English Renaissance Hadfield authors biography

English Renaissance

Andrew Hadfield Henry VIII era 1491-1547

1. John Skelton (1460-1529)

He is undoubtedly the most important poet writing in English before the last decade of Henry VIII. His highly individual style has often confused critics, unable to place him as either a medieval or a Renaissance poet, and he has often been regarded as an uneasy bridge between the two epochs. Little is known about his early years; he was ‘laureate’ in 1488 and started his career in royal service writing verses to celebrate Prince Henry becoming Duke of York in 1494. He was the prince’s tutor and entered holy orders at about the time that he was composing his most notable poem The Bowge of Court, a satire of the depressing experience of life at court. It was not until his years at Diss that he attempted his now characteristic Skeltonics.

Little of Skelton’s early work is known, but his reputation was such that Desiderius Erasmus, the greatest figure in the northern Renaissance, visiting England in 1499, referred to him as “the incomparable light and glory of English letters.” The two major poems from this period are Phyllyp Sparowe, ostensibly a lament for the death of a young lady’s pet (sparrow) but also a lampoon of the liturgical office for the dead; and Ware the Hawke, an angry attack on an irreverent hunting priest who had flown his hawk into Skelton’s church. Skelton produced a group of court poems, mostly satirical: A Ballad of the Scottysshe Kynge, a savage attack on the King’s enemies, was written in 1513 after the Battle of Flodden; and in the next year he entertained the court with a series of “flyting” poems of mock abuse. In 1516 he wrote the first secular morality play in English, Magnyfycence, a political satire and a portrayal of a drunken woman in an alehouse, which, though popular, contributed largely to Skelton’s later reputation as a “beastly” poet. His three major political and clerical satires, Speke Parrot (written 1521), Collin Clout (1522), and Why Come Ye Nat to Courte (1522), were all directed against the mounting power of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, both in church and in state, and the dangers—as Skelton saw them—of the new learning of the Humanists.

Skelton invented Skeltonics, a verse form generally characterized by short, rhythmic lines and variable, often unusual rhyming. This form allowed Skelton to write a range of poetry, from scathing satire to realistic scenes of lower-class life to comic verse, as is found in Garland of Laurel, which is a key example of individualism and identity. He portrays himself in a dream vision in which he has to prove he is capable of being accepted in the Court of the Queen of Fame. “Fame” accuses him of only writing satires instead of love poems.

2. Alexander Barclay (1475-1552)

He was a poet and translator, most notable for his eclogues, pastoral poems frequently made as dialogues, which were among the first in English, and his version of The Ship of Fools. He was probably Scottish and translated a large number of important books as The Ship of Fools, his version transformed from Brant’s allegorical work into an estates satire of different classes in society.

3. John Bale (1495-1563)

He was a playwright, Protestant reformer, and polemicist as well as literary historian. As one of the first Protestant playwrights, Bale was clearly prolific and energetic, even though only a fragment of his output survives. He rescued several books from monastic libraries after Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries, and Bale’s accounts and catalogues are often the only record we possess of many medieval writers.

He was the son of poor parents and quickly turned into an ardent supporter of the Reformation, vigorously repudiating his former way of life. He was patronized by Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister. Five of Bale’s plays survive: The Three Laws; a trilogy of mortality plays, God’s Promises, John the Baptist, The Temptation Of Our Lord, and King John. The last one is the most significant play; it adapts a morality tradition and establishes King John as a besieged Protestant hero attempting to preserve England as an independent and pure state, only to be betrayed by the hostile forces of the papacy who infiltrate the Church.

When Cromwell died, he fled to Germany and began to write a series attacking the Catholic influence on the Henrician church. All these works had a crucial influence on John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments of the Christian Church, the most important history of the Protestant Church in Elizabeth’s reign. Bale returned to England with the accession of Edward VI and published his commentary The Image of Both Churches, which outlined the distinction between the evil church of the Devil and the pure church of God’s faithful elect.

4. Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

More is a key figure for several reasons:

• He was a renowned statesman in Henry VIII’s administration before the Reformation, rising as lord chancellor and becoming one of Henry’s most trusted servants and confidants.
• He was a leading English Christian humanist, a close friend of Desiderius Erasmus, the leading European Christian Humanist in 1499.
• An enthusiastic educational reformer and translator of classical texts.
• He was a prominent lawyer.
• A prolific author who wrote in a variety of genres, from satires to religious polemics; in fact, his most influential work is Utopia.

He studied at Oxford Laws under the prominent humanists Thomas Linacre. He became a barrister/lawyer while trying to discover if he had a religious vocation by sharing the lives of the monks in a nearby Carthusian monastery. In 1504 he married and entered parliament, became an under-sheriff of London. His wife died in childbirth, and then he married Dame Alice, who presided over his house and frequently reproached him for not doing housework.

