Elizabethan Age
• Strictly speaking, the period of the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603); the term "Elizabethan," however, is often used
loosely to refer to the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, even after the death of Elizabeth.
Characteristics of Elizabethan Age (In terms of History) :
• The golden age of British History.
• Rapid development in English commerce
• Expansion in maritime power
• The rise of nationalist feeling-the defeat of the Spanish Armada occurred in 1588.
Literature of Elizabethan Age
• It was a great (in drama the greatest) age of English literature.
• In poetry, lyric poetry (Sonnets and Elegies) was predominant in Elizabethan Age.
• Blank Verse (Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter lines) was a popular form of Elizabethan Dramas.
• Marlowe considered blank verse as 'a mighty line.'
Major Writers of Elizabethan Age
Poets Dramatists Prose Writers
1. Sir Philip Sidney 1. University Wits 1. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
(1554-1586) (i) Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
(ii) Robert Greene
(iii) Thomas Nashe
(iv) John Lyly,
(v) Thomas Lodge
(vi) George Peele
(vii) Thomas Kyd
2. Edmund Spenser 2. William Shakespeare 2. Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
(1552-1599) (1564-1616)
3. William Shakespeare 3. Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
(1564-1616)
4
Major Poets of Elizabethan Age
1. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) : The Renaissance Man (The man with sprezzatura)
The second greatest sonneteer of the Elizabethan Age after Shakespeare
His works :
1. Astrophel and Stella (A sonnet sequence of 108 sonnets)
2. Arcadia (A pastoral romance)
3. The Defence of Poesy or The Apology for Poetry (A critical work)
2. Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) :
His works :
1. The Shepheardes Calender (1579): Published under the pseudonym "Immerito"
2. The Faerie Queene, (6 Books)
3. Amoretti (A sonnet sequence of 89 sonnets)
4. Epithalamion
5. Prothalamion
6. Astrophel (A Pastoral Elegy on the death of Sir Philip Sidney)
Major Dramatists of Elizabethan Age
1. University Wits :
• The University Wits is a phrase used to name a group of late 16th-century English dramatists who were educated at
the universities (Oxford or Cambridge).
• The term University Wits was coined by George Saintsbury.
• The list of University Wits :
1. Christopher Marlowe : (i) Doctor Faustus (ii) Tamburlaine;
2. Robert Greene : He attacked Shakespeare calling him as an "upstart crow"
3. John Lyly : (i) Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (ii) Euphues and His England.
Lyly's mannered literary style is known as Euphuism.
4. Thomas Nashe
5. Thomas Lodge
6. George Peele
7. Thomas Kyd
2. William Shakespeare (23 April 1564 - 23 April 1616) :
• He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard").
• Ben Jonson said about Shakespeare, "He was not of an age, but for all time."
• His works consist of some 38 plays (10 History Plays + 10 Tragedies + 18 Comedies),
• 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems.
5
Shakespeare's Famous Comedies Shakespeare's Famous Tragedies Shakespeare's Long Narrative Poems
1. All's Well That Ends Well 1. Antony and Cleopatra 1. Venus and Adonis
2. As You Like It 2. Hamlet 2. The Rape of Lucrece.
3. The Comedy of Errors 3. Julius Caesar 3. A Lover's Complaint
4. Love's Labor's Lost 4. King Lear
5. The Merchant of Venice 5. Macbeth
6. A Midsummer Night's Dream 6. Othello
7. Much Ado About Nothing 7. Romeo and Juliet
8. Twelfth Night
• Shakespeare's 154 sonnets are divided in to 2 parts.
1. 1-126 Sonnets (First 126 Sonnets): Addressed to his friend Mr. W.H. (The Earl of Southampton)
2. 127-154 Sonnets (Last 28 Sonnets) : Addressed to a dark lady.
3. Ben Jonson (1572-1637) :
• He popularised the comedy of humours.
• He is best known for the satirical plays.
• His Major Works :
1. Every Man in His Humour (1598)
2. Every Man out of His Humour (1599)
3. Volpone, or The Fox (c. 1606)
4. The Alchemist (1610)
5. Bartholomew Fair (1614)
Major Prose Writers of Elizabethan Age
1. Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
• Bacon has been called the Father of Empiricism
• Bacon has been called the Father of English Essays
His Works :
1. Essays
1st edition with 10 essays (1597)
2nd edition with 38 essays (1612)
3rd/final edition with 58 essays (1625)
2. The Advancement of Learning (1605)
3. New Atlantis (1626)
