Literature III
Renaissance (14th – 17th century)
Printing presses were available and therefore literature became available for all classes: the
same was for theatre. First, theatre was performed in church, but the Renaissance moved
this over to theatres, which caused the types of play to develop.
A lot of literature was about the Greek and Roman mythology. This became evident in the
Aristotelian Drama. This was also the time when Freytag’s Pyramid was first introduced.
How to recognize:
Reference to Greek gods or Roman emperors.
A sonnet allows the poet to examine the nature of two usually contrastive ideas by
juxtaposing the two against each other.
Rhyme schemes:
Italian English
Fourteen lines Fourteen lines
Two sections Four sections
Iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter
abba abba abab cdcd efef gg
cde in a variety of ways Three quatrains and a couplet
No couplet ending Volta either in line 9 or in the couplet
The iambic pentameter is a rhythm in a sentence that consists of five times one unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable, making six. In a sentence, there’s a total of ten
syllables (five x five).
Triggers:
Humanism: During the Dark Ages, people were mainly thinking about the afterlife. The
plague triggered people to think more about non-religious subjects like death, love and life
itself.
Characteristics:
There were sometimes magical elements in it, such as witches.
Examples/authors:
1
, William Shakespeare (A Midsummer’s Dream)
Born in Stratford-on-Avon, moved to London and went back to Stratford.
Member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men later became the King’s Men.
This public theatre was called The Globe, his private theatre was called the
Blackfriars.
Died in 1616 from illness.
His plays were usually miracle or mystery plays, which were about saint’s lives and stories
from the bible, or morality plays, which were allegorical stories with a moral lesson.
His plays can be categorized in:
o Comedies
o Histories (always about English kings)
o Tragedies (Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth)
2
Renaissance (14th – 17th century)
Printing presses were available and therefore literature became available for all classes: the
same was for theatre. First, theatre was performed in church, but the Renaissance moved
this over to theatres, which caused the types of play to develop.
A lot of literature was about the Greek and Roman mythology. This became evident in the
Aristotelian Drama. This was also the time when Freytag’s Pyramid was first introduced.
How to recognize:
Reference to Greek gods or Roman emperors.
A sonnet allows the poet to examine the nature of two usually contrastive ideas by
juxtaposing the two against each other.
Rhyme schemes:
Italian English
Fourteen lines Fourteen lines
Two sections Four sections
Iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter
abba abba abab cdcd efef gg
cde in a variety of ways Three quatrains and a couplet
No couplet ending Volta either in line 9 or in the couplet
The iambic pentameter is a rhythm in a sentence that consists of five times one unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable, making six. In a sentence, there’s a total of ten
syllables (five x five).
Triggers:
Humanism: During the Dark Ages, people were mainly thinking about the afterlife. The
plague triggered people to think more about non-religious subjects like death, love and life
itself.
Characteristics:
There were sometimes magical elements in it, such as witches.
Examples/authors:
1
, William Shakespeare (A Midsummer’s Dream)
Born in Stratford-on-Avon, moved to London and went back to Stratford.
Member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men later became the King’s Men.
This public theatre was called The Globe, his private theatre was called the
Blackfriars.
Died in 1616 from illness.
His plays were usually miracle or mystery plays, which were about saint’s lives and stories
from the bible, or morality plays, which were allegorical stories with a moral lesson.
His plays can be categorized in:
o Comedies
o Histories (always about English kings)
o Tragedies (Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth)
2
