Features of 16th and 17th Century Literature

Features of 16 and th
17 Century Literature
th
16th Century
• The Renaissance Influence: The 16th century marked the
English Renaissance, which saw a revival of classical learning
and values. This influenced themes, styles, and forms in
literature.
• Humanism: Writers began to explore human experience and
individualism. Humanist themes emphasized the potential of
human beings and often focused on moral and ethical
questions.
• Poetry: This period saw the rise of sonnets, particularly through the
works of Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. The
sonnet form was further popularized by Shakespeare, who introduced
personal emotion and complexity.
• Prose: The period witnessed the emergence of prose fiction. Thomas
More’s Utopia (1516) is a notable example, exploring social and
political themes through fictional narrative.
• Drama: The Elizabethan era was the golden age of English drama.
Playwrights like Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare
created complex characters and intricate plots, blending tragedy and
comedy.
• The literary work of this period was particularly interesting
in its questioning of religious orthodoxy and in the
questioning of religious authority. Christopher
Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, for example, is set in the same
Wittenberg University in which Martin Luther, the first
protestant reformer, nailed his 95 theses to the cathedral
door. In a profound satire on the questing spirit of the
protestant reform, Marlowe make Faustus an intellectual
man who wishes to test his personal relationship with God -
one of the underpinning notions of protestant theology - by
selling his soul to the devil.
• The crowning glory of this change in religious attitude
comes in one of the triumphs of the late English
renaissance, John Milton's Paradise Lost and its
reconsideration of the role of the ultimate acts of religious
free will, Lucifer's expulsion from heaven and mankind's
original sin. Milton's puritanical religious thought is made
all the more interesting by his sympathetic portrayal of
Satan as a beguiling character, one of whose confrontation
of God and later temptation of man are made
understandable by Milton.
17th Century
• Metaphysical Poetry: This era is known for metaphysical poets like
John Donne, Andrew Marvel and George Herbert, who combined
intricate imagery with philosophical themes, exploring love, faith, and
existence.
• The Civil War and its Impact: Political upheaval and the English Civil
War influenced literature. Writers like John Milton reflected these
themes in works such as Paradise Lost, which explored ideas of free
will, governance, and rebellion.
• Prose and Essays: The essay form gained popularity, with figures like
Francis Bacon and Thomas Browne exploring philosophy, science, and
personal reflection.
• Theater: The 17th century continued the tradition of
drama, with playwrights like Ben Jonson and later, John
Webster, delving into darker themes and complex
characters.
• Allegory and Satire: Many works employed allegory and
satire to critique society, politics, and religion. John
Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress is a notable example,
blending allegory with religious themes.
Renaissance Influence on 16th &
17th English literature
• First, it marked a rediscovery of many classical texts that had been
unknown in the Middle Ages. For example, the recovery of Greek
novels, and in particular their translation into French by Amyot, led to
a certain type of pastoral English novel, exemplified by Lyly's Euphues.
• During the Renaissance, English literature gained greater psychological

complexity. The Middle Ages was largely dominated by plays more
interested in imparting morals or presenting religious stories than
anything else. Around the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, humanism
—a system more interested in human affairs than what might occur
after death—was on the rise.
• Poetry flourished during this period. English poets were
inspired by Italian poetry in particular. Edmund Spenser
sought to write his own national epic in The Faerie Queene,
a work as Protestant as Dante Alighieri's The Divine
Comedy is Catholic. Shakespeare penned his famous
collection of sonnets during this period as well.
• English drama of this period was heavily influenced by the
theatre of the ancient Greeks and Romans, a trend followed
by science, visual arts, and philosophy, which also took cues
from antiquity during the Renaissance. The Roman
playwright Seneca was a big influence on English tragedies,
particularly "revenge tragedies" such as The Spanish
Tragedy or Hamlet. These plays tended to have their
characters brought low not by bad fortune or supernatural
temptations, but through bad decisions or fatal flaws
already present within the hearts of the characters, much
as the tragedians of antiquity did. Comedies used similar
situations and character types as the Greek/Roman farces
as well.
• A play like Hamlet is a perfect example of how the
Renaissance affected English literature: a medieval version
of this story might have rendered Hamlet's inner turmoil as
mere good versus evil, while, as it is, the play is
psychologically complicated and more ambiguous regarding
the morality of its cast of characters, many of whom do not
fit into simple "bad" or "good" categories.

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• During the Renaissance, English literature gained greater psychological

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