Literature III Summary
Written by Marianne van Dorp
Renaissance (14th till 17th century)
Seen as an awakening after the Dark Ages. People started to think more about non-religious subjects
like death, love and life itself. After almost half of Europe died of the plague, people suddenly realized
they were not the centre of the universe.
In this age, printing presses became available, so literature was suddenly available for everybody and
not just the rich.
The characteristics of the Renaissance were:
- Theatre All classes could go to the theatre to see plays written by Shakespeare or someone
else. The special thing about the theatre is that all the classes were mingled together for the
first time. In the middle ages, plays were performed in church. These plays were either
miracle/mystery plays or morale plays. The Renaissance brought theatre outside of the
church, and the type of plays developed. There was a development of tragedies, history plays,
comedies etc.
- A lot of literature was about the Greek and Roman mythology
- Instead of thinking about the afterlife more than this life – this life was seen as just a
preparation for the real thing – people started realizing that might not be the case, because
of the plague. They started being more interested in this life. The focus was on humanism
now.
- Religion was, because of humanism and Henry VIII’s split with the Catholic church, becoming
less important. However, people did believe in witches. There were a lot of magical elements
in Renaissance literature.
- Science made big steps in the renaissance. People were now easily able to share knowledge,
which made universities a lot more popular.
- Columbus’ discovery of America made discovering new things popular – people realized the
world was bigger than they thought it was, which resulted in them being more curious to see
what else was there besides their own homes.
Influential authors in this time were: Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson and William Shakespeare.
The Arestotelian Drama introduced the six elements of drama:
Plot
Theme
Character
Diction/language/dialogue
Music/rhythm
Spectacle
This was also the first time Freytag’s Pyramid was introduced. (exposition – rising action – climax –
falling action – resolution)
, The iambic pentameter is a rhythm in a sentence that consists of five times (penta) one unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable. This means there are a total of ten syllables (five stressed, five
unstressed) in a sentence.
Romanticism (late 18th century – early 19th century)
The Romanticism period doesn’t have anything to do with romance as we now know it.
Written by Marianne van Dorp
Renaissance (14th till 17th century)
Seen as an awakening after the Dark Ages. People started to think more about non-religious subjects
like death, love and life itself. After almost half of Europe died of the plague, people suddenly realized
they were not the centre of the universe.
In this age, printing presses became available, so literature was suddenly available for everybody and
not just the rich.
The characteristics of the Renaissance were:
- Theatre All classes could go to the theatre to see plays written by Shakespeare or someone
else. The special thing about the theatre is that all the classes were mingled together for the
first time. In the middle ages, plays were performed in church. These plays were either
miracle/mystery plays or morale plays. The Renaissance brought theatre outside of the
church, and the type of plays developed. There was a development of tragedies, history plays,
comedies etc.
- A lot of literature was about the Greek and Roman mythology
- Instead of thinking about the afterlife more than this life – this life was seen as just a
preparation for the real thing – people started realizing that might not be the case, because
of the plague. They started being more interested in this life. The focus was on humanism
now.
- Religion was, because of humanism and Henry VIII’s split with the Catholic church, becoming
less important. However, people did believe in witches. There were a lot of magical elements
in Renaissance literature.
- Science made big steps in the renaissance. People were now easily able to share knowledge,
which made universities a lot more popular.
- Columbus’ discovery of America made discovering new things popular – people realized the
world was bigger than they thought it was, which resulted in them being more curious to see
what else was there besides their own homes.
Influential authors in this time were: Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson and William Shakespeare.
The Arestotelian Drama introduced the six elements of drama:
Plot
Theme
Character
Diction/language/dialogue
Music/rhythm
Spectacle
This was also the first time Freytag’s Pyramid was introduced. (exposition – rising action – climax –
falling action – resolution)
, The iambic pentameter is a rhythm in a sentence that consists of five times (penta) one unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable. This means there are a total of ten syllables (five stressed, five
unstressed) in a sentence.
Romanticism (late 18th century – early 19th century)
The Romanticism period doesn’t have anything to do with romance as we now know it.
