Taylor Harrell
HUMA 1302
Essay Assignment
Love Poetry in the Renaissance
The greatest and most influential intellectual movement of Renaissance period was humanism. The humanists believed that the Greek and Latin classics contained all the answers one needed to lead a moral and effective life. Both cultures were believed to be the best models for a person to live by. The Renaissance period brought on a time about love, laughter, society/community and passion.The love poems of the Renaissance are considered to be some of the most romantic of all time.
Love poetry in the Renaissance often expressed sexual or romantic passion. Love poetry could also serve a variety of political, social and religious life styles.Many of the most famous poets are more well-known as playwrights -- Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and the most renowned of all, William Shakespeare.
Throughout the medieval period which preceded the Renaissance poetry changed dramatically throughout U.K and Western Europe. Slowly, and with influence from movements like courtly love, the epic ballads of battles and monsters like “Beowulf” were transformed into romantic adventures.
These romantic legends were the starting point of the Renaissance, as it unfolded, literature and poetry continued evolving and took on a more romantic time period. A more personal style developed, and poems clearly became a way for a poet to reveal his inner feelings/self to the one he loved. In the mid-to-late 16th century, there was a virtual movement of poetic talent in the U.K, influenced by the art and literature of the Italian Renaissance a century before.
Here are some examples of English poetry from the crest of the English Renaissance of letters.
Christopher Marlowe was educated at Cambridge University and known for his humor and charm. After he graduated from Cambridge, he went to London and joined the Admiral's Men, a group of players. He soon began writing plays, and those included "Tamburlaine the Great," "Dr. Faustus" and "The Jew of Malta." When he wasn't writing plays, he often could be found gambling. During a game of cards one night at the local pub with three other men, he got into a quarrel, and one of them stabbed him to death. Christopher Marlowe died at a young age of 29.
Besides plays, he wrote poems. Here's an example:
"Who Ever Loved That Loved Not at First Sight?"
It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fate.
When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should love, the other win;
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:
The reason no man knows; let it suffice
What we behold is censured by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?
Sir Walter Raleigh was a true Renaissance man: He was a courtier in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, an explorer, an adventurer, a warrior, a poet. He is famous for putting down his jacket over a puddle for Qu...
