文艺复兴讲稿.doc

文艺复兴The English RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a European cultural phenomenon. It means the artistic, literary and scientific revival. It started in Italy in the 14th century, and spread northward to other European countries-to France, to Germany, to the Low Countries, and lastly to England. It influenced the entire Europe in a great variety of ways in the next two centuries. Broadly speaking, the movement was typified by the spread of humanism, a return to classical values and the beginning of objective scientific inquiry. This historical period comes between the Middle Ages and the modern times. The renaissance is used as in contrast to the church-centered culture of the Middle Ages. The English Renaissance covers nearly one and a half centuries in English history. The flowering period of the English Renaissance comes in a time when Britain was ruled by Queen Elizabeth; therefore it is also called the Elizabethan Period. And Shakespearan Period for the predictable reason. English literature, especially English drama and poetry, in the Renaissance Period is usually regarded as the highlight in the history of English literature. In the second period of the English Renaissance, that is, the Elizabethan Period, English poetry and drama developed at high speed and made a magnificent achievement. The great and most distinctive achievement of Elizabethan literature was drama. Thus appeared a group of excellent dramatists. They were John Lyly, Thomas Kyd, George Peele. Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. Next to drama was the lyrical poetry. Elizabethan poetry was remarkable for its variety, its freshness, its youthfulness and its romantic feeling. A group of great poets appeared and a large number of noble poems were produced. In that period, writing poetry became a fashion. Queen Elizabeth herself was a poet. She suggested subjects and rewarded poets. Her ministers and courtiers followed her example and tried to rival each other in shaping beautiful verses. The gentry, as a matter of facet, also followed the example; and after the gentry, all educated people. The university teachers and students were busy with composing and writing poems. England then became: a nest of singing birds”. The famous poets of that period were Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson.Since the English Renaissance Period was an age of poetry and drama and it was not an age of prose, there were not so many prose writers. At the beginning of the English Renaissance, the great humanist, Thomas More, wrote his famous prose work Utopia, which has been regarded as the first literary masterpiece of the English Renai