Old English Literature (AD 450 – 1066) The Middle English literature (1066 – 1485)

The 16th century was also the time of Reformation.In many west European countries they arouse the protest against the Roman Catholic Church. And a number of Protestant churches appeared in various countries. The Protestant church in England is known as t h e Anglican Church (or the Church of England). It was Henry VIII who broke with the Pope of Rome and declared himself Head of the Anglican Church. He had both political and personal reasons: on the one hand Henry VHI wanted to do away with the influence of the Pope of Rome and wanted to get more political influence in his own country. Besides Henry VTJI needed money for his wars and having destroyed some Catholic monasteries or churches (as he sometimes did) he could get it together with the lands which had been the monasteries' property. As a result with the help of this money Henry VUJ could acquire more "friends" among the nobles, and so a new class of gentry appeared in the country. On the other hand there was a romantic aspect in all this. But let's tell this story from the very beginning. 

When Henry VIII was crowned (короновать), the memories of the War of the Roses were still alive in the country as Henry VIII was only the second Tudor King. He was quite handsome, gifted and athletic, and he really did a lot for the glory of his country. He built the first English modern Navy, his talents were diverse: he was interested in music, books, hunting, riding, archery, etc. And he liked to do everything in his own way. He also paid a lot of attention to religious questions. To tell the truth, at first he was a true Catholic and by 1521 he even wrote an Anti-Lutheran book (in fact the book was aimed against one of the contemporary protestant movements in Europe!), for which the grateful Pope awarded him the title of Defender of the Faith. But only 10 years later Henry VDI broke away from the Catholic Church and set up his own Church of England (the Anglican Church). The King made himself the Supreme Head of the new Church and began to close Catholic monasteries. As we have already mentioned there was a romantic reason for this Reformation in England except for the political ones we have already touched upon.

Only a few weeks after his coronation Henry VIII married his brother's widow, a beautiful Spanish Princess, Catherine of Aragon. She was nice and clever and a true friend to her husband, but she failed to give him a son and after 10 years of their marriage England still had no heir! Henry VDI thought that England would be weak if there were no king to follow him and he did not want his country to have civil wars again. This problem had troubled Henry VUJ for many years when he met Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting. Anne was not a beauty and even had six fingers on one of her hands, but the King fell madly in love with her. He asked the Pope to give him a divorce so that he could marry again and explained that Catherine had been his elder brother's wife, who had died very young. He thought it had been a sin to marry his brother's widow and that the absence of sons was his punishment. But the Pope refused to give Henry the divorce and that made the King of England break away from the Catholic Church. Henry VIII also proclaimed Marу , the daughter he had by this marriage, illegitimate. So, Henry VIII divorced his wife Catherine and married Anne Boleyn, but she did not give him a son either. And when he got tired of her he had her executed. By this second marriage he had another daughter, Elizabeth, whom he also proclaimed illegitimate. Ten days after Anne Boleyn's execution the King married his third wife, Jane Seymour, who did give him a son, but died twelve days later. All in all Henry VIII had six wives. Ann Cleves was the fourth one. But as he grew older the King became suspicious and ruthless. His fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was beheaded in the Tower, and the last one, Catherine Parr, would have followed her, but she was lucky enough to survive the King.

King Henry VIII left three children: Mary by Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth by Anne Boleyn and Edward, the Prince of Wales, by Jane Seymour. The children's father never thought that one of his children would rule England after him. He couldn't foresee either that his second daughter, Elizabeth, whom he never loved dearly and whom he proclaimed illegitimate, would become Queen Elizabeth I, the greatest monarch England has ever known.

When Henry VIII died in 1547, his only son Edward became king. Edward VI was only 9 years old, so his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, and then the Duke of Northumberland ruled the country in his name. The boy king Edward VI is memorable for opening new grammar schools (they replaced the monastery schools which his father had closed). Unfortunately his reign was short. This kind and clever boy had never been in good health and after having had first measles and then smallpox he soon died. In the 19th century an American writer Mark Twain would take this boy king as a protagonist of his novel "The Prince and the Pauper".

Everybody knew that Edward's sister Mary was next in line to the throne. It was clear that if she succeeded, the Roman Catholic religion would be established again in England, because Mary was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, a true Catholic. This possibility troubled the minds of those who showed themselves good Protestants during the reign of Edward VI. They also liked the new religion very much as they got a lot of money from the former Catholic monasteries' lands. So, it was very important for them to have a Protestant monarch inherit the throne. And a group of nobles tried to Jfcit Lady Jane Grey, a Protestant, on the English throne. But Jane was Queen for only nine days. Mary succeeded in entering London & took control of the kingdom. Ordinary people helped Mary because they were angered by the greed of the Protestant nobles.

