This is a summary for the course Literature III at Hogeschool Utrecht (HU). It includes the most important information from every time period discussed in the course. It also includes some important vocabulary. Although this summary was written specifically for this course, it is also a great summa...
War Poetry.....................................................................................P.12
Important vocabulary....................................................................P.13
Famous authors per era.................................................................P.14
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, RENAISSANCE
1300-1600
The renaissance came after the Dark Ages. After many people had died from the
plague, people realized they were not the center of the universe. Renaissance literally
means rebirth. It is named this because during the renaissance there were a lot of
changes in art, philosophy, literature and religion. The renaissance was also the onset of
humanism. Humanism means that there is no God, and no afterlife, and the belief that the
only life you have is the life here and now on earth. The renaissance started in Italy and
later spread across Europe. During the renaissance, printing presses became widely
available, making literature available for everyone.
The Tudor reign
England was divided. Both the house of Lancaster and the house of York said they
had a rightful claim to the throne. Just when it seemed that the fight would never come
to an end, Henry Tudor was discovered as an option. He was related to the Lancaster
families and married to a York daughter. He became Henry VII. Henry VII got a son, Henry
VIII, who was loved by the people. Later on, Henry VIII married the widow of his older
brother. The pope allowed the marriage. However, the widow only gave him a daughter,
Victoria. All the sons died at birth. Because of this, Henry felt that the pope had been
wrong to allow the marriage and that God did not approve of it. However, the pope
refused to declare the marriage unlawful. Henry VIII then became head of the church of
England/founded it, and the marriage was ruled unlawful, allowing him to wed again.
And again. And again. Etc. He did have a son, Edward VI. Then Queen Elizabeth became
queen after Queen Mary, and England entered the Golden Age. Queen Elizabeth never
married hence her nickname; The Virgin Queen. This was a political strategy. Her
successor became James I, Mary Queen of Scots’ (Elizabeth’s cousin, who was also her
rival) son.
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, Shakespeare’s theatre
Shakespeare’s company had their own theater called The Globe. It was destroyed by a
fire, but it was rebuilt. There was an open stage without curtains, right in the middle of the
audience. It had no roof. If the people did not find the play entertaining, they would
shout or throw things at the actors. This is why even the most serious plays had some
“comic relief”. Women were not allowed on stage until much later.
Types of plays
First there were miracle and mystery plays. These were plays performed in the church.
They were about Saint’s lives and Bible stories. Most of these plays were in Latin which
made it hard for the people to understand. The goal of these plays was to teach people
about Bible stories and Saints.
Later on, the theater moved outside of the church, often on wagons that moved
around. The language changed to a language which everyone knew. The angle of the
plays also changed. Where they used to be miracle or mystery plays, now they were
morality plays. They were mostly written anonymously an were meant to teach people
morals like “beauty isn’t everything”. The morality plays were a genre of medieval and
early Tudors theatrical entertainment. Elizabethan theater: personal and private theaters
with professional actors became a thing.
Soliloquy -> voicing your thoughts out loud.
Aristotelian drama introduced six elements of drama that we still use nowadays:
- PLOT
- THEME
- CHARACTER
- DICTION/LANGUAGE/DIALOGUE
- MUSIC/RHYTHM
- SPECTACLE
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