Theme 4: Renaissance. Renaissance in English literature Plan

The Decline of the Renaissance

James I, the first Stuart king, had little first-hand knowledge of England. Elizabeth had managed to maintain religious balance between Protestants and Catholics, but under the Stuarts that balance was lost. Religious and political unrest was growing.

At that period a number of young Cavaliers, loyal to the king, wrote about love and loyalty, but even in the love poems it is evident that the freshness of the Elizabethan era had passed. Among the best of these poets were Richard Lovelace and Robert Herrick.

Drama continued to flourish in England under the Stuarts. Shakespeare’s great tragedies were written during the reign of King James, and Shakespeare’s acting company, taken under the patronage of the king, became known as the King’s Men. The theatre in fact remained a popular form of entertainment until the puritan government closed all playhouses in 1649.

The greatest of the Puritan poets, and one of the greatest English poets was John Milton, Latin secretary to the Puritan Commonwealth. While in this position his sight began to fail ;eventually he became blind. He composed “Paradise Lost”, his greatest work and the most successful English epic, sightless.

Supplement

Three chief forms of poetry flourished during the Elizabethan Age. They were the lyric, the sonnet, and narrative poetry.