Imprints final assignment

Table of contents · Introduction · Renaissance in General · Sonnets of Shakespeare · Chapter one: An English writer, Shakespeare · Chapter two: An Italian writer, Francesco Petrarca · Chapter three : A Dutch writer, Gerbrand Adrieaansz Bredero · Chapter four: Pierre Corneille · Conclusion · Used sources · Introduction This is the final assignment of Imprints. In this Final assignment we have to write a report about the development of literature in one of the three periods which were discussed in the catern: Elizabethan Jacobean age
Colonial and post colonial age

Twentieth century
We have chosen for the Elizabethan Jacobean age. In this assignment we are discussing four writers from four different countries. All the writers have lived in the beginning of the Renaissance in their country. In this assignment we are searching for an answer on the question what kind of influence they have on the development of the Renaissance in their own country. The writers we’re discussing are: Francessco Pretrarca from Italy
Pierre Corneille from France
Bredero from the Netherlands
Shakespeare from England
Work plan
First we’re discussing the Renaissance in general. After that we have a look on the life of the writers and the political situation in there country. In the end we make a conclusion about the influence of the writers on the Renaissance. Renaissance in general The Renaissance started in Italy and slowly spread throughout Europe. The church was still a major political, social and economic power as well as a primary patron of the arts, although it suffered some dark days during the Reformation. An emerging middle class began to question the old foundations and education became more available as a result of the printing press. Individual achievement, scientific inquiry and new wealth set the stage for the Renaissance to match and even surpass Classical Greece and Rome. Its first period was marked by a revival of interest in classical literature and the classical ideals. Pope Nicholas V earnestly fostered the new movement and laid the foundation of the great Vatican collection. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 Renaissance gained a further impetus because of a number of Greek humanists who moved from Byzantium to Italy. The second period of the Renaissance is marked by a continued zeal for classical study, and by the developmental of a broad learning and the new view of the intellectual life which is now known as Humanism. By this time the movement had spread to Germany, Poland and France, the Netherlands and to other northern countries The movement had gone far beyond the mere revival of classical studies and was felt in every department of life. In philosophy it gradually replaced the purely formal methods of thought that scholasticism had fostered. Renaissance Artistic innovations include: oil painting, perspective as a science, aerial perspective, non religious art, sfumato, chiaroscