many powerful officials but people tolerated the situation because James had married a Protestant wife and they looked to the prospective Protestant heirs who were his daughters Mary and Anne. However, matters came to a crisis in 1688 when a son was born to James' second wife who was a Catholic and the prospect of succession of Catholic monarchs menaced the nation. Accordingly they sought a savior.

Secret negotiations paved the way for survival in England of the Dutchman William of Orange at the head of a small armed force. He was the leading champion of Protestantism in the continent; a grandson of Charles I and the husband of James' Protestant daughter, Mary.

William crossed the English Channel and captured the country easily. James II fled to France, a Catholic country. The coming of William and Mary and their settlement as the joint sovereigns of England achieved in 1688 -1689 is known as the Glorious or Bloodless Revolution. From this moment on the powers of the parliament was reaffirmed i.e. the kings had to rule through the parliament.

The Consequences of the Popish Plot   (The Emergence of Whigs and Tories)

After the Popish Plot some of the powerful officials took the side of the church. These groups were Protestants. They made two political parties known as Tories and Whigs. In 1681, Tories supported the king while Whigs were the king's opponents and supported the parliament and advocated the toleration of other religious sects i.e. other dissenters, nonconformists: Catholics and Puritans.

Later on, these two parties became more stable and developed their opposed attitudes on other important issues, for instance economic concern. The Tories were actually older nobility and supported the landed wealth. The Whigs came from new nobility and supported commerce and commercial activities. By and large there was no concern for the poor.

William's Coming to the Throne   (Late 17^th and Early 18^th Centuries)

In this period we face a change in all aspects of life, a change of custom, the way people dressed, what they ate, etc. Coffee and tea were introduced. There was also a change in the language i.e. new words especially technical ones came into existence like the nowadays language. For instance "thee" and "thou" changed into "you" and "me"; "master" and "mistress" changed into "mister" and "Mrs.". There was a movement from simplicity toward luxury.

During the early 18^th century, Religious Toleration (Toleration of Dissenters) was established i.e. pressing people to death and torture for their religious beliefs, was abolished. Now everyone was free to go or not to go to any churches.

The change of custom had also unpleasant consequences. The majority of people were not able to afford the bare necessities of life. People in rags and bare-footed were frequent sights. The life expectancy was under 35 during this period. Only they did not starve. Any kind of opera was suffocated in its origin. Church, landlords and government were united against the poor and the poor's disobedience was called a sin and was punished savagely. This was the glimpse of the life of the poor. The change was not due to the fluctuation of literary fashion. It was deeply rooted in the condition of life of this period.

The Literature of Restoration / The Neo-Classical Period   (1660 – 1785)

Restoration comes after Commonwealth during which we have religious extremism and enthusiasm. Government of Cromwell put a ban on theaters in which works of Shakespeare and Marlow were performed. After restoration this extreme turned to another extreme. The characteristics of restoration dramas are as follows: They were abnormal, cynical and witty and usually concerned with sexual entreaties. The dominant genre of this period is Comic Drama.

Restoration followed a period of civil war and now it was the time of a political stability. Rich people became richer and enjoyed this period of peace. English writers found a similarity between this period and such a period in Roman history. After Julius Caesar was murdered, a civil war started in Rome and took years until another emperor, Augustine came to the throne. During his reign the Romans enjoyed stability and peace and as a result of this, great Roman writers appeared such as Ovid,  Virgil and Horace and they achieved the highest position imagined for a writer.

Restoration was also a period of stability after years of war. Restoration writers recognized the similarity between themselves and Roman writers and tried to go after them who were great models of perfection. During late 17^th and early 18^th centuries, they looked at the classical Greek writers in all aspects of their literary works and also the classical Romans who were under the direct influence of Greek culture. That is why this new literary period is called Neo-Classicism.

 Neo-Classical literary period (1660-1785), falls into 3 periods of about 40 years each: 1. the first one extending to the death of Dryden in 1700, 2. the second one ending with the death of Pope in 1744 and of Swift in 1745, and 3. the third one concluding with the death of Johnson in 1784 and the publication of William Cowper's "The Task" in 1785.

The second influence on the writers of Restoration period was France. Charles II and his followers spent their exile in France and liked French culture very much so; they intended to bring it into English culture. The writers of this period were under the influence of these two cultures but did not imitate them in their works. They took what they required from France, but used it for their own ends.