English poetry

The history of English poetry stretches from the middle of the 7th century to the present day. Over this period, English poets have written some of the most enduring poems in European culture, and the language and its poetry have spread around the globe. Consequently, the term English poetry is unavoidably ambiguous. It can mean poetry written in England (and, by extension, the United Kingdom), or poetry written in English.

The Renaissance in England

The Renaissance was slow in coming to insular Britain, with the generally accepted start date being around 1509. It is also generally accepted that the English Renaissance extended until the Restoration in 1660. However, a number of factors had prepared the way for the introduction of the new learning long before this start date. A number of medieval poets had, as already noted, shown an interest in the ideas of Aristotle and the writings of European Renaissance precursors such as Dante.

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Renaissance - 1509 - 1660

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The introduction of movable-block printing by Caxton in 1474 provided the means for the more rapid dissemination of new or recently rediscovered writers and thinkers. Caxton also printed the works of Chaucer and Gower and these books helped establish the idea of a native poetic tradition that was linked to its European counterparts. In addition, the writings of British humanists like Thomas More and Thomas Elyot helped bring the ideas and attitudes associated with the new learning to an English audience.

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Movable-block printing - Caxton - 1474 - Thomas More - Thomas Elyot

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Two other factors in the establishment of the English Renaissance were the Reformation and the opening of the era of English naval power and overseas exploration and expansion. The establishment of the Church of England in 1535 accelerated the process of questioning the Catholic world-view that had previously dominated intellectual and artistic life. At the same time, long-distance sea voyages helped provide the stimulus and information that underpinned a new understanding of the nature of the universe which resulted in the theories of Nicolas Copernicus and Johannes Kepler.

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Reformation - Church of England - 1535 - Nicolas Copernicus - Johannes Kepler

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Early Renaissance poetry

With a small number of exceptions, the early years of the 16th century are not particularly notable. The Douglas Aeneid was completed in 1513 and John Skelton wrote poems that were transitional between the late Medieval and Renaissance styles. The new king, Henry VIII, was something of a poet himself. The most significant English poet of this period was Thomas Wyatt, who was among the first poets to write sonnets in English.

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16th century - 1513 - John Skelton - Henry VIII - Thomas Wyatt - Sonnet

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The Elizabethans

The Elizabethan period in poetry is characterised by a number of frequently overlapping developments. The introduction and adaptation of themes, models and verse forms from other European traditions and classical literature, the Elizabethan song tradition, the emergence of a courtly poetry often centred around the figure of the monarch and the growth of a verse-based drama are among the most important of these developments.

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Elizabethan song

A wide range of Elizabethan poets wrote songs, including Nicholas Grimald, Thomas Nashe and Robert Southwell. There are also a large number of extant anonymous songs from the period. Perhaps the greatest of all the songwriters was Thomas Campion. Campion is also notable because of his experiments with metres based on counting syllables rather than stresses. These qualitative metres were based on classical models and should be viewed as part of the wider Renaissance revival of Greek and Roman artistic methods.

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Nicholas Grimald - Thomas Nashe - Robert Southwell - Thomas Campion - Metres - Syllable - Stress - Qualitative metre - Greek

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The songs were generally printed either in miscellanies or anthologies such as Richard Tottel's 1557 Songs and Sonnets or in songbooks that included printed music to enable performance. These performances formed an integral part of both public and private entertainment. By the end of the 16th century, a new generation of composers, including John Dowland, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Weelkes and Thomas Morley were helping to bring the art of Elizabethan song to an extremely high musical level.

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Richard Tottel - 1557 - John Dowland - William Byrd - Orlando Gibbons - Thomas Weelkes - Thomas Morley

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Courtly poetry

With the consolidation of Elizabeth's power, a genuine court sympathetic to poetry and the arts in general emerged. This encouraged the emergence of a poetry aimed at, and often set in, an idealised version of the courtly world.

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Among the best known examples of this are Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen, which is effectively an extended hymn of praise to the queen, and Philip Sydney's Arcadia. This courtly trend can also be seen in Spenser's Shepheardes Calender. This poem marks the introduction into an English context of the classical pastoral, a mode of poetry that assumes an aristocratic audience with a certain kind of attitude to the land and peasants. The explorations of love found in the sonnets of William Shakespeare and the poetry of Walter Raleigh and others also implies a courtly audience.

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Edmund Spenser - Philip Sydney - Pastoral - Sonnet - William Shakespeare - Walter Raleigh

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Elizabethan verse drama

Elizabethan verse drama is widely considered to be one of the major achievements of literature in English, and its most famous exponent, William Shakespeare, is revered as the greatest poet in the language. This drama, which served both as courtly masque and popular entertainment, deals with all the major themes of contemporary literature and life.

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There are plays on European, classical, and religious themes reflecting the importance of humanism and the Reformation. There are also a number of plays dealing with British history that may be read as part of an effort to create an indigenous national myth and as artistic underpinnings for Elizabeth's resistance to the Spanish and other foreign threats. A number of the comic works for the stage also use bucolic themes connected with the pastoral genre.

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In addition to Shakespeare, other notable dramatists of the period include Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker and Ben Jonson.

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Christopher Marlowe - Thomas Dekker - Ben Jonson

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Classicism

Gavin Douglas' Aeneid, Thomas Campion's metrical experiments and Spenser's Shepheardes Calender and plays like Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra are all examples of the influence of classicism on Elizabethan poetry. It was quite common for poets of the period to write on themes from classical mythology, Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis and the Christopher Marlowe/George Chapman Hero and Leander are examples of this kind of work.

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Antony and Cleopatra - Classical mythology - George Chapman

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Translations of classical poetry also became more widespread, with versions of Ovid's Metamorphoses by William Golding and George Sandys and Chapman's translations of Homer's Illiad and Odyssey among the outstanding examples.

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Ovid - William Golding - George Sandys - Homer

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Jacobean and Caroline poetry

English Renaissance poetry after the Elizabethan poetry can be seen as belonging to one of three strains; the Metaphysical poets, the Cavalier poets and the school of Spenser. However, the boundaries between these three groups are not always clear and an individual poet could write in more than one manner.

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Metaphysical poets - Cavalier poets

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The Metaphysical poets

The early 17th century saw the emergence of this group of poets who wrote in a witty, complicated style. The most famous of the Metaphysicals is probably John Donne. Others include George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell and Richard Crashaw. John Milton in his Comus falls into this group. The Metaphysical poets went out of favour in the 18th century but began to be read again in the Victorian era. Donne's reputation was finally fully restored by the approbation of T. S. Eliot in the early 20th century.

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Metaphysicals - John Donne - George Herbert - Henry Vaughan - Andrew Marvell - Richard Crashaw - John Milton - T. S. Eliot

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The Cavalier poets

The Cavalier poets wrote in a lighter, more elegant and artificial style than the Metaphysical poets. Leading members of the group include Ben Jonson, Richard Lovelace, Robert Herrick, Edmund Waller, Thomas Carew and John Denham. The Cavalier poets can be seen as the forerunners of the major poets of the Augustan era, who admired them greatly.

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Cavalier poet - Ben Jonson - Richard Lovelace - Robert Herrick - Edmund Waller - Thomas Carew - John Denham

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The school of Spenser

The early 17th century also saw a group of poets who were interested in following Spenser's example in the area of long mythological poems. These include Michael Drayton, William Browne and the brothers Giles and Phineas Fletcher. Although these poets wrote against the literary fashion of their day and have since been much neglected, their tradition led directly to John Milton's great mythological long poem, Paradise Lost.

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Michael Drayton - William Browne - Giles - Phineas Fletcher - John Milton - Paradise Lost

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