However, Mary's reign was terrible for England. Marу was unwise in her policy, her beliefs and her private life. For political, religious and family reasons she chose to marry King Philip of Spain . It was her first big mistake. The common people of England disliked the marriage as they did not want a foreigner to control the country. After much debate Parliament agreed to this marriage, but they only accepted Philip as King of England only for Mary's lifetime. Very soon Магу I made a second mistake. She made an attempt to bring England back to the Catholic Church. When she met with resistance the Queen began burning the Protestants. Many Protestants had to leave the country to avoid the risk of being arrested or executed. The prisons were crowded with the chief Protestants. The Queen also had her cousin, ex-queen Lady Jane Grey, executed when Jane refused to become Catholic. Mary also had plans to do the same with her sister Elizabeth, who could become an obvious leader for a Protestant revolt. But her husband Philip, however, disliked the idea of killing a Princess. Mary's third and final mistake became fatal for England. The Queen's husband was at war with France & asked England for help. England did not want to be involved in the war between Spain & France just for the sake of Philip, but it so happened that at that very time the King of France was going to attack the English coast. So war was declared and the Queen was able to help her husband. The English were defeated, however, and the losses they had were great. Mary never recovered from that blow. In the end the people of England got so angry with her that only the fact that Mary I herself was dying prevented a popular rebellion. In England this queen was called Bloody Mary and as Bloody Mary she will be remembered with horror.

So, Elizabeth became the Queen of England - Elizabeth I - though when she was born in September 7, 1533, no one had any idea that she would become the queen of England only 25 years later Her birth was a big disappointment to her father, Henry VTII, who had turned his world upside down, divorced his first wife Catherine of Aragon and broke with the Pope of Rome so that he could marry again. Frankly speaking, it was not only the passion for Anne Boleyn that caused all this (though winning Anne became a kind of obsession with Henry). His real passion was for a son who would secure the Tudor line on the English throne and save England from disputes about succession (наследование престола) that might cause the repeat of the chaotic time of the War of the Roses of the previous century. Elizabeth was not 3 years old when her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed (so much was the King disappointed by her failure to give him a son). Soon after the execution Henry VET! proclaimed the girl illegitimate. Life at the court of her father influenced the young Lady Princess' world-view greatly. Her father married four more times and had one more of his wives executed. They say that after this second execution Elizabeth (she was about 8 then) declared "I'll never marry". And she stayed true to her promise. During the reign of her elder sister Mary I Elizabeth's life was in danger. Mary was a Catholic monarch in a Protestant country and the very existence of a protestant heir to the throne, as Elizabeth was, was a constant worry to Bloody Marry, who was justly hated by her people. Thus Elizabeth was firstly imprisoned in the Tower then at Woodstock, but Mary never got courage to have her half-sister beheaded.

At the age of 25 Elizabeth became the Queen of England to the great delight of her people. As far as her personality was concerned, she inherited very little from both her fatherand mother. She had Henry's red hair, his intelligence, his physical energy, but not his ability to take quick decisions, his cold cruelty and his disregard of everything except his personal advantage and pleasure. She had her mother's charm, but not her irresponsibility. But Elizabeth's destiny and all her actions were based on the fact that she was the daughter of Henry VUI and Anne Boleyn - of the father who had been a great king and national leader, and the mother who represented a real Protestant, the revolutionary movement of the century.

As a monarch Elizabeth inherited a very troublesome country. That is why the age of Elizabeth is remembered as one of a great development. During her reign there was a religious compromise in the country (though the Church of England dominated) and certainly she played a great part in it herself. Besides, it was under Elizabeth that England finally freed itself from the threat of the Spanish Armada. She also suppressed the rebellion in Ireland. That contributed to the growth of English prestige at home and abroad. In fact this Elizabethan Age is often called the Golden Age of England. It was the time of English Renaissance. Thanks to printing, the interest to art and literature spread far beyond the court. There was a wonderful harvest of art, music, poetry and most importantly of theatre. In Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) England produced its greatest genius. Arts were greatly encouraged by the Queen herself.

