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.
5 “Then must we not infer that all these poetical individuals, beginning with Homer, are only imitators? ... has not imitation been shown by us to be concerned with that which is thrice removed from the truth? … let this our defense serve to show the reasonableness of our judgment in sending away out of our State an art having the tendencies which we have described.” (Plato, The Republic, Book X)
For a six‐minute clever reminder of Plato’s ideas visit: https://youtu.be/VDiyQub6vpw
6 THE Schoole of Abuse, Conteining a plesaunt inuective against Poets, Pipers, Plaiers, Iesters and such like Caterpillers of a commonwealth; Setting vp the Flagge of Defiance to their mischieuous exercise, and ouerthrowing their Bulwarkes, by Prophane Writers, Naturall reason, and common experience (1579)
To the right noble Gentleman, Master Philip Sidney Esquier, Stephen Gosson wisheth health of body, wealth of minde, rewarde of vertue, aduancement of honour, and goood successe in godly affairs
“Plato, when he saw the doctrine of these teachers neither for profit necessary, nor to bee wished for pleasure, gave them all Drummes entertainment, not suffering them once to shew their faces in a reformed common wealth.”
7 From Sidney’s Defence of Poesie (written c. 1579, published 1595)
“[H]aving slipt into the title of a Poet, am provoked to say something unto you in the defence of that my unelected vocation, which if I handle with more good will, then good reasons, beare with me, since the scholler is to be pardoned that followeth in the steps of his maister. And yet I must say, that as I have more just cause to make a pittifull defence of poor Poetrie, which from almost the highest estimation of learning, is falne to be the laughing stocke of children, so have I need to bring some more available proofes, since the former is by no man bard of his deserved credit, the silly lat[t]er, hath had even the names of Philosophers used to the defacing of it, with great daunger of civill warre among the Muses. … But now let us see how the Greekes have named [him, the Poet], and how they have deemed of [him]. The Greekes named him poieten, which name, hath as the most excellent, gone through other languages, it commeth of this word poiein which is to make: wherein I know not whether by luck or wisedome, we Englishmen have met with the Greekes in calling him a Maker. Which name, how high and incomparable a title it is, I had rather were knowne by marking the scope of other sciences, then by any partial allegation. There is no Art delivered unto mankind that hath not the workes of nature for his principall object, without which they could not consist, and on which they so depend, as they become Actors & Plaiers, as it were of what nature will have set forth. So doth the Astronomer looke upon the starres, and by that he
8 seeth set downe what order nature hath taken therein. So doth the Geometritian & Arithmetitian, in their divers sorts of quantities. So doth the Musitians intimes tel you, which by nature agree, which not. The natural Philosopher thereon hath his name, and the morall Philosopher standeth uppon the naturall vertues, vices, or passions of man: and follow nature saith he therein, and thou shalt not erre. The Lawier saith, what men have determined. The Historian, what men have done. The Gramarian, speaketh onely of the rules of speech, and the Rhetoritian and Logitian, considering what in nature wil soonest proove, and perswade thereon, give artificiall rules, which still are compassed within the circle of a question, according to the proposed matter. The Phisitian wayeth the nature of mans bodie, & the nature of things helpfull, or hurtfull unto it. And the Metaphisicke though it be in the second & abstract Notions, and therefore be counted supernaturall, yet doth hee indeed build upon the depth of nature. Only the Poet disdeining to be tied to any such subjection, lifted up with the vigor of his own invention, doth grow in effect into another nature: in making things either better then nature bringeth foorth, or quite a new, formes such as never were in nature: as the Heroes, Demigods, Cyclops, Chymeras, Furies, and such like; so as he goeth hand in hand with nature, not enclosed within the narrow warrant of her gifts, but freely raunging within the Zodiack of his owne wit. Nature never set foorth the earth in so rich Tapistry as diverse Poets have done, neither with so pleasaunt rivers, fruitfull trees, sweete smelling flowers, nor whatsoever els may make the too much loved earth more lovely: her world is brasen, the Poets only deliver a golden.”
8 Sidney practiced these ideas in his long prose romance Arcadia (The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia). Written, as Sidney himself claims in the dedication, only for the entertainment of his bluestocking sister – Mary Herbert – Arcadia is an impressively ambitious project. It survived in two versions: an “old” one (1570s – early 1580s) and a “new” revised one (late 1580s), both circulated in manuscript. The “new” version was published in 1590 and influenced significantly the Elizabethan literary milieu.
