The Renaissance occurred in the late Middle Ages, beginning in the 1400s in the city-states of Italy. During this time period, Europe experienced many cultural changes and saw a return to "classical" thought, which meant a rebirth of the ideas and thoughts of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

In fact, the word renaissance means "rebirth." During this time, there were many advances in the fields of literature, the arts, science, mathematics, astronomy, engineering, cartography (mapmaking), and medicine.

During the 1380s, an English philosopher named John Wycliffe laid the groundwork for the Protestant Reformation. Wycliffe was well-known for disagreeing with the church's teachings. He wanted to limit its power because he felt its authorities were sinful and unfit to preach the word of God. Wycliffe promoted a direct relationship between the people and God. He denounced church officials and declared the rituals of organized religion unnecessary. Tensions boiled over when he defied the church by producing the first handwritten English language Bible.

Until this point, the Bible was available only in Latin, which was not spoken by common men and women. The public relied on bishops and priests to read and interpret the Bible for them. The Bible's translation into English meant that common people could read it for themselves. Church officials were angry and feared that people would become less dependent on them. Despite the anger of priests and bishops, Wycliffe had many supporters. His Bible was distributed long after his death in 1384.

Wycliffe's Bible was just the beginning of a period of religious unrest in Europe. After his death, religious thinkers and activists continued to rally for reform. On October 31, 1517, a German priest named Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses, a set of questions challenging the practices of Catholic Church officials. Luther also raised questions about the rightful extent of the pope's religious authority. It is believed that Luther nailed his theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther's questions brought him into conflict with the church and the pope, who threatened to excommunicate him. However, the common people of North Germany supported Luther, so he was able to organize his own church in defiance of the Catholic Church.

The availability of the printing press, which had been invented recently, helped Luther make many copies of his Ninety-Five Theses and distribute them to a large number of people. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses was immediately translated and soon published all over Europe. The Reformation was under way.

The Britons who lived during the long reign of Elizabeth I are often called Elizabethans. The thinkers, philosophers, and religious leaders of the Elizabethan time had a distinct way of looking at the world. They had a newfound pride in the English language, English history, and English art.

Elizabethans were also interested in the power of the natural world, especially the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. According to Elizabethan thought, some combination of the four elements existed in everything in the world, especially in the formation of human nature. The elements influenced appearance, health, personality, and behavior.

The philosophical concern about human nature and God's plan led to a deep interest in the individual's impact on his or her own path in life. Elizabethans believed in the existence of free will and held that individuals had some control over their ultimate fate in the afterlife. Pride, greed, and other negative qualities led humans to sin, but they could be overcome by an exertion of the will.

The Elizabethan religious leaders of the time also took the Bible literally. If God was everywhere, they reasoned, so too was the devil, ready to tempt them. They feared magic and the supernatural as instruments of evil, tools used to turn humans away from God. The play you will read in this lesson, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, reflects the common Elizabethan belief that the dark and magical powers of the devil are not meant for humans.

Blank verse is a type of poetry that features unrhymed lines all in the same meter, usually iambic pentameter.

For a refresher on blank verse including an example, click here for notes from ENG 11A!

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus centers on the conflict between good and evil. The following themes of the story are closely related to this conflict:

• Free will can be dangerous.

• Human nature is torn between good and evil.

• Humans must choose between redemption and damnation.

• Absolute power causes corruption.

Marlowe uses magic and supernatural motifs to illustrate the themes listed above. Recurring practical jokes create their own motif and provide comedic relief.

Marlowe uses symbols to clarify his themes. When Faustus goes to sign the pact with Lucifer, he tries to use his own blood. However, something odd happens (by divine intervention) that prevents him from signing his name. Marlowe uses a good angel and an evil angel to symbolize the dual nature of Faustus's decisions. Finally, Faustus's refusal to accept advice from established authorities serves as a symbol of his rejection of medieval values.

Because of their historical development, sonnets took on two major forms: English sonnets and Italian sonnets. Each form in turn evolved to include several variations. Most English and Italian sonnets are written in a meter called iambic pentameter. 