The threat to the glorious reign was presented by England's weak neighbour - Scotland. For all true Catholics Elizabeth was still illegitimate and there was a "better" heir to the Tudor throne -Mary Stuart the Queen of Scotland, a Catholic. She was a granddaughter of Henrу VII by his daughter Margaret. The relationship of the two sisters kept people's attention for over 400 years and the sisters had often been contrasted. Mary represented Medieval ages with their courtship and admiration for beauty. She was emotional, charming and obstinate. Elizabeth was a woman of a new Renaissance age cautious and wise. But the greatest difference between them was that Elizabeth was Queen of England and Mary was Queen of Scotland - Elizabeth was the queen of a prosperous and powerful kingdom, and Mary was the queen of a poor, weak and lawless one. Elizabeth had loyal advisers and Mary's advisors were traitors. But they also had a lot in common, as both were cultured, intelligent and brave. As soon as Mary I of England died Mary Stuart claimed that she was the only lawful heir to the throne. However in the meantime the two queens became friendlier to each other and Mary Stuart married an English nobleman Lord Darnley. The choice was made for her by Elizabeth. The marriage proved to be a bitter disappointment and in February 1567 Darnley was found murdered. Mary was suspected to have ordered the murder and was put into prison. She had to flee to England as a penniless refugee and seek her royal cousin's protection. The shelter she was given turned out to be another prison where Mary spent 19 years. This long imprisonment did not prevent Mary from constant plotting against the Queen of England. Mary was also proved to be guilty of having killed her husband, Lord Darnley. Elizabeth was reluctant to have a monarch executed, but Mary's presence was a constant cause of Catholic riots and plots.

In the end Mary Stuart was executed on February 7, 1587 aged 44. Elizabeth pretended she had not known about this and accused her counselors of disloyalty. In March, 1603 Elizabeth died. She had never married and was childless. At the end when she could no longer speak, she made a sign that James, the son of Mary Stuart should succeed her. (The story of the relationships of the two sisters is wonderfully described in Stephen Zweig's ( novel "Mary Stuart").

There is something more to say about Elizabeth I. Her position of a monarch does not explain the devotion which she inspired in her nation. There should be some other reason why people worshipped her and even sent to the block by her orders called out "God save the Queen!", and why most historians for 400 years have tried to pay more attention to her successes than to her faults. There must be something that won them over and that we cannot easily understand today - her charm, her courage, her charisma and her magic.

11. The beginning of Utopian literature.

The concept of Utopia as a literary form originated with Sir Thomas More's depiction of a fictional commonwealth in Utopia (1516), which inspired many imaginary societies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and influenced efforts at social reform extending into the twentieth century. Such ideals as equality between the sexes, religious toleration, and preventative medicine have their roots in Utopian literature; as do several important tenets of modern communism and socialism. Renaissance Utopian works are characterized by several common factors: a belief in the possibility of social reconstruction through an assertion of human willpower, a sense of pessimism concerning present social conditions balanced by a feeling of optimism about the future, a communal approach to the distribution of property, a pervasive concern with society as a whole rather than with the experience of individuals, and a belief in the utility of social institutions—among the most consistently emphasized of which is education.

While the principal structural elements of More's Utopia served as a stock formula for other Utopian works (for example, the location of the Utopian society at a distance from the familiar world, often with an ocean voyage leading to a shipwreck or chance landing on the shores of an ideal commonwealth); thematic sources for Utopian literature are found in prominent western cultural traditions, including the classical myth of a Golden Age, the ideal city-state of Plato's Republic, and the Christian conception of paradise. Frank E. Manuel and Fritzie P. Manuel comment: "The two ancient beliefs that molded and nurtured utopia—the Judeo-Christian faith in a paradise created with the world and destined to endure beyond it, and the Hellenic myth of an ideal, beautiful city built by men for men without the assistance and often in defiance of the gods—were deeply embedded in the consciousness of Europeans." Some critics have also suggested an inspiration for Utopian literature in the transition between the Medieval and Renaissance worlds, viewing the Utopian aspiration for a cohesive community as a reaction against the increasingly divisive and individualistic aspects of society during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—a nostalgic longing for the unified city community and Christian worldview of the Middle Ages. The changing conception of reality associated with New World exploration and scientific discovery during the Renaissance has also been cited as a possibe influence in the development of Utopian literature. While works of Renaissance Utopian literature share common structural and thematic origins, there is great variation in the specific solutions to societal problems proposed by different authors. Marie Louise Berneri commented: "Thomas More abolishes property but retains family institutions and slavery; Campanella, though a staunch Catholic, wants to abolish marriage and the family; Andreae borrows many of his ideas from More and Campanella but puts his faith in a new religious reformation which would go deeper than that inspired by Luther; Bacon wants to preserve private property and a monarchial government but believes that the happiness of mankind can be achieved through scientific progress."

