edmund spenser

The Flowering of English Literature

From the first half of the 16th century, the English Renaissance began to develop into a flowering of literature and then England became “a nest of singing birds”

In England, the Elizabethan area embarked the beginning of the English renaissance with the work of writers William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow, Edmund Spenser, Sir Thomas More, Francis bacon, John Milton as well as great architects, such as Inigo Joneswho introduced Italianate architecture to England, and composers such as Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, and William Byrd.

Edmund Spenser

The Poet’s Poet was Edmund Spenser. His greatest work, The Faerie Queene is a long poem planned in 12 books, of which he finished only 6. The work was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth.

Spenserian Stanza--The Faerie Queene is written in a special form that consists of eight iambic pentameter lines followed by a ninth line of six iambic feet, with the rhyme scheme ababbcbcc. This form has since been called the Spenserian Stanza.

The Faerie Queene

Canto I Redcrosse: virtue of Holiness

Canto II Guyon: virtue of Temperance

Canto III Britomart: virtue of Chastity

Canto IV Cambell and Triamond: virtue of Friendship Canto V Antegall: virtue of Justice

Canto VI Calidore: virtue of Courtesy

Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe was a poet and playwright at the forefront of the 16th-century dramatic renaissance. His works influenced William Shakespeare and generations of writers to follow.

While Christopher Marlowe's literary career lasted less than six years, and his life only 29 years, his achievements, most notably the play The Tragicall History of Doctor Faustus, ensured his lasting legacy.

Early Writing Career

After 1587, Christopher Marlowe was in London, writing for the theater and probably also engaging himself occasionally in government service. What is thought to be his first play, Dido, Queen of Carthage, was not

published until 1594, but it is generally thought to have been written while he was still a student at Cambridge. According to records, the play was performed by the Children of the Chapel, a company of boy actors, between 1587 and 1593.

Marlowe's second play was the two-part Tamburlaine the Great (c. 1587; published 1590). This was Marlowe's first play to be performed on the regular stage in London and is among the first English plays in blank verse. It is considered the beginning of the mature phase of the Elizabethan theater and was the last of Marlowe's plays to be published before his untimely death.

There is disagreement among Marlowe scholars regarding the order in which the plays subsequent to Tamburlaine were written.

Some contend that Doctor Faustus quickly followed Tamburlaine, and that Marlowe then turned to writing Edward the Second, The Massacre at Paris, and finally The Jew of Malta. According to the Marlowe Society's

chronology, the order was thus: The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus, Edward the Second and The Massacre at Paris, with Doctor Faustus being performed first (1604) and The Jew of Malta last (1633). What is not disputed is that he wrote only these four plays after Tamburlaine, from c. 1589 to 1592, and that they cemented his legacy and proved vastly influential.

Arrest and Death

The constant rumors of Christopher Marlowe's atheism finally caught up with him on Sunday May 20, 1593, and he was arrested for just that "crime." Atheism, or heresy, was a serious offense, for which the penalty was burning at the stake. Despite the gravity of the charge, however, he was not jailed or tortured but was released on the condition that he report daily to an officer of the court.

On May 30, however, Marlowe was killed by Ingram Frizer. Frizer was with Nicholas Skeres and Robert Poley, and all three men were tied to one or other of the Walsinghams--either Sir Francis Walsingham (the man who evidently recruited Marlowe himself into secret service on behalf of the queen) or a relative also in the spy business. Allegedly, after spending the day together with Marlowe in a lodging house, a fight broke out between Marlowe and Frizer over the bill, and Marlowe was stabbed in the forehead and killed.

Conspiracy theories have abounded since, with Marlowe's atheism and alleged spy activities at the heart of the murder plots, but the real reason for Marlowe's death is still debated.