English Literature: Renaissance, Elizabethan, Shakespeare Period

The Renaissance Period (1500-1660):

Renaissance একটি Italian শব্দ যার অর্থ হচ্ছে পুনর্জন্ম। Renaissance এর প্রধান বৈশিষ্ট্যগুলো হচ্ছে-

1. Humanism
2. Naturalism
3. Secularism

14th Century-তে ইউরোপে রেনেসাঁ শুরু হয়. 1453 সালে ইতালিতে Renaissance শুরু হলেও ইংরেজি সাহিত্যে এর প্রভাব পড়ে 1500 সালের পর থেকে।

Features of Renaissance Period:

1. Passion for new knowledge and learning
2. Desire for unlimited wealth and power
3. Love for adventure
4. Love for beauty
5. Love for humanism
6. Love for the past

Writers of Renaissance Period and their work:

Name of the Writer	Title and Pen Name	Notable Works
Nicholas Udall (1504-1556)	Title: First English Comedy Writer	Play: Ralph Roister Doister
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 – 1527)	Title – Father of Modern Political Science	Books: The Prince – Political Treatise

Renaissance যুগকে ৪টি Age-এ ভাগ করা হয়:

1. Elizabethan Age (1558-1603)
2. Jacobean Age (1603-1625)
3. Caroline Age (1625-1649)
4. Commonwealth Period (1649-1660)

Elizabethan Age (1558-1603):

• Golden/Glorious Period of English Literature/Drama.
• A nest of singing birds

Name of the Writer	Title and Pen Name	Notable Works
Sir Thomas More		Famous Book: Utopia (A kingdom of no-where; an imaginary island where there is no problem)
Sir David Lindsey		বিখ্যাত কাব্য- The Dreme
Nicholas Udall (1504-1556)	Titles: Father of English Comedy
Sir Thomas Wyatt	Father of English Sonnet	যৌথ কাব্য – Tottel’s Miscellany
Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton	Pioneers (পথিকৃৎ) of English tragedy
Christopher Marlowe	Title: The father of English Tragedy/Drama	‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ এবং  ‘Hero and Leader’ তার অন্যতম  lyric Famous Books: Tamburlaine the Great  The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Edmund Spenser	Titles: Poet’s poet The Child of Renaissance and Reformation	বিখ্যাত সনেট সংকলনের নাম – Amoretti (Collection of 89 Sonnet) বিখ্যাত মহাকাব্য: The Faerie Queene
Sir Philip Sidney		Famous Books: The Lady of May An Apology for Poetry
John Webster		Famous Tragedies: The White Devil The Devil’s Law Case The Duchess of Malf
Richard Hooker	The greatest prose writer of the Elizabethan period.
Ben Jonson	Titles: Father of English Realistic Comedy Father of Comedy of Humours	Famous Plays: Every Man in His Humour Every Man Out of His Humour
Thomas Kyd	Titles: Father of English Revenge Tragedy	Famous play of Kyd: The Spanish Tragedy
Niccolo Machiavelli	Titles: Father of Modern Political Science	বিখ্যাত গ্রন্থ:  The Prince
Cyril Tourneur		Famous Plays: The Revenger’s Tragedy The Atheist’s Tragedy
Miguel de Cervantes		প্রধান সাহিত্যকর্ম : Don Quixote
Francis Bacon	Titles: Father of English Essay  Father of Modern Prose Father Of Empiricism	Well-known works: The Advancement of Learning Novum Organum Quotes: Studies serve for delight, for ornament and for ability. (Of Studies)  A good friend is another himself. (Of Friendship)
Galileo Galilei	Titles: “Father of observational astronomy”	বিখ্যাত উক্তি: “সূর্য পৃথিবীর চারদিকে নয়, বরং পৃথিবী সূর্যের চারদিকে ঘুরছে।”
William Shakespeare	Poet of Nature Nickname: The Swan of Avon	1st Play: Henry VI [Part 2] Last Play: The Tempest (Swan Song) Longest Play: Hamlet [4042 lines, 30557 words] Shortest Play: Comedy of Errors Famous for: 1.     37 plays 2.     154 sonnets 3.     3 narrative poems বিখ্যাত কিছু কবিতা: 1.      The Rape of Lucrece (narrative poem) 2.     A Lovers Complaint 3.     The Passionate Pilgrim

University Wits কী/কারা:

Elizabethan Period-এর একদল Young Dramatist and pamphleteers (ক্ষুদ্র পুস্তিকা রচয়িতা)। তারা Oxford এবং Cambridge University-এর  Scholar/witty students ছিলেন।

বিখ্যাত University Wits হলেন প্রায় ৭ জন:

1.     Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
2.     Thomas Kyd (1558-1594)
3.     Thomas Nashe
4.     Robert Greene (1558-1592);
5.     John Lyly;
6.     George Peele;
7.     Thomas Lodge