In 1595, Sir Philip Sidney praised the new genre of Utopian literature in his Defense of Poesie, ranking Utopia, along with poetry, above philosophy and history as more persuasive than philosophical argument. In general, however, there was little critical discussion about Utopian literature during the Renaissance, and the form did not receive detailed academic consideration until the nineteenth century, when Utopian writings were becoming increasingly concerned with advocating realistic social reform and less focused on fictional conventions of the genre. The twentieth century has witnessed a surge of critical interest in Utopian thought, with scholars of diverse fields examining works of the Renaissance for their political, historical, scientific, and literary value. Many have observed the decline of Utopian fiction during the current century, noting the far more prevalent modern penchant for dystopia, or anti-utopia. Questioning the authenticity of a Utopian author's intent is a common characteristic of contemporary scholarship on Renaissance Utopian thought, with many critics emphasizing the satirical, as well as idealistic, implications of Utopian works. Finally, a common twentieth-century criticism of the viability of Utopian thought is that it tends to ignore the unpredictable, passionate, or irrational aspects of human nature, demonstrating a naive expectation that people will respond unselfishly to reason.

12. Elizabethan poetry (E. Spenser, Ph. Sidney and others).

The English poetry of Renaissance developed under the influence of Chaucer’s traditions, folk songs and Italian verse forms. Two common themes in 16-th century poetry were the relationship between men and women, and the treachery and hypocrisy of courtly life. Many imitators of Chaucer appeared after his death in 1400, but few are of great interest. More than a century had to pass before any further important English poetry was written. Queen Elizabeth ruled from 1558 to 1603, but the great Elizabethan literary age is not considered as beginning until 1579. Before that year two poets wrote works of value.

The sonnet becomes a very important poetic form in Elizabethan writing. The XVI century is the golden age of the sonnet form in Western Europe. During one century more than 300 thousands of sonnets were written. Perhaps this form with its exactness of the inner structure was attractive for the poets with their new interpretation of human personality and intellect – the sonnet makes possible to express the author’s feelings and thoughts in a compressive way. Philip Sidney was one of the founders of this tradition of the English verse. 400 years ago in London a society was founded, called “Areopagus” headed by Philip Sidney. The members of this society were Edmund Spenser (1552 –1599), Fulk Grewil. During their meetings religious and philosophical problems were discussed and new forms of poetry were worked out. “The Defence of Poetry” («Защита поэзии») by Philip Sydney was a theoretical work, philosophical and esthetical creed of the new poetry founders. The main object of poetry after Ph. Sydney is considered to be the positive influence on the individual’s mentality: it is necessary for the poet to create an ideal character; and to convince the reader to believe in such perfect character («совершенство») the writers must face their characters to difficulties and make them improve their souls. The sequence “Astrophel and Stella” (written in the period 1581 –1583 and published in 1591)contains 108 sonnets and 11 songs. The young courtier Astrophel is the Greek for ‘star-lover’ it means «влюбленный в звезду». “Stella” – the Latin for ‘star’. Before the discussion the sonnet sequence let us consider some facts from the life of Ph. Sydney and Penelope Devereux and their relationship. The contemporaries of Sydney believed them to be the prototypes of Astrophel and Stella. Sydney was engaged to Penelope, the daughter of the earl of Essex – who eventually had a rather unhappy marriage to Lord Rich. For the time Sydney was engaged to Penelope she was 18-19. Penelope is identified as Stella, although she is said to have been rather less virtuous than Stella. In the history of the development of the sonnet sequence the role of Stella is very important. She is one of the first heroines in the line of female characters of the English lyrical poetry. But nevertheless Stella differs greatly from the traditional female image of the Italian sonnets. She is noble, devoted to her moral duty. In the sequence, Sydney harmonizes his personal tone of voice with both myth and narrative; he tells about development of her love and presents this female character as a positive one. Her virtue is based not on the dream about Paradise love but on the understanding of her moral duty. She is not an ideal image; she is real lively, vivid female character, the predecessor to the Dark Lady of Shakespearean sonnets written later in 1609. Ph. Sydney realized that Penelope was an outstanding personality and she provoked him for creation of female character unknown in English lyrical poetry. Penelope Devereux possessed all the virtues which were of great value in the court life: her brilliant beauty attracted attention, she was educated, knew French, Italian, Spanish, took part at the theatrical plays by Ben Jonson (1572 – 1637). Even the king James ( who was the King of Scots in 1567-1625 and of England and Ireland in 1603-1625) noticed her brilliant intellect revealed in her letters. More than other women of her time she took part in the court’s political intrigues.