• Italian Sonnets:

  • The Italian sonnet is 14 lines long and made of two distinct parts: The first part is an octave, eight lines long, with the rhyme scheme of abbaabba. The octave presents a narrative, states a proposition (an idea to be considered), or raises a question. The rest of the sonnet is a sestet, six lines long. 

  • The sestet rhyme scheme varies. It can be cdecde, cdcdcd, cdccdc, or cdedce. The sestet makes an abstract comment, elaborates on the proposition, or answers the question that was asked in the octave. To emphasize this change, Italian sonnets often have a distinct shift in thought at the beginning of the sestet. This shift is called a volta, which means “turn” in Italian.

• English Sonnets:

  • The English sonnet is also 14 lines long. However, it is made up of four sections instead of two. The first three sections are quatrains of four lines. Each quatrain has a rhyme scheme of its own, usually every other line. The final two lines are a rhyming couplet (two lines). This rhyme scheme looks like abab cdcd efef gg. 

  • The three quatrains usually describe a subject or develop a theme. The couplet at the end marks the shift, or volta. It states a conclusion and highlights or summarizes the meaning of the poem.

It is important to remember, though, that not all sonnets will fit these patterns exactly. Sometimes, the poet uses words that almost rhyme or look as though they rhyme. When spoken, however, the words do not rhyme. In addition, the meter, or rhythm, of the lines will sometimes vary. 

For a refresher on rhyme scheme, click here for notes from ENG 11B!

Many times a poet will write a series of sonnets about a single subject. The subject might be something general, such as love, or something specific, such as one particular person. These related sonnets are called sonnet sequences, or cycles. Other times, poets present a series of similar ideas in a single sonnet. To connect those ideas, a poet might arrange lines in similar grammatical form. This literary device is called parallelism. Parallelism helps to emphasize an overarching concept. It also makes the poem graceful and orderly. In this octave from Sonnet 26 by Edmund Spenser, you can easily see the parallelism:

Sweet is the rose, but grows upon a briar;
Sweet is the juniper, but sharp his bough;
Sweet is the eglantine, but pricketh near;
Sweet is the fir bloom, but his branches rough;
Sweet is the cypress, but his rynd is tough;
Sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill;
Sweet is the broom flower, but yet sour enough;
And sweet is moly, but his root is ill.

All the lines begin the same way and use the same two-part sentence structure. The ideas in the lines are also parallel: each line is about a plant. The first part of each line describes the plant as sweet, while the second part points out some undesirable quality. This similarity of structure matches the similarity of ideas.

For a refresher on Parellelism, see these notes from ENG 11B!

• Click here to listen to the audio about Figurative Language. This is from the "Sonnets" Tutorial in Unit 2.

• For a refresher on figurative language from other tutorials, check out these notes from ENG 11B!

• For sound devices (which covers onomatopoeia), click here for more from ENG 11B!

Petrarch was born in Italy in 1304. His poetry centered on the theme of unrequited love, which means unreturned, hopeless love. He claimed that his unrequited love made him a poet. His poetry was inspired by a married woman named Laura, with whom he had fallen deeply in love.

Petrarch developed a reputation as a classical scholar and poet. The cities of Rome and Paris invited him to be their poet laureate. He chose Rome, a city rich with the history of his native Italy. After Laura died in a deadly epidemic known as the plague, Petrarch compiled the poems he had written about her in a book. Most of these poems are part of a sonnet sequence called the Canzoniere. Petrarch became known as the "father of Italian language" for his elevation of the language to an art form.

Sir Thomas Wyatt lived in England in the 1500s, two centuries after Petrarch’s time. He studied at Cambridge University and served as a courtier and a diplomat for King Henry VIII. Wyatt held strong opinions and was arrested and imprisoned on two separate occasions for quarrels at court. He also had a great interest in foreign literature and helped bring the Italian sonnet to England.

