Indice generale
VII
Chapter Two
The Renaissance: The Elizabethan Age
2.1 The English Renaissance
166
2.1.1 Historical and Social Background
166
2.1.2 Cultural and Literary Background
168
2.2 Renaissance Poetry
171
2.2.1 Early Tudor Poetry
171
2.2.2 Courtly Poets
172
2.2.3 Philip Sydney (1554-1586)
172
2.2.4 William Shakespeare’s Poetry
173
2.2.5 Edmund Spencer (1552-1599)
175
2.3 Elizabethan Drama
177
2.3.1 The Elizabethan Theatre
177
2.3.2 Elizabethan Early Drama
179
2.3.3 Elizabethan Comedy
179
2.3.4 Elizabethan Tragedy: Thomas Kyd (ca. 1558-ca. 1594)
180
2.3.5 Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
180
2.4 William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
182
2.4.1 Life, General Features and Overview of Works
182
2.4.2 Shakespeare’s Histories
185
2.4.3 Shakespeare’s Comedies
186
2.4.4 Shakespeare’s Tragedies
190
2.4.5 Shakespeare’s Romances
196
2.5 Sixteenth Century Prose Writing
199
2.5.1 Humanism: Thomas More (1478-1535)
199
2.5.2 Educational Prose Writing: Roger Ascham, Thomas Elyot and
Thomas Hoby
199
2.5.3 Elizabethan Prose Fiction
200
2.5.4 Travel Writing: Samuel Purchas and Walter Raleigh
202
Chapter Three
From the Jacobean Age to the Restoration Period
3.1 The Stuart Period and the Restoration
204
3.1.1 Historical and Social Background
204
3.1.2 Cultural and Literary Background
207
3.2 Jacobean and Restoration Poetry
209
3.2.1 The Metaphysical Poets
209
3.2.2 The Cavalier Poets
212
3.2.3 Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
213
3.2.4 John Milton (1608-1674)
214
3.2.5 John Dryden (1631-1700)
217
3.3 Jacobean and Restoration Drama
218
3.3.1 Ben Jonson (1573-1637)
218
3.3.2 Jacobean Comedy and Tragicomedy
220
3.3.3 Jacobean Revenge Tragedy
222
3.3.4 John Dryden (1631-1700)
222
3.3.5 William Congreve (1670-1729)
224
3.4 Seventeenth Century Prose Writing
225
3.4.1 Political and Philosophical Prose Writing
225
3.4.2 Robert Burton (1577-1649)
228
3.4.3 John Milton (1608-1674)
228