Her brother, earl Essex was a national hero. He became and remained Elizabeth’s favorite despite his marriage (1590) to Sir Philip Sydney’s widow. Appointed in 1599 to put down O’Neil’s revolt in Ireland earl Essex was unlucky with his campaign and it was Penelope who wrote an inspired letter praying to help her brother to the queen Elizabeth. Earl Essex attempted without success to raise a rebellion in London against the government and in this period Penelope lived in his house. Earl Essex was condemned and executed and for high treason and she defended her brother before the military Council. Earl Essex was a remarkable personality, the author of numerous sonnets; he was a patron of literature, in particular of Francis Bacon, who, however, acted as a prosecutor at his trial. Thus, the life of Penelope, this remarkable person, was connected with many outstanding people of those times. There is no doubt that creating his lyrical sequence Ph. Sidney used all the achievments of European poetry in this genre. The innovations of Sydney, so called English Petrarch you can see in synthetic character of his sequence “Astrophil and Stella”, in the transformation of the poetical technique. Considering the experience of Wyatt and Surrey’s blank verse, Sydney invented his verse with the rhyme abbaabba cdcdgg. Sixty sonnets of the 108 are written in this form – classical Italian octave and sestet, and the two lines, so called conclusive one’s are connected syntactically with the former line and contain the main idea. The range of lexical means Sidney used in his cycle is wide, - he used colloquial words, introduced political, military, law terms enriching English poetry and national language in the whole. Sidney used two methods: 1.Compound epithets consisting of two or more words. This technique was new for the English poetry, Sidney was considered to copy it from French poetry. Writing about peculiarities of the English language Sidney noted that for his native language “brilliant composition of two or three words” is characteristic.

By the way, the most part of the sonnets are devoted not to Stella but to his friend, to the poets, to the moon, even to a sparrow, to human virtues, and in the first line the sonnets are addressed to the reader, while Astrophel, Stella and other characters are only actors telling about Astrophel’s love to Stella. It does not matter whether Sydney was in love with Penelope, the main thing is that the image of Love exists in his imagination. Many English and American literary scholars discussed the question about identity of the Astrophil and Sydney’s personalities. The question about genre of this sequence of sonnets is challenging. Almost all the sonnets are written in the first person and it is not easy to differentiate the words of the hero and the author. Nevertheless, this sequence of sonnets seems to be the first attempt of the author to separate himself from his hero and to lead his hero through the way of moral improvement. Ph. Sydney created a new type of poetic work, “Astrophil and Stella” differs from former lyric sequences of sonnets in the point, that it is “lyric and epic work”. In the “Foreword” to the first edition of this sequence (1591) Tomas Nash called this composition “tragicomedy” of Love. As to his opinion, this sequence was created to demonstrate moral perfection of a man in the struggle of passion and intelligence. The tale about the unhappy love of Astrophil defeated by Cupid begins with his dreams about mutual love, but he must confess that his mistress heart is very hard and severe. Astrophel is in despair of the thought that Stella’ heart is closed to him. At last his love found response in Stella’s heart, but her love is only ideal and it does not bring any satisfaction for Astrophel. Unlike Wayatt, Sydney was not aiming at the expression of strong personal emotions only, but at something more exalted and elevated or sometimes connected with military affairs. For example the following sonnet by Sydney refers to an actual tournament held in 1581. A tournament (or “tourney”) was a public contest between armed horsemen in imitation of real battle, based on ideas of chivalry and accompanied by much pageantry. The field was enclosed by barriers, with pavilions at the side for notable people.

13. Drama of the Renaissance period.

English Renaissance drama grew out of the established Medieval tradition of the mystery and morality plays(see Medieval English Drama). These public spectacles focused on religious subjects and were generally enacted by either choristers and monks, or a town's tradesmen (as later seen lovingly memorialized by Shakespeare's 'mechanicals' in A Midsummer Night's Dream).