1st Edition

Elizabethan Humanism Literature and Learning in the Later Sixteenth Century

By Michael Pincombe Copyright 2002
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    The term 'humanist' originally referred to a scholar of Classical literature. In the Renaissance and particularly in the Elizabethan age, European intellectuals devoted themselves to the rediscovery and study of Roman and Greek literature and culture. This trend of Renaissance thought became known in the 19th century as 'humanism'. Often a difficult concept to understand, the term Elizabethan Humanism is introduced in Part One and explained in a number of different contexts. Part Two illustrates how knowledge of humanism allows a clearer understanding of Elizabethan literature, by looking closely at major texts of the Elizabethan period which include Spenser's, 'The Shepherd's Calendar'; Marlowe's 'Faustus' and Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.

    PART 1: CONTEXTS  Chapter 1: Elizabethan Humanism  Chapter 2: Ciceronian 'Humanitas'  Chapter 3: Humanists and Humanitians  Chapter 4: The Translation of Humanity: Thomas Smith and Roger Ascham  Chapter 5: The Arch-Humanist: Gabriel Harvey  PART 2: TEXTS  Chapter 6: Pregnant wit: John Lyly's Euphes: 'The Anatomy of Wit' 
    Chapter 7: Pastoral Rudeness: Edmund Spenser's 'The Shepherd's Calendar'  Chapter 8: The Companion of the camps: Sir Phillip Sidney's 'An Apology for Poetry'  Chapter 9: Divinity, Adieu: Christopher Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus'  Chapter 10: Imitations of Humanity: William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'

    Biography

    Michael Pincombe