Like Petrarch, Wyatt experienced unrequited love that fueled his poetry. He grew up in the same household as a girl named Anne Boleyn and fell in love with her. He was devastated when she married Henry VIII. Wyatt himself never published a collection of his own poems. After his death, however, 97 of his poems were published in a book originally called Songs and Sonnets. It is now known as Tottel's Miscellany.

This collection gained popularity and influenced generations of poets, courtiers, and other readers. His poems are superb examples of the Petrarchan, or Italian, sonnet.

Among the most popular English poets of this time was Edmund Spenser. Spenser was from a relatively poor family in London. However, he was sponsored to attend a school founded on humanist ideals. He later went to Cambridge University and afterward became an aide and secretary to various important men. Spenser rubbed elbows with many influential people. He even presented poems to Queen Elizabeth I. His work took him to Ireland where one of his employers gave him 3,028 acres of land, including a castle.

Spenser and other scholars formed an informal intellectual society called Areopagus. The group met to discuss matters of law, philosophy, and poetry. Spenser's extensive classical and religious education also influenced his imaginative poems. In addition, his poems reflect his understanding of the philosophy of morality and politics. Spenser invented a form called the Spenserian sonnet, a variation on the Italian and English sonnet. It was divided into three quatrains and a couplet. Its rhyme scheme followed the pattern abab bcbc cdcd ee, with rhymes overlapping between quatrains.

Spenser wrote in an old style of English to make his poetry sound antique. He also chose alternate spellings of words to make rhymes that were pleasing to the eye. Although Spenserian sonnets are less well-known now, Spenser and his poetry were beloved in his day. His best-known work is The Faerie Queene. That epic poem pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth I and other English royalty.

Spenser died in 1599. He was buried beside Geoffrey Chaucer in what is now known as the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London. It is rumored that Shakespeare himself attended Spenser's funeral.

Sir Philip Sidney, born two years after Spenser, was also an admirer of Petrarch. He wrote poems and prose, as well as criticisms of literature. He argued that poets can create worlds superior to the real world because their poetry magnifies the beauty and magic of nature.

An Oxford scholar and poet, Sidney earned a reputation for his grace, maturity, and dedication to the Protestant faith. That dedication grew after he witnessed massacres of Protestants in France while serving as a courtier for Queen Elizabeth I. Sidney also served in the army, and he died in battle when he was only 32 years old. The English people deeply mourned their beloved soldier-poet.

The great English playwright William Shakespeare was born a decade after Sidney. He made a name for himself with his famous plays but was also renowned for his poetry, including 154 sonnets.

Shakespeare's first sonnets followed the Petrarchan sonnet style. He eventually switched to the English sonnet style and achieved fame writing in this form. In fact, the English sonnet also became known as the Shakespearean sonnet. Shakespeare wrote most of his sonnets in sequences. One of his sonnet sequences gives advice to a handsome young man. The subject of Shakespeare’s second sonnet sequence is a rival poet. The third sonnet sequence is about a mysterious "Dark Lady."

Please click here to see notes from ENG 11B, which covers all these rules!

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England. The name of the town originates from the Old English word straet (an ancient road), the word ford (a shallow place in a river), and from the Welsh word afon (river). As you can imagine, it was a town at a shallow spot along the Avon River.

Mary married John Shakespeare and lived with him on Henley Street. John Shakespeare was a businessman who served on the town council and later took on several other positions in the town government. For a year, he served as the town's mayor, and his duties included previewing and censoring all the plays to be performed by traveling acting troupes. That is undoubtedly the first place young William saw a play performed. We can only guess how this early exposure affected young William’s future: whether he was inspired by these performances, whether he practiced writing and telling stories when he was young, or even whether he loved to read.

As Shakespeare grew older, his father's finances dwindled. He lost his seat on the town council and could not afford to send his son to a university. But the lack of a university education didn't hamper young William Shakespeare in the least.

As a young man, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his senior. Little is known about their romance. There are no love letters or diary entries from their courtship. They had a daughter, Susanna, and then twins two years later. Shakespeare was only 22 years old when he left his wife and children to go to the bustling city of London. He wanted to pursue a career in acting and writing and better provide for his family.

