CHAPTER V

THE AGE OF ELIZABETH

(CLOSE OUTLINE)

1. TIME-CHART OF THE CHIEF AUTHORS

2. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (1550-1630)

2.1. Settlement

2.2. Expansion

3. LITERARY FEATURES OF THE AGE

3.1. The New Classicims

3.2. Abundance of Output

3.3. The New Romanticism

3.4. The Drama

3.5. Poetry

3. 6. Prose

3.7. Scottish Literature

4. POETRY

4.1. Edmund Spenser (1552-99)

4.1.1. His Life

4.1.2. His Minor Poems

4.1.3. Prose

4.1.4. The Faerie Queene

(a) Dates of Composition

(b) The Plot

(c) The Allegory

(d) The Style

(e) The Technique

4.2. John Donne (1573-1631)

4.2.1. His Life

4.2.2. His Poetry

4.2.3. His Prose

4.2.4. His Influence

4.3. Other Poets:

4.3.1. Sir Thomat Wyatt (1503?-42)

4.3.2. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516?-47)

4.3.3. Thomas Sackeville, Earl of Dorset (1536-1608)

4.3.4. George Gascoigne (1525?-77)

4.3.5. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86)

4.3.6. Michael Drayton (1563-1631)

4.3.7. Thomas Campion (1567-1620)

4.3.8. Phineas Fletcher (1582-1650) and Giles Fletcher (1588?-1623)

4.3.9. Samuel Daniel (1562-1619)

4.3.10. the poetical miscellanies

5. PRE-SHAKESPEARIAN DRAMA

5.1. The Influence of Seneca

5.2. The University Wits

5.2.2. Robert Greene (1558-92)

5.2.3. Thomas Nashe (1567-1601)

5.2.4. Thomas Lodge (c. 1558-1625)

5.2.5. Thomas Kyd (1558-94)

5.2.6. Christopher Marlowe (1554-93)

6. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)

6.1. His Life

6.2. His Poems

6.3. His Plays

6.3.1. The Order of the Plays

6.3.1.1. Contemporary References

6.3.1.2. Internal References

6.3.1.3. The literary Evidence

6.3.1.4. The Dates of the Plays

6.3.2. Classification of the Plays:

6.3.2.1. The Early Comedies

6.3.2.2. The English Histories

6.3.2.3. The Mature Comedies

6.3.2.4. The Sombre Plays

6.3.2.5. The Great Tragedies

6.3.2.6. The Roman Plays

6.3.2.7. The Last Plays

6.4. His Prose

6.5. Features of his Plays

6.5.1. Their Originality

6.5.2. Character:

6.5.1.1. Prodigality of output

6.5.1.2. Objectivity

6.5.1.3. Vital force

6.5.3. Metre

6.5.4. Style

6.6. Summary

7. POST-SHAKESPEARIAN DRAMA

7.1. Ben Jonson (1573?-1637)

7.2. Francis Beaumont (c. 1584-1616) and John Fletcher (1579-1625)

7.3. George Chapman (c. 1559-1634)

7.4. John Marston (c. 1575-1634)

7.5. Thomas Dekker (c. 1572-c. 1632)

7.6. Thomas Middleton (c. 1570-1627)

7.7. Thomas Heywood (c. 1575-c. 1650)

7.8. John Webster (fl. During first twenty years of 17^th century)

7.9. Cyril Tourneur (1575?-1626)

8. PROSE

8.1. The English Bible: The Authorized Version

8.1.1. Translation

8.1.2. Diversity of the Work

8.1.3. Unity of the Work

8.1.4. The Expository Portions

8.1.5. The Narrative Portions

8.1.6. The Lyrical Portions

8.1.7. The Influence of the Bible

8.2. Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount of St. Albans (1561-1626)

8.2.1. His Life

8.2.2. His Works

8.2.3. His Style

8.3. OTHER PROSE-WRITERS

8.3.1. Roger Ascham (1515-68)

8.3.2. John Lyly (1554?-1606)

8.3.3. Richar Hooker (1554-1600)

8.3.4. Sir Thomas Overbury (1581-1613)

8.3.5. Robert Burton (1577-1640)

8.3.6. The Sermon-writers:

(a) James Ussher (1581-1656)

(b) Joseph Hall (1547-1656)

8.3.7. The Translators: Phaer (1558) and Stanyhurst (1562): Virgil  (1558); North (1579): Plutarch; Golding, Tuberville (1576) & Chapman (1595): Ovid; Chapman (1596): Homer; Seneca; Holland: Suetonius, Pliny and Plutarch’s Morals; Machiavelli’s Arte of Warre (1560); Hoby (1561): Castiglione’s The Courtyer; Painter (1566): The Palace of Pleasure; Harrington (1591): Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso; Florio: Montaigne’s Essays (1603) and Dannett’s Commines (1596); North (1557): The Diall of Princes.

8.3.8. The Pamphleteers: Thomas Nash (or Nash) (1567-1601), Robert Greene (1560?-92); and Thomas Lodge (1558?-1625).

9. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY FORMS AND STYLE

9.1. Poetry

(a) Dramatic Poetry

(b) Lyrical Poetry

(c) Descriptive and Narrative Poetry

(d) Religious, Satirical and Didactic Poetry

(e) Periodization:

—    The earliest period (say from 1550-80)

—    The Spenserina and Shakesperian stage (from about 1580 to 1615)

—    Decline in the 2^nd decade of the 17^th century

9.2. Prose:

(a)   The essay

(b)   The novel

(c)    Literary Criticism

(d)   Miscellaneous prose

(e) Steady development

9.3. Drama;

(a)   Early development

(b) Realization of potentialities

(c) The Shakespearean stage.

(d) The decline.

(e) From tragedy to light comedy.

10. TABLE TO ILLUSTRATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY STYLE