The English Renaissance
(1485-1625)
It may have taken our dear British friends a little longer to
jump into the ideas of the Renaissance that took Europe by storm,
but the flowering of ideas within the artistic and literary world
did hit the British isle eventually. This was the Age of
Exploration and the Protestant Reformation. It was the reign
of the Tudors -- the Henrys and Elizabeth I. But best of all,
this was the reign of William Shakespeare, and what could be better
than that?
Other famous authors of this period that should not be overlooked are: Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Philip Sidney, and Edmund Spenser. Their sonnets were popular in their day and are still read and quoted today. We'll read an excerpt from Christopher Marlowe's play The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus in addition to reading Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Christopher Marlowe
William Shakespeare
There are a lot of claims about Shakespeare, but let me tell you this: we really don't know a lot about the man. Try to remember that most of what you hear is pure speculation.
More about Shakespeare:
Complete Works
Basic Info
Bardweb
Another GREAT site was suggested by Caitlyn in Arizona: A Guide to Shakespeare
There's information about Shakespeare on my
Macbeth page, too.