When Shakespeare arrived in London, he began to act in and write plays. He gained a reputation based on the reviews of his plays. His pursuits were put on hold in 1592, however, when London’s theaters were forced to close due to the spread of a deadly plague known as the Black Death. During this time, Shakespeare focused his energies on writing sonnets. As soon as the theaters reopened, he resumed writing plays in addition to poetry.

During Shakespeare's time, plays were often performed outdoors in the courtyards of inns. Soon theaters, also called playhouses, were built specifically for plays.

These playhouses were very different from modern theaters. For example, Elizabethan playhouses didn't have hundreds of lights above the stage to spotlight the actors or microphones to amplify their voices.

Without lighting or electricity, theater-going required much more imagination. There were few sound effects available to add to the drama, and playhouses did not have the elaborate sets we are used to today.

In 1599, a new theater was completed in London. Simply called the Theatre, it was located on property that its owner soon reclaimed. Several English actors then dismantled the theater and carted it piece by piece to rebuild it at the new location. As part owner and shareholder of the Theatre, Shakespeare had specific plans for what the new building would look like. Because of its round shape, the theater became known as the Globe.

The theater’s round design made the acoustics (quality of sound) in the Globe perfect for carrying actors' voices to the audience. Even a whisper on stage carried from one side of the theater to the other. The Globe also had a trapdoor that was perfect for ghosts, surprises, and disappearances. Above the stage was a roof from which props and actors could hover or swoop down into the theater.

The Globe's stage jutted out into the open-air theater. The top level had private rooms directly above the stage. These rooms were the most expensive places to sit, costing six pennies per seat. Ironically, their view of the play was probably the worst because they looked straight down on the stage. People who sat in the private rooms were typically members of the nobility. They wanted to be seen by the crowd. They dressed in their finest and enjoyed the attention they received from the audience.

The top two galleries, which we would call balconies, cost three pennies per seat, while the seats in the back of the first-floor gallery cost two pennies. In the very front of the theater, directly in front of the stage, people could watch the play for only one penny. That area was standing room only. The people who watched the plays standing up were called "groundlings." Today, front seats at a play are usually more expensive than seats in the balconies.

The Globe burned down in 1613 and was quickly rebuilt in 1614. Audiences enjoyed plays performed at the theater for another 30 years. In 1644, the theater was intentionally destroyed by the Puritans, who believed that theaters were evil places. Plans to rebuild it were not made for over 300 years.

In this lesson, you'll read the first three acts of Hamlet. Reading a play is different from reading a novel. Authors of novels can directly convey to the reader exactly what they want the reader to know. They can describe the settings at length and choose from a range of techniques to describe the characters' feelings and thoughts.

Since plays are meant to be performed, scripts for plays contain clues but leave a lot to the readers’ imagination. While reading a play, as opposed to seeing it performed, the reader must use more imagination to determine the motives, intent, and moods of the characters based solely on their dialogue.

As you read Hamlet, pay close attention to the characters' words. There are very few stage directions that describe how characters say their lines. You will have to infer what their moods and actions are. Sometimes you will see short descriptions of how scenes are to be performed or specific actions in brackets, such as [snapping his fingers]. Look closely for these directions in brackets. They will also indicate which characters are present during which conversations, which is important for following the plot.

Here are some stage directions often used in plays:

• [Aside]: An aside is when a character speaks to himself or herself and sometimes specifically addresses the audience. If there are other characters on the stage, they cannot hear the aside.

• [Exeunt]: This term means that more than one character is exiting the stage at once.

• [Exit]: This stage direction is used when only one character leaves the stage.

The setting is also an important part of drama. It helps set the tone of an act or scene. When you read a play, the setting is often alluded to through narration, dialogue, or the playwright’s stage directions. You must gather details about the setting from the text and use your imagination. Some authors clearly describe the setting; others do not. In the opening scene of act I of Hamlet, for example, Shakespeare gives no description of the setting where two guards meet. There is neither a narrator nor a note from the playwright. It is the dialogue that reveals the details of the setting:

BERNARDO: 'Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco.

FRANCISCO: For this relief much thanks. 'Tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart.

After reading these first few lines, we can imagine a castle on a dark, cold night. We can visualize the guards' icy breath and the exhaustion in their eyes. How do these images come to mind? There is no narrator. There is no footnote. We must infer the setting from dialogue. Use your imagination to visualize the setting as you read Hamlet.

• Click here to read Hamlet, Act II!

• Having a hard time understanding Hamlet? Read a modern English translation here!

Shakespeare wrote his plays mostly in blank verse, which is unrhymed iambic pentameter. Iambs consist of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. A line of iambic pentameter contains five iambs, or 10 syllables.

Shakespeare occasionally used end rhyme when he wanted to emphasize a particular statement. 

For a reminder on blank verse, click here for notes from ENG 11A!

For a refresher on different types of rhyme, click here for other notes from ENG 11A!

Throughout Hamlet, the characters face a number of obstacles, called conflicts. There are two types of conflict: internal and external. 

Internal conflict is a problem that arises within a character, such as being torn between two choices. The word "internal" means inside. External conflict is a problem between a character and something or someone external to that character. The word "external" means outside. For instance, tensions that arise between characters are external conflicts. Very seldom is there only one type of conflict throughout an entire play or story. 

You have undoubtedly experienced internal conflict many times in your life. Every time you make a decision, there is some level of internal conflict. For example, you might experience internal conflict over whether to order salmon or steak for dinner. There are many degrees of internal conflict. It can be as trivial as what to order for dinner or as serious as deciding whether or not to betray a friend. In the first example, you might think about the consequences for an hour. In the second example, you may have to deal with the consequences for years to come.

For conflict basics, click here for notes from ENG 9A!

Why do we do the things we do? Why do you think Hamlet's uncle killed his brother? Why would the queen marry her husband's brother? Motivation is the reason, justification, and explanation for a character's action.

Motivation comes from a combination of a character's personality and the circumstances that surround that character. Based on this combination, the character takes action. In the three acts of Hamlet that you’ve read, consider what each character’s motivations might have been.

Many of the main characters in Hamlet are concerned about the motivation behind Hamlet's bizarre behavior. His close relations spend much time discussing the source of his madness. 

Hamlet's motivations are not the only disputed motivations in the play. In act I, Bernardo, Marcellus, and Horatio recognize King Hamlet's ghost. The king is wearing the same armor he wore when he defeated King Fortinbras and the Poles. At the time of the sighting, the Danes were preparing for war against the Norwegians. Bernardo wonders if the ghost is warning of Denmark's defeat. However, we soon find out that the king's ghost has other motivations. 

In act I, scene II, we discovered Claudius's motivation for marrying so soon after the funeral. Claudius states that he had the health of Denmark in mind. He claims the Norwegians would have taken Denmark's mourning for weakness and launched an attack. His quick marriage to the queen brought the Danes out of mourning. By his own account, Claudius married to protect his country. Are his claims believable? Looking back at acts II and III, note that self-stated motivations are rarely the whole truth. 

Character development is the way a character changes from the beginning of a story to the end. Part of the fun of reading a story, novel, or play is watching characters grow and change. Characters who remain unchanged are often not as interesting as characters who develop as the plot unfolds.

Complex characters such as Hamlet are known as round characters. Round characters are multifaceted. They rarely have just one source of motivation and often experience internal conflict. Hamlet, for example, has evolved from a sensitive young man in mourning to a deeply troubled man. He is bent on revenge but is crippled with indecision. As you read the last two acts of William Shakespeare’s play, watch how Hamlet continues to change.

Not all characters are complex, or round. Relatively uncomplicated characters are called flat characters. Flat characters, such as Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, do not change over the course of a story.

Conflict motivates or influences characters into action. Thus, conflict plays a key role in characterization and character development. As external and internal conflict increases, we observe the character’s reactions and learn more about his or her personality.

