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If We Look at Elizabethan Poetry from the Vantage Point of a 21St‐Century

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If We Look at Elizabethan Poetry from the Vantage Point of a 21St‐Century If we look at Elizabethan poetry from the vantage point of a 21st‐century university survey course in English Renaissance literature, it is clearly one of the two most prominent genres, together with Elizabethan drama, that we will have to deal with. If we look deeper, we will discern various subgenres, such as epic, love poetry, erotic poems, religious verse, etc.; or we might as well consider some of the most celebrated poets: Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, John Donne, etc. … Naturally, we will do this – but if we are to understand Elizabethan poetry in its own terms, we need to start by taking a closer look at its socio‐political and cultural context. 1 The first cornerstone of the Elizabethan socio‐political and cultural context is humanist education. Humanism, as an educational reform movement, began in Italy in the late 13th and developed throughout the 14th century. Initially, it was characterized by the recovery, study and translation of important works from Greek and Latin antiquity as well as a renewed interest in classical rhetoric and style – as a reaction against the restrictive scholasticism and exegetical practices of medieval education dominated by the Catholic church. It was also associated with the desire of Italian city states (such as the Venetian and Florentine republics) to claim continuity between them and ancient Rome, and by extension ancient Greece. Important early humanists include Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Boccacio, Leonardo Bruni, Poggio Bracciolini, Marcilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Niccolo Machiavelli. Humanism spread north in the 14th and 15th centuries influencing scholars and teachers in France, Germany, the Netherlands and eventually in the 16th century also in England. A crucial event that significantly multiplied the impact of humanism was the invention of the printing press (c. 1450) which allowed for much faster, wider and more accurate dissemination of information, and also due to the decreased cost of books – made them increasingly available to ordinary, less wealthy people. Desiderius Erasmus emerged as a central figure of humanism in northern Europe – he published extensively and founded schools in Germany, the Netherlands and England. His work 2 was focused on the reform of school curricula and methods of teaching, and also on ideals for the reform of church and state. In England humanism began to take root under the rule and with the support of King Henry VII. The key figures were Erasmus, John Colet, and – later at the court of Henry VIII – Thomas More. Early highlights of the humanist educational reform are St. Paul’s School (founded by John Colet in 1509) and St. John’s College in Cambridge (founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort in 1511). Which educated scholars and teachers, like Sir John Cheke and Roger Ascham, who perpetuated the humanist project. (Adapted from Mary Thomas Crane’s chapter “Early Tudor Humanism” in Michael Hattaway, A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture, Blackwell, 2003.) 2 Travelling northward from Italy the humanist project empowered and became intertwined with the second cornerstone of the Elizabethan socio‐political and cultural context – the Protestant Reformation. In 1517 (Wittenberg, Germany) monk and scholar Martin Luther wrote 95 theses in which he attacked the practice of the Catholic Church to sell indulgencies to absolve sin. Among other things, he questioned the central Catholic tenet that humans may reach salvation only by their faith but not by their deeds and insisted that the Bible, as the highest source of religious authority, should be translated and made available to everyone. Although many of the issues Luther raised had been raised before, the time was ripe for change, his ideas spread fast and transformed the course of religious and cultural history of the Western world. Protestantism was further developed by others, more notably by John Calvin – a French theologian. He and his followers believed in “predestination”, i.e. only some people would go to Heaven and God had already decided which ones, they only had to read to signs and make sure they were on the list – some of these signs shaped the so called “Protestant work ethic” which valued hard work, thrift and contributions to the community. These ideas were, in turn, embraced and developed by the Puritans – an extremist wing of the English Protestants. Some European nations remained loyal to the Catholic faith and some embraced the new Protestant creed – this resulted in bitter military conflicts and longstanding differences in culture – some of which have come down to our times. 