A sign of his rising importance is that he was sent to Flanders as part of a delegation instructed to settle down problems in the wool trade. He later referred to it as an experience at the start of the first part of Utopia. More was now a close adviser of Henry VIII and helped him to write the response to Luther, Defence of the Seven Sacraments. He then started to gain power, becoming speaker of the House of Commons. But soon after he lost all his power because Henry wanted to divorce from Catherine of Aragon, which meant a break with Rome. He refused to take the oath to make Henry the sole head of the Church of England, so he was sent to prison.

Utopia was published in Latin, and the same year he wrote his History of Richard III, but it is an unfinished work, which, however, clearly influenced Shakespeare’s representation of Richard in his plays.

Utopia

Intro: Sir Thomas More was the first person to write of a 'utopia', a word used to describe a perfect imaginary world. More's book imagines a complex, self-contained community set on an island, in which people share a common culture and way of life. He coined the word 'utopia' from the Greek ou-topos meaning 'no place' or 'nowhere'. It was a pun - the almost identical Greek word eu-topos means 'a good place'. So at the very heart of the word is a vital question: can a perfect world ever be realized? It is unclear as to whether the book is a serious projection of a better way of life, or a satire that gave More a platform from which to discuss the chaos of European politics.

Thomas More is a public servant living in London with his family. He writes a letter to a friend in Antwerp (Belgium) named Peter Giles. Giles is a printer and editor, as well as a clerk for the city. In More's letter, we read that More is sending Utopia to Giles for editing and publication. Utopia chronicles a conversation that More and Giles enjoyed with a man named Raphael Hythloday. Thomas More and Peter Giles are real persons. In Utopia, they are fictionalized. Their mutual acquaintance, Raphael Hythloday, is entirely invented and fictional.

Book One: Utopia recounts the initial meeting of Hythloday, More, and Giles. Book One introduces Hythloday and vaguely mentions the New World island of Utopia. Hythloday is a Portuguese man who sailed to the New World with the Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. Hythloday stayed behind in the New World and traveled to a few additional locations, eventually making his way back home to Europe. During these travels, Hythloday familiarized himself with the Utopians. Hythloday gives his opinions on a wide range of topics. Having toured Europe, Hythloday believes that many of the Utopian customs are morally superior to European customs. Hythloday especially focuses on political and economic issues (the distribution of labor, capital punishment for thieves, land reform, the abolition of private property). Hythloday's arguments are rather surprising, and the Utopian society is quite unlike the European commonwealths. Neither More nor Giles professes deep belief in or total support of Utopian policies. Nonetheless, both men are interested in hearing more about the island nation.

Book Two: is a long commentary on Hythloday's part which presents the details of Utopia. Hythloday describes Utopian history, geography, social customs, legal and political systems, economic structures, religious beliefs, and philosophy. Utopia is quite unlike the negatively portrayed New World villages with primitive levels of social organization and development. 1760 years before Raphael's commentary on the island, the general Utopus conquered and civilized the area, giving the land and the people his name. As a demonstration of mastery over nature, Utopus formed the land into an island, organizing a labor force that cut through the thin isthmus connecting Utopus to the rest of the continent. Hythloday notes that the Utopians have retained many of the plans and values initially established by Utopus. The rulers are selected from the order of scholars. Language, social customs, religion, dress, architecture, and education are identical in Utopia's fifty-four cities. There is a large degree of uniformity and very little individual expression. Laws and social customs heavily regulate the private decisions of individuals. A child is re-assigned to another household if the child wishes to learn a trade other than his or her father's. Households are composed of extended families, but family members can be relocated to other households if the distribution of adults per household becomes uneven within a given city.

The Utopians are a morally developed people, though they are not Christians. Hythloday mentions that the Utopians were eager to hear more about Christianity and that many Utopians had already converted. Most Utopians are monotheists, and their religion is similar to Christianity. Some of the Utopians' beliefs run counter to the moral traditions of the Christian church (e.g., the Utopians encourage euthanasia when the patient is terminally ill). The Utopians believe that pride is the root of great evils. Accordingly, the Utopians have eliminated wealth, the nobility, private property, and currency. Labor and goods are distributed equally. Property is held in common. Everyone works the same hours, and even though the rulers are exempt from public labor, they work to set a good example for the others. Work hours are equally distributed, and there are no monasteries, convents, alehouses, or academies wherein an individual might withdraw from the rest of society. All Utopians are socially productive.

Utopia ends with another letter from More to Giles. In the letter, More positively reflects upon the initial reactions to the published work Utopia. More also gives the reader enough jokes and puns to fix the idea that Utopia is an imagined and unreal place. The writer has presented Utopia as an entertaining way to stir contemplation of serious issues. As such, the book is "medicine smeared with honey."

