5th Course

Bc of the 100 war, renaissance was late in England -> cause they fought France so they would
not take a cultural feature from them.
Reformation : 1529 - 37
creation of the anglican church : Henri VIII could not have a male child/heir with his wife so
wanted to divorce her and created the church.
Mary the First (Bloody Mary) then died without an heir :
Renaissance is +/- = with Elizabethan Era : supported the Art (1558-1603) referred as the Golden
age in english History.
-> Geographical expansion + prosperity one of the most prolific period for literature, happiness,

Humanism : everybody is entitled as being happy

Two majors philosophers :

Francis Bacon : science and learning ; develop scientific method instead of using the
didactic method (they had general truth and acception : we know this is true, we accept it, so
we conclude this =dduction par analogie) people started to learn things from their own
experience of their world and this has a whole impact in the scientific world. (rfuter des
hypothses par des tests). + Strongly believe of the mans power over nature to be more
comfortable.

Thomas More : Utopia sincere humanist, here he explores justice, for poor he was
killed because of the Reformation bc he was a catholic.
=> lead the way to this form of thinking : everything based on reason.
At that time : Literary criticism appear
In England criticism : to get rid of the irregularity, focus on the purity of language + form.
Two main points :

when you write sth you have to make reference to the antic period to show your
knowledge.

Emphasis of rhythm

nature is important

poet is seen as a creator : he sees what other does not and has to share it.

the Gardener (you help nature for being better than it was before)

nature is everything that was created by God but Art is positive as long as it helps nature
=> nature VS Art
So what the poet does is Art, he is a creator, a guide the poetry has to convey delight + moral
values bc has to educate people
New forms of poetry from France + Italy : the form which was adapted is a sonnet (=poem : 4
lines, 4 lines, 3 lines, 3 lines)
Sonnet by Petrark
the poet old the lady : he describes his love + the pain to be in love with sb who does not love
him in return. Comparative with nature : the moon (rise, descent)
A lot of rhetorics of persuasion to make the lady fall in love with him.
-> for ab half a century : poets imitated Petrark : same words, same structures etc
1590s : poem started to change : more creative, varied
Several very famous :

W. Shakespeare : a poet (1564- 1616)

Started to be famous bc of the theater, he was an actor. but majorly played secondary
roles.

Was married, had 6 children. He became rich.

Wrote many sonnets + plays ,1054 sonnets but did not published any play when he was
alive.

1599 : build his own theater : the Globe spend years writing drama for the Queen

Document 4 : Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

Compares his lover to a summers day and his says that its not always a good thing
Summers lease whereas his lover is not going to change.

Your beauty is not going to fade bc your beauty is kept forever in this poem
Love poem ; this is a poem ab poetry more than love.
Were not sure the lover is a she it is possible that its a man. The poet is not always the
narrator we cant know. But here its probably not a woman.
Petrarchan sonnets
5 pieds/accents foot : story telling

6th Course

7/11/2016 7th Course

1719 : beginning of British Novels with Daniel DEFOE : Robinson Crusoe and in 1722 Moll
Flanders
Lot of different sub genres :
Oxford dictionary : a piece of prose fiction of reasonable length
Old dictionary : Nearly always an extended fictional prose-narrative
But some novels are not very long + can contains poetry. So its difficult to define what a novel
is.
At that time novel were really new as the name testifies. Essays + critics exist
There are stories about the world that could be realistic or not.
Defoe was from lower middle class so he was not an educated man : he did not study the
classics.
He was more focused on puritan ideas and popular concerne ; pamphlets, essays, opinion pieces.
He was a democrat and all theses things that he wrote were written 5 years before he died.

Practical matters : he thought that romances and all the medieval literature they were a lil
stupid, meant only to entertain
1st novelist of England but not at that time
In 18 and 19th century : up 200 novels were printed in England. They dont all remain famous.
his style is transparent : before they used a lot of emphasis, language.
he was interesting in life, in details : the content was more important that the text itself.
Moll Flanders, Daniel DEFOE
loose morals : not really virtues. She likes being flattered.
the man gives her money and make her believe that he would propose.

the man says hey i did not force you to sleep with me but she does not regret to do physical
things with him.
full title of the novel : the title gives the whole story.
The point of the story is to educate with entertainment. Circonstances that making us like her, see
her point of view.
Dafoe was a political non conformist and the difference between men and women is social ; he
really thinks that men and women are equals. (cf : Pride and Prejudice inheritance).
In this, she always gets money in her own way. independent -> In a way its a feminist novel.
Individual liberty :

puritan idea

economic individualism

Pamala, Samuel Richardson = conduct book (bestseller a that time)

not funny, almost a rape, a maid in a house, and the master tries to sleep with her, and then she
resists so he falls in love with her and marry her.Pamela is wicked girl, poor girl, tries to
entrapped the man in a mariage.
Shamela, Henry Fielding : parody of Pamela, funny, very attached to social normes, meant to
teach especially women what they should or should not do.
A lot of people published parodies etc
Famous writers at that time :T. Smollet, F. Burney, L. Sterne
8th Course 28/11/16
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
Jane Austen :
Northanger Abbey
Mansfield Park
Emma
Persuasion (1818)
P&P
S&S

She wrote it in 1798-9 but NA was published in 1818 after Jane Austens death thanks to his
brother. <