3 In England Protestantism was adopted by Henry VIII, amidst an intricate web of dynastic, political and economic complexities (1533‐47), maintained during the brief reign of his son Edward VI (1547‐53), rejected by his eldest daughter Mary I, who reverted the national religion back to Catholicism (1553‐58), and re‐established by his second daughter Elizabeth I (from 1558). Every change was accompanied by drastic measures, such as the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536‐41), the burning of “heretics” under “Bloody” Mary (1553‐58), and the public trials and executions of “papists” afterwards. The first decade of the reign of Elizabeth I was characterized by initial tolerance to Catholicism, but after her excommunication by Pope Pius V, the Queen had to do everything to suppress Catholicism in England. (A more detailed account can be found in Patrick Collinson’s chapter “English Reformations” in Michael Hattaway, A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture, Blackwell, 2003.) 3 Despite the inevitable but problematic shift from feudal to capitalist social relations, Elizabeth I managed to establish a long awaited balance between the interests of the aristocracy and the rising bourgeoisie. The majority of the members of these two most important segments of English society at the time supported the crown in exchange for political and economic opportunity. Too busy pushing their capitalist enterprises and developing the new resources that the national state had opened up, they had little time for the arts. For many of them literature was a frivolous waste of time, an immoral tissue of lies. They were more interested in learning how to use the ideological power of religion to promote the virtues of thrift, sobriety and industry. They found in the Old Testament promises of God to protect his people and reward their righteousness with goods of this world – which, after all, legitimized their own prosperity. (Adapted from Marco Mincoff, A History of English Literature.) 4 This is the context in which we encounter our first author: Philip Sidney (1554‐86) – a “Renaissance man” in our own sense of the word today, a polymath – a man of great and varied learning – a soldier, courtier, diplomat, jouster, member of parliament, patron, scholar, translator, writer and poet. He must have been very exceptional since even at the age of 17, after he spent three years on the Continent (travelling on his grand tour – the final stage of his education fit for an aristocrat), he gained a reputation in Europe unparalleled by any of his fellow Englishmen at the time. He must have been also lucky: he was the favourite nephew of Elizabeth’s life‐long friend – Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester – one of the richest men in England, who until Sidney turned 20 did not have any children of his own; and later in life he became son‐in‐law to Sir Francis Walsingham – Elizabeth’s principal secretary and spymaster. Sidney’s first employment was as member of parliament and diplomat. He sat in Parliament in 1572. then he was sent to Paris and was there on St. Bartholomew’s Day when French Protestant Huguenots were massacred by the Catholics. Later he travelled to Germany, Italy, Poland, Austria and Ireland (where his father Sir Henry Sidney was Lord Deputy). Back in London in 1575 he got caught up in controversies connected with Elizabeth’s prospective marriage to the French Duke of Anjou and as a result had to withdraw 5 from the court and live for a while with his sister Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. She was herself a writer and had turned one of her properties, Wilton House, into a retreat for a literary circle, which besides her brother included also Edmund Spenser, Samuel Daniel, Michael Drayton. This is where Sidney most probably wrote his Defence of Poesy and the first version of The Arcadia. In 1581 Sidney was back in London. It was in this year that Penelope Devereux – a woman Sidney met earlier and who is thought to have inspired his sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella – was married (reportedly against her will) to Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich. In 1583 Sidney was knighted and also married Frances – the daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham. During this year Giordano Bruno arrived in London and became acquainted with Sidney. It looks like they met regularly in a secret circle, which included among others Sir Walter Raleigh and Dr. John Dee – the Queen’s astrologer, in which they discussed novel ideas like Bruno’s view that the universe is infinite and there are other worlds like ours. Apparently Bruno found in Sidney understanding and support because he dedicated to him two of the books he wrote in England. In 1585 Sidney was appointed Governor of Flushing, a military‐administrative position that gave him an opportunity to aid the Dutch Protestants in their revolt against Philip II – the Catholic King of Spain (incidentally Sidney’s godfather). In the Battle of Zutphen he received a musket shot in his thigh and died of gangrene on 17 October 1586, aged 31. He received the most splendid funeral ever given to anyone below the rank of royalty – a significant detail that should be considered is that the funeral took place on 16 February 1587 – four months after his death and only eight days after the execution of Mary Stuart.
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