The story is so rich, complex, with so many characters, twists and turns that it is both impracticable and impractical to paraphrase – suffice it to say that it is about dukes and princes, beautiful ladies and knights, pirates and shepherds, quests and prophesies, adventure and battles, love and sex, bravery and disguise, tragic twists and happy endings; it is set in an imaginary land – a pastoral vision of the Golden World imagined as a hybrid between classical antiquity and the atmosphere of medieval romance. In fact, in terms of today’s literary genres Sidney’s Arcadia would probably be described as a fantasy novel blending existing literary traditions to construct a world of its own.
Here is a sample from the first book:
But a litle way off they saw the mast, whose proude height now lay along; like a widdow hauing lost her make of whom she held her honor: but vpon the mast they sawa yong man (at least if he were a man) bearing shew of about 18. yeares of age,
9 who sate (as on horsback) hauing nothing vpon him but his shirt, which being wrought with blew silk & gold; had a kind of resemblance to the sea: on which the sun (then neare his Westerne home) did shoote some of his beames. His haire (which the young men of Greece vsed to weare very long) was stirred vp & down with the wind, which seemed to haue a sport to play with it, as the sea had to kisse his feet; himselfe full of admirable beautie, set foorth by the strangenes both of his seate & gesture: for, holding his head vp full of vnmoued maiestie, he held a sworde aloft with his faire arme, which often he waued about his crowne as though he would threaten the world in th at extremitie. But the fishermen, when they came so neere him, that it was time to throwe out a rope, by which hold they might draw him, their simplicity bred such amasement, & their amasement such a superstitio[n], that (assuredly thinking it was some God begotten betweene Neptune and Venus, that had made all this terrible slaughter) as they went vnder sayle by him, held vp their hands, and made their prayers. Which when Musidorus sawe, though he were almost as much rauished with ioy, as they with astonishment, he lept to the Mariner, and tooke the rope out of his hande and (saying, doest thou liue, and arte well? who answered, thou canst tell best, since most of my well beyng standes in thee,) threwe it out, but alreadie the shippe was past beyond Pyrocles: and therefore Musidorus could doo no more but perswade the Mariners to cast about againe, assuring them that hee was but a man, although of most diuine excellencies, and promising great rewardes for their paine.
And now they were altreadie come vpon the staies, when one of the saylers descried a Galley which came with sayles and oares directlie in the chase of them; and streight perceuaed it was a well knowne Pirate, who hunted not onely for goodes but for bodies of menne, which hee imployed eyther to bee his Galley slaues, or to sell at the best market. Which when the Maister vnderstood, he commaunded forthwith to set on all the canuasse they could, and flie homeward, leauing in that sort poore Pyrocles so neere to be rekewed. But what did not Musidorus say? what did he not offer to perswade them to venture the fight? But feare standing at the gates of their eares, put back all perswasions: for that hee had nothing to accompanie Pyrocles, but his eyes; nor to succour him, but his wishes. Therefore praying for him, and casting a long look that way he saw the Galley leaue the pursuite of them, & turne to take vp the spoiles of the other wrack: and lastly he might well see them lift vp the yong man; and alas (said he to himselfe) deere Pyrocles shall that bodie of thine be enchayned? shall those victorious handes of thine be commaunded to base offices? shall vertue become a slaue to those that be slaues to viciousnes? Alas, better had it bene had it bene thou hadst ended nobly thy noble daies: what death is so euill as vnworthy seruitude? But that opinion soone ceased when he saw the gallie setting vpon an other ship, which held long and strong fight with her: for then he began a fresh to feare the life of his friende, and to wish well to the Pirates whome before he hated, least in their ruyne hee might perish.
9 The following year (1591) saw the publication in print of Sidney’s celebrated sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella (the star‐lover and the star), which was written in the first half of the 1580s and had until then been circulated in manuscript. It contained 108 sonnets and 11 songs. Although most probably Thomas Watson, who published his book of poems entitled Passionate Centurie of Love in 1582, is the first poet in England to produce a sonnet sequence, Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella, composed roughly at the same time, is by far the more interesting one.
This is the place to make a quick excursion back in time to retrace the history of the sonnet as a poetic form.