Hamlet’s reactions tell us a lot about his character. By the end of the play, readers (or audience members) are left with a strong impression of his personality and motivations. As we have seen over the past few acts, he reacts to his conflicts by either going mad or pretending to go mad.

Hamlet's tendency to be sarcastic or spiteful is one of his character flaws. However, his indecision is his greatest flaw. It causes him to pass up several opportunities to avenge his father's death. In fact, the more he studies his own motives, the more hesitant and indecisive he becomes.

This weakness in Hamlet eventually leads to his downfall. Such a weakness is often called a tragic flaw. The Greek philosopher Aristotle identified a similar concept, hamartia. Hamartia is the misstep, poor judgment, or error through which the fortune of a hero in a tragedy is reversed. It is not exactly a character flaw but the result of a character flaw. Hamlet’s indecision is considered his tragic flaw because it contributes most to the play's tragic ending.

A motif is an idea that is repeated throughout a play and helps to develop a theme. The following list describes some of the motifs in Hamlet:

• Disease, rotting, and decay—This motif develops the theme of moral corruption. It is reflected, as you will see, in several lines from act V, including “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” and “It warms the very sickness in my heart.”

• Weeds and flowers—There are a number of references to weeds and flowers in the play. They symbolize impurity and purity, respectively. For example, Hamlet says in act I, “'tis an unweeded garden/ That grows to seed..." Ophelia presents weeds to the courtiers after her father's death but names various flowers as she does so.

• Ears and hearing—At many points in Hamlet, figurative language involving ears and hearing refers to deception, distortions of truth, or communication with malignant intentions. Additionally, Claudius kills Hamlet's father by pouring poison into his ears.

• Misogyny—Hamlet displays misogyny, a hatred of women. He begins to hate his mother after her remarriage, and he mistreats Ophelia. He openly expresses his hatred in his conversations with Ophelia.

• 
  

• Incest—Hamlet and his father's ghost view Gertrude's marriage to Claudius as incestuous. There are also suggestions of incestuous desire in Hamlet's interest in his mother’s relationship with Claudius and in Laertes’s relationship with his sister. 

For a refresher on motifs, see these notes from ENG 11B!

• Click here to read Hamlet, Act V!

• Having a hard time understanding Hamlet? Read a modern English translation here!

See this image from ENG 9A for a reminder on how plots are written and what the parts of a story are!

Despite the unequal status of women in the Elizabethan period, Shakespeare’s plays are full of strong female characters. In many of his comedies, such as Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and The Merchant of Venice, female characters cross-dress to take actions they would not otherwise be able to take. Cross-dressing helped Shakespeare’s heroines overcome many obstacles and enjoy some amount of freedom. 

In most plays, disguising themselves as males helps female characters travel alone and pursue their goal of reuniting with a loved one. In The Merchant of Venice, such a disguise allows a female character to act as a lawyer and defend a loved one against another man’s claim. 

The cross-dressing in Shakespeare’s plays blurred gender boundaries and allowed the playwright to portray women as intelligent and courageous individuals. It also served a practical purpose. Since the actors playing female roles were mostly boys or young men, cross-dressing relieved them from dressing as women throughout the play.

Shakespeare frequently used puns and dramatic irony to achieve a comic effect in Twelfth Night.

A pun is a play on words involving words with multiple meanings or words that sound the same but have different meanings. A pun derives its humorous effect from confusing the different meanings. For example, the opening lines of Twelfth Night, include a pun on the words hart (which means deer) and heart:

CURIO: Will you go hunt, my lord?

DUKE (Orsino): What, Curio?

CURIO: The hart.

DUKE: Why, so I do, the noblest that I have:
O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purg'd the air of pestilence;
That instant was I turn'd into a hart;
And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,
E'er since pursue me.—How now! what news from her?

Dramatic irony is another often-used comic device in Twelfth Night. Dramatic irony is the contrast between what a character thinks to be true and what we (the readers or audience) know to be true. For example, in the lines below from act III, scene I, Olivia professes her love to Cesario. Yet the audience knows that Cesario is actually Viola dressed as a young man.

