Renaissance Literature Main Examination Topics Sixteenth-century England. Historical and Cultural Background: The Tudors.

rs. Their Home and Foreign Policies. The Reformation and its Consequences. Humanism. Early Renaissance Scholarship. Translations in the Early Renaissance Context Lyrical Poetry. The Early Sonneteers (Thomas Wyatt; Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey); Sir Philip Sidney; Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare as Sonneteers. o Text analysis: Thomas Wyatt I Find No Peace; Henry Howard The Soote Season; Philip Sidney Sonnet XXXI; Edmund Spenser Sonnet LXXV; William Shakespeare Sonnets XVIII, LX, CXXX, CLII. Narrative Poems. Edmund Spensers The Fairie Queene; William Shakespeares Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. The Rise of the Secular Drama. Performances on the Elizabethan Stage. The First Comedies (Henry Medwall; Nicholas Udall; Gammer Gurtons Needle). The First Tragedies (Gorboduc). o Text analysis: Nicholas Udall Ralph Roister Doister. The Prologue. Gorboduc. Act III, Scene 1. The University Wits: John Lyly; George Peele; Robert Greene; Thomas Kyd; Christopher Marlowe. o Text analysis: Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy. Act III, Scene 12; Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus, Act 5. Shakespeares Life and Work. The Shakespearean Controversy. Shakespeares Sources. Shakespeares Chronicle Plays: The Early Chronicle Plays (Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3; Richard III). The Great Chronicle Plays (Richard II; Henry IV Parts 1 and 2; Henry V) o Text analysis: Henry VI, Part 3 Act II, Scene 5; Richard III Act I, Scene 1; Henry IV, Part 1 Act II, Scene 4. Shakespeares Comedies: The Early Comedies (The Comedy of Errors; The Taming of the Shrew; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Loves Labours Lost). The Great Romantic Comedies (A Midsummer Nights Dream; Much Ado about Nothing; The Merry Wives of Windsor; As You Like It; Twelfth Night). The Problem Plays (Troilus and Cressida; Alls Well that Ends Well; Measure for Measure) o Text analysis: The Taming of the Shrew Act II, Scene 1; A Midsummer Nights Dream Act V, Scene 1; As You Like It Act II, Scene 7. Shakespeares Tragedies: From the Plays of Tragic Conception (Romeo and Juliet) to the Great Tragedies (Hamlet; Othello; King Lear; Macbeth) o Text analysis: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act I, Scene 2; Act III, Scene 1; King Lear Act III, Scene 2.