10 A sonnet is a fourteen‐line lyrical poem in iambic pentameters, Alexandrines in French, or hendecasyllables in Italian, with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme. Literary theory usually distinguishes between two general types of sonnets: i) the Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet and ii) the English (Shakespearean) sonnet:
A) The Italian sonnet most probably derives from an earlier Occitan troubadour tradition which was employed and popularized as a dolce stil nuovo by Italian poets such as Dante Alighieri and Guido Cavalcanti at the turn of the 14th century (La Vita Nuova was published in 1295). The most important Italian sonneteer, however, is Francesco Petrarca who dedicated 366 poems (one for each day of the leap year) to the life and death of lady Laura (Rime in Vita e Morte di Madonna Laura c. 1327). His remarkable craftsmanship of sound and sense made his sonnet sequence capable of capturing everything that mattered the most in human experience, and so set the vogue for lyrical writing across Renaissance Europe.
The form the Italian sonnet is made of two parts. First, the octave (two quatrains), which describe a problem, followed by a sestet (two tercets), which gives the resolution to it. Typically, the ninth line creates a "turn" or volta which signals the move from proposition to resolution. The rhyming pattern of the octave are usually a‐ b‐a‐b, a‐b‐a‐b or a‐b‐b‐a, a‐b‐b‐a and of the sestet c‐d‐e‐c‐d‐e, c‐d‐c‐c‐d‐c or c‐d‐c‐d‐c‐ d.
11 B) The English sonnet is a modified version of the Italian sonnet which was introduced to England in the beginning of the 16th century by Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. The sonnet form became extremely popular in the court of Queen Elizabeth I and sonnet sequences proliferated extensively from the pens of poets such as Thomas Watson, Sir Philip Sidney, Samuel Daniel, Henry Constable, Barnabe Barnes, Thomas Lodge, Michael Drayton, Edmund Spenser, Fulke Greville, Mary Wroth, and of course William Shakespeare.
In terms of form the English sonnet differs from its Italian counterpart in using the iambic pentameter, abandoning the division in octave and sestet, or quatrains and tercets, to use three commensurate quatrains and a closing couplet, and changing the rhyme scheme to: a‐b‐a‐b, c‐d‐c‐d, e‐f‐e‐f, g‐g, and in the case of Spencer’s spiral rhyme to: a‐b‐a‐b, b‐c‐b‐c, c‐d‐c‐d, e‐e.
12 Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella employs many of the conventions established by Francesco Petrarca: the sequence although made up of lyrical poems constructs a sort of narrative structure that tells the story of a relationship between a man and a woman. If we venture a biographical reading, we might identify the beloved as Penelope Devereux who later married Lord Robert Rich. However, biographical detail is not needed in order to identify the underlying Platonic scheme in the narrative: we trace the lovers complex and controversial psychological states infatuated with a perfect but unreachable beauty who infuses him with her own virtue and teaches him how to transcend transitory earthly concerns and find solace in eternal love.
You can see for yourselves:
Louing in trueth, and fayne in verse my loue to show, That she, deare Shee, might take som pleasure of my paine, Pleasure might cause her reade, reading might make her know, Knowledge might pittie winne, and pity grace obtaine (Sonnet I)
Not at the first sight, nor with a dribbed shot, Loue gaue the wound, which, while I breathe, will bleede; But knowne worth did in tract of time proceed, Till by degrees, it had full conquest got. (Sonnet II)
13 So when thou saw'st, in Natures cabinet, Stella, thou straight lookst babies in her eyes (Sonnet XI)
But that rich foole, who by blind Fortunes lot The richest gemme of loue and life enioys, And can with foule abuse such beauties blot (Sonnet XXIV)
I might (vnhappy word!) O me, I might, And then I would not, or could not, see my blisse, Till now wrapt in a most infernall night, I find how heau'nly day, wretch! I did misse. Hart, rend thyself, thou dost thyself but right; No louely Paris made thy Hellen his; No force, no fraud robd thee of thy delight, Nor Fortune of thy fortune author is, But to my selfe my selfe did giue the blow, ... How fair a day was near: O punisht eyes, That I had bene more foolish, or more wise! (Sonnet XXXIII)
Come, Sleepe! O Sleepe, the certaine knot of peace, The baiting‐place of wit, the balme of woe, The poor mans wealth, the prisoners release, Th' indifferent iudge betweene the high and low! With shield of proofe shield me from out the prease Of those fierce darts Despaire at me doth throw. O make in me those ciuil wars to cease; I will good tribute pay, if thou do so. (Sonnet XXXIX)
Leaue, me, O loue which reachest but to dust, And thou, my mind, aspire to higher things. Grow rich in that which neuer taketh rust; Whateuer fades, but fading pleasure brings. ... Then farewell world; thy vttermost I see: Eternall Loue, maintaine thy life in me. (Sonnet CX added later to the sequence)
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