• Common welfare vs. private interest: The abolition of private property is one of More's chief criticisms of the Utopian state. On this point, the author allows his fictional equivalent (the character More) to disagree with Utopian policy and with Raphael Hythloday's interpretation of English society. Hythloday defends communism as practiced by the Utopians, noting that a similar sort of communal life was lived by the early Church and is still lived by the holiest monastic orders.
• Uniformity and dissent: Raphael Hythloday describes Utopia as a perfect society, but this perfection is not a natural occurrence. The New World is often depicted as a natural paradise resembling the natural beauty of the Biblical Garden of Eden. As the map of Utopia tells us visually, Utopia is not a natural paradise: it was painstakingly planned and crafted by a great commander named Utopus. In Utopia, perfection is expressed in uniformity. This is not the New World aesthetic in which the diversity of flora and fauna is the indicative symptom of fullness and greatness. Utopia is agricultural, not jungle. The land is heavily urbanized with a system of cities interspaced with the agricultural hinterland. The cities are planned exactly the same way, just as the houses are built of identical architecture, bland utilitarian clothing is distinguished only by the intended wearer's gender, all citizens work the same number of hours daily, each city relies upon the same legal and political practices, and all adherents worship according to the same common prayers despite their various denominations.
• Civic virtue and the moral education of citizens: The Utopian population is well educated, and the office of citizen corresponds to aspects of Roman practice and Greek philosophy. The Utopians may not regard Aristotle's defense of private property, but their celebration of virtue is much like the Greek philosopher's. Utopians devote a considerable amount of time and energy towards the moral education of the young, and they also integrate the ideas of justice, beauty, and happiness. Like Plato's "Republic," Utopia is ruled by philosophically minded individuals, and there are striations of citizenship designed to funnel great minds of character towards positions of leadership and public trust. Like the Romans, the Utopians celebrate great ancestors and memorialize them in statue form as a means of presenting an example of virtue.
• Truth: parody vs. factual representation: Utopia is both a work of fiction and a philosophical treatise. The author, Sir Thomas More, appears as a character alongside his real-life friend, Peter Giles. Giles and More are joined by Raphael Hythloday: a man who describes the island of Utopia. Both Hythloday and Utopia are products of More's imagination. This has ramifications for the literary structure of the work because More wants to forward philosophical truth at the same time that he is presenting fiction. Hythloday's commentary is transcribed in Book Two. The introductory letter, Book One, and the concluding letter sandwich Book Two and provide the context within which Hythloday's arguments may be properly read.
• Exploration through philosophy and travel: More's work presents two forms of exploration. In one sense, More's fictional story simulates the New World adventures of travelers who searched the unknown regions of the globe. These earliest travelers were motivated largely by myths and stories of the New World, and one of the most popular storylines was the idea of the perfect Paradise. Utopia puts forward the idea of a place that is not merely a naturally perfect paradise; rather, it is a society of human perfection. Utopia means "no place," however, and we see that Utopian society is quite imperfect. Though More celebrates the pursuit of perfection, he accepts the rational observation that the reality of the New World (or the Old World, for that matter) is sure to fall below the standards of the ideal.

5. William Tyndale (1494-1536)

He is principally renowned as the leading Protestant translator of the Bible into English. He attempts to establish a group of Bible translators. He went into exile in Europe and translated the New Testament into English from Erasmus’s Greek text. He oversaw the printing of the Great Bible, Henry’s officially licensed version. His work also formed the basis for King James’s version of the Bible. He held theological views similar to Martin Luther, believing strongly in justification by faith and attacking the late medieval. His political view is written in The Obedience of a Christian Man.

6. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547)

He is important as one of the first poets in the 16th century to introduce Italian poetic forms and styles, most notably the sonnet, into English. He also translated Virgil’s Aeneid into blank verse, the first English experiment. Tudor poet Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, was born in England. He was the son of the third Duke of Norfolk. Associated with the royal court, he grew up at Windsor, where he was a childhood companion to the Duke of Richmond, son of Henry VIII. Surrey was also a first cousin to Anne Boleyn. Educated by tutors, he lived an eventful life as a soldier and a courtier, eventually marrying Lady Frances de Vere, daughter of the Earl of Oxford.

In 1532, he traveled to France with Henry VIII and stayed at the French court for almost a year. He was made Knight of the Garter in 1541 and served as a soldier in France. After Anne Boleyn’s execution, Surrey and his father ran afoul of the new English court on several occasions. Eventually charged with treason, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed in 1547. Surrey’s poetry is often notable for its clarity and controlled use of language, and his poetry is associated with Thomas Wyatt, whose work was published alongside Surrey’s in Tottel’s Miscellany (1557). A major poet of the 16th century, Surrey is credited with developing the Shakespearean form of the sonnet. He wrote love poems and elegies and translated Books 2 and 4 of Virgil’s Aeneid, as well as Psalms and Ecclesiastes from the Bible. He also introduced blank verse to English—a form that he used in his translations of Virgil.

Elizabethan era 1558-1603

7. Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)

He was a poet at the court of Henry VIII who, with Henry Howard, helped to establish...