Renaissance in Literature
A Tour of the Various Authors …
Medieval vs. Humanistic Themes
Theology
God
Divinity of Christ
Salvation
Damnation
Good works
Faith
Sacrifice
Suffering
Love
People
Art
Painting
Every day life
Etiquette
Logic
Leisure
Pleasure
Petrarch: The Father of Humanism
ITALIAN
Era il giorno ch'al sol si scoloraro
per la pietà del suo factore i rai,
quando i' fui preso, et non me ne guardai,
ché i be' vostr'occhi, donna, mi legaro.
Tempo non mi parea da far riparo
contra colpi d'Amor: però m'andai
secur, senza sospetto; onde i miei guai
nel commune dolor s'incominciaro.
Trovommi Amor del tutto disarmato
et aperta la via per gli occhi al core,
che di lagrime son fatti uscio et varco:
però al mio parer non li fu honore
ferir me de saetta in quello stato,
a voi armata non mostrar pur l'arco.
ENGLISH
It was on that day when the sun's ray
was darkened in pity for its Maker,
that I was captured, and did not defend
myself,
because your lovely eyes had bound me,
Lady.
It did not seem to me to be a time to guard
myself
against Love's blows: so I went on
confident, unsuspecting; from that, my
troubles
started, amongst the public sorrows.
Love discovered me all weaponless,
and opened the way to the heart through the
eyes,
which are made the passageways and doors
of tears:
so that it seems to me it does him little honour
to wound me with his arrow, in that state,
he not showing his bow at all to you who are
armed.
To begin with myself, then, the utterances of men concerning me will differ widely,
since in passing judgment almost every one is influenced not so much by truth as by
preference, and good and evil report alike know no bounds.
Influence of the Renaissance
Dante- “The Divine Comedy”
pre-dates Renaissance- significant influence
vernacular- native language
People of the Renaissance
Castiglione- “The Courtier”- sets ideals for man and woman
man:
woman:
William Shakespeare
“Greatest writer in the English language
and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist.”
-1564-1616
English poet and playwright
-38 plays– comedies,
histories, tragedies, romances
-- 154 sonnets
-Few records exist of his private life
Sonnet 18
Translation/Paraphrase
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Shall I compare you to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: You are more lovely and more constant (even tempered):
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: And summer is far too short:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, At times the sun is too hot,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; Or often goes behind the clouds;
And every fair from fair sometime declines, And everything beautiful sometime will lose its beauty,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; By misfortune or by nature's planned out course.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade But your youth shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor will you lose the beauty that you possess;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, Nor will death claim you for his own,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: Because in my eternal verse you will live forever.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long as there are people on this earth,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee. So long will this poem live on, making you immortal.