AP English Renaissance Poetry 1

English Renaissance Poetry

By Ms. Gates

Context from The Poetry Foundation

"'So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.' These two lines, the closing couplet of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”), make one of the boldest boasts in poetry—about poetry. Centuries after the 1609 publication of the Sonnets, Shakespeare’s boast has never been proven wrong. As long as people have breathed (and spoken), seen (and read) poetry, they have returned to Shakespeare’s words and countless other poems from Shakespeare’s period in literary history. The English Renaissance, an era of cultural revival and poetic evolution starting in the late 15th century and spilling into the revolutionary years of the 17th century, stands as an early summit of poetry achievement, the era in which the modern sense of English poetry begins."

​Context from the Poetry Foundation

"The English Renaissance can be hard to date precisely, but for most scholars, it begins with the rise of the Tudor Dynasty (1485–1603) and reaches its cultural summit during the 45-year reign of the final Tudor monarch, the charismatic Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The period extends into the reigns of the Stuarts, King James I (1603–25) and perhaps that of Charles I (1625–49)."

​Context from the Poetry Foundation

"A period lasting only a century or two but encompassing momentous change, the English Renaissance drastically shaped what being English meant, at home and abroad. As literacy increased and printing accelerated, the English language rose to a place of international prestige, and a distinctly English literature began to be braided from diverse cultural strands: Middle English poetry and medieval mystery plays; ballads, hymns, and popular songs; translations from classical literatures and contemporary literature from the Continent. As a nation and a fledgling empire, England emerged as an indomitable economic and military force, sending explorers, merchants, and colonists as far as Africa, Asia, and the so-called New World. At the epicenter of England’s explosive rise was the rapidly growing city of London, soon to become the largest city in Europe (and eventually the world). With its surging population, flourishing markets and ports, and thriving public theaters, London offered all the excitements of a modern metropolis—as well as all the dangers. The threat of bubonic plague loomed constantly over all of Europe, posing immense risks to a city as densely congested as London, where, every few years, a rampant outbreak forced theaters to close down for months at a time."

​Context from the Poetry Foundation

"The term "Renaissance," deriving from the French for “rebirth,” is a name retroactively bestowed by 19th-century thinkers, who distinguished the era by its revivals: a renewed interest in ancient languages, the recovery of antique manuscripts, and the return to the classical ideals underlying the era’s defining intellectual movement, Renaissance humanism. Greek and Roman models, renovated for modern purposes, were especially crucial for poets defining or defending their art."

​Context from the Poetry Foundation

"The poetry springing from these competing centers was prismatically diverse. Just like our contemporary moment, it was volatilely susceptible to fashions and trends: first sonnet sequences and epyllions (or short epics) were all the rage, then odes and satires, then dramatic monologues and country-house poems. In his Defence, Sidney lists major poetic “kinds” that readers then and now can still recognize: pastoral, elegiac, satiric, comic, tragic, lyric, heroic. But there is no one Renaissance style. If some poets dazzle readers with fluent sonic patterns, delightful ornaments, or one startling metaphor after the next, others adopt a plain style, achieving their judicious effects by withholding any rhetorical pyrotechnics—or by deftly hiding their rhetoric under unassuming surfaces."

Reading/Analyzing Poetry

What should you pay attention to as you read and analyze poetry?
Step 1: Make sense of the poem; try to figure out what is literally going on. Also see if you can identify the tone of the poem as you read it through the first time. Stop to look up any words you don't know. Also identify the structure of the poem. How is it arranged? Is there a rhyme scheme? Blank verse? Free verse?
Step 2: Consider the theme/big ideas/deeper meaning of the poem. That is, what is the author communicating about the topic? Make inferences.
Step 3: Think about complexity (opposites). Do we see complex characters, for instance?
Step 4: Now that you have a broad understanding of the poem, do some close reading. What literary
elements do you notice? What is their function? How do they relate to one another? What is the significance of the structure? Does it relate to the content of the poem, for instance?
Step 5: How do the literary elements work together (possibly with the structure) to point to the big picture or complexity?

For context for the next poem, read here about why Elizabeth never married.

Note that the first three lines of each stanza are iambic hexameter (six groups of unstressed-stress syllables), but the last line of each quatrain doesn't fit this mould.

Read "When I Was Fair and Young" by Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) On page 142 of your Norton Anthology of Poetry. If you do not have access to your book, read it here.

Open Ended

Now apply each of these steps to the poem. Answer below. Write at least one sentence for each step, but write as much as you can.

Step 1: Summarize what the poem is literally about and identify the tone.

Step 2: Consider the theme/big ideas/deeper meaning of the poem. That is, what is the author communicating about the topic? Make inferences.

Step 3: Think about complexity (opposites). How does this poem depict Elizabeth I as a dynamic character? (One who has changed)

Step 4: Now that you have a broad understanding of the poem, do some close reading. What literary elements do you notice? (Where do we see allusion and synecdoche?) What are the functions? Also think about the structure. Why is there refrain (a repeated line) in the poem, and why isn't it in the same meter as the rest of the poem?

Stepe 5: How do the literary elements (in step 4 and also tone) relate to one another? How do they work together (possibly with the structure) to point to the big picture or complexity?