OLIVIA: Cesario, by the roses of the spring,
By maidhood, honour, truth, and everything,
I love thee so that, maugre all thy pride,
Nor wit, nor reason, can my passion hide.
Do not extort thy reasons from this clause,
For, that I woo, thou therefore hast no cause:
But rather reason thus with reason fetter:
Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.

For a refresher on puns, click here for notes from ENG 11A!

For a refresher on irony, click here for notes from ENG 11A!

• Click here to read Twelfth Night, Act II!

• Having a hard time understanding Twelfth Night? Read a modern English translation here!

Melancholy, appearance versus reality, and madness are some of the themes that William Shakespeare explores in Twelfth Night. However, two key themes—love and gender confusion—form the play’s foundation.

Gender confusion resulting from Viola’s cross-dressing sets in motion a long chain of events. Many hilarious situations and complications in the play spring from this confusion, including a complex love triangle. This love triangle, in turn, leads to some of the play’s major conflicts and reveals much about the characters’ personalities.

Click here for a video that discusses how gender plays in important part in Twelfth Night, and why! This is from the Tutorial "Twelfth Night, Acts IV & V" from Unit 2.

• Click here to read Twelfth Night, Act V!

• Having a hard time understanding Twelfth Night? Read a modern English translation here!

Before James I assumed the English throne, rumors that he would ease anti-Catholic laws circulated the country. The rumors proved unfounded. James I turned out to be severe in his persecution of Catholics, which angered many people.

In 1605, Catholic conspirators planned to kill the king by blowing up Parliament. The plan came to light when a Catholic member of Parliament named Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter. The letter writer warned Monteagle to stay home on November 5, 1605. Parliament was searched, and the well-known anti-Protestant plotter Guy Fawkes was found hidden in Parliament's cellar with 36 barrels of gunpowder. This event is now referred to as the Gunpowder Plot. To this day, it is not known for certain who wrote the letter to Monteagle.

The reign of James I ended with the king’s death in 1625. His second son, Charles I, immediately took over the throne. This event marked the beginning of the Carolinian period in England. The term Carolinian comes from the Latin word Carolus, meaning "Charles."

Charles I was a less successful monarch than his father had been. Soon after becoming king, he married a Catholic woman. To Protestant England, this decision was not a popular one. For this reason and others, many members of Parliament quickly came to distrust their new king. Charles, in turn, distrusted Parliament. Between 1625 and 1629, he dismissed Parliament three times. He finally dissolved it altogether in 1629 and ruled alone for 11 years. Without Parliament’s approval, he raised money to meet the government's expenses.

Have you noticed how some poems have a precise structure, while others seem less structured? Poets choose a structure for their poetry based on the ideas they want to express and the effects they want to create for the reader. Let’s look at some common structures.

• Open form poems have a relatively free structure that allows for more flexibility. Poets can express ideas and use words without worrying about length or format.

• Blank verse poems are written in iambic pentameter, a meter commonly used in poetry and verse drama. Iambic pentameter doesn’t have a specific rhyme scheme. Shakespeare often used iambic pentameter in his plays.

• Poems written in free verse don’t follow any rules and tend to read more like a conversation. These poems may or may not rhyme, but they do not have a regular meter.

• Closed form poems follow specific patterns in terms of rhyme, meter, and length. Closed form poems follow the conventions of “traditional” poetry and allow poets to use sound devices that help develop the rhythm of a poem.

Breakdown: Any poem that is "closed form" is following a set of rules to look and sound a certain way. For example, haikus are a type of closed poem made up of only 3 lines, where each of the lines have a certain number of syllables: first 5, then 7, then 5 again for the final line. Other types of poems have other more complex rules (as stated above), with sonnets, elegies, and sestets being examples of closed poems that have rules on how to write them.

For more about meter, check out this PowerPoint Presentation!

For more about rhyme patterns, see these notes from English 10A!

Metaphysical poets also focused on new themes. They shifted away from the bleak memento mori theme that was popular in the Middle Ages and Elizabethan period. The theme of memento mori urged people to focus their thoughts on the afterlife and to shape their behavior accordingly.

In the early seventeenth century (1600s), however, philosophers began to emphasize the importance of living for the now. This concept is summarized by the Latin phrase carpe diem which means "seize the day." Metaphysical poetry often focused on the carpe diem theme by urging readers to make the most of today.

Many metaphysical poems open with a conceit, a metaphor that compares two unexpected things. This tactic created abrupt and even shocking openings—a hallmark of metaphysical poetry.

In George Herbert's poem "Praise (III)," God's generosity is compared to a bottle. These two things are obviously dissimilar, so their comparison is a conceit. Conceits also relate to the concept of think/feel poetry. It is not immediately clear how God's generosity is related to a bottle. The reader must think about the conceit to understand its meaning.

Metaphysical poems are also known for their playfulness. Puns, verbal wit, paradoxes, hyperboles, and synecdoche all make metaphysical poems especially interesting to read.

To go over hyperbole, click here to see these notes from ENG 11A!

For a reminder on puns, see these notes from ENG 11A!

Need a refresher on synecdoche? See these notes from Unit 1 (the bottom of the list)!

John Donne was born into a Roman Catholic family in 1572, when England was extremely anti-Catholic. In his younger days, Donne was a flirt and a lover of women. His faith deepened as he aged, and he spent a great deal of time studying religious theology. His research led him to convert to Anglicanism and become ordained as an Anglican priest. Over the course of his religious career, he served as a court preacher and a dean of St. Paul's cathedral. He also studied law and served in Parliament.

Donne was not famous as a poet during his own lifetime. He was, however, a widely respected preacher known for his emphasis on research, use of metaphor, and dramatic wit. His works often contemplated his own mortality. In fact, he preached his own funeral sermon weeks before his death.

In true metaphysical fashion, Donne's poems exhibit unexpected imagery, symbolism, and metaphors. He is known for his ability to blend the sacred and the profane. For instance, his love poetry often included religious imagery, while his religious poems often included sexual imagery. 

An apostrophe is a literary device where a character addresses (talks to) an imaginary person, object, or idea as if they were a person. For example, "Oh stars, won't you dance with me" is an apostrophe. 

John Donne also wrote sonnets. Nineteen of them were published together as the Holy Sonnets several years after his death in 1631. Sonnet 10 from the Holy Sonnets opens with the oft quoted line "Death, be not proud." This sonnet is also an apostrophe. Donne speaks directly to Death personified. He essentially tells Death that it is not as powerful as it might think.

This sonnet has many characteristics of a traditional Italian sonnet. It has an octave that presents the problem and a sestet that answers the problem. The rhyme scheme in the octave is traditional, but the sestet rhyme scheme deviates from the Italian form. It ends in a couplet.

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"The Collar" clearly reflects Herbert's religious struggles. In this monologue, Herbert tells the audience about an incident in which he railed against God. Like many metaphysical poems, "The Collar" features plain speech.

Although the tone is more serious than that of Donne's poems, it still contains a notable pun. The title of the poem refers both to a clerical collar worn by priests and to the term choler, which means "anger." The poem is an emotional look at one man's struggle with religion and freedom.

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"To His Coy Mistress" is highly reflective of Marvell's work. In fact, it is probably the best known carpe diem poem of the seventeenth century. It is both a love poem and a logical argument. We can trace the logic of the argument through words such as if, then, however, and therefore. The speaker's basic premise is that if he had all the time in the world, then he would spend it with his love, to whom the poem is addressed. However, he does not have all the time in the world. Therefore, he pleads with her to not waste time.

This logical approach makes it difficult to determine whether Marvell supports or criticizes the speaker's views on passion. Some read this poem as a satirical comment on the overuse of logic and reasoning. Others simply see it as a skillful blending of logic and love. The poem presents the dichotomy between desires of the flesh and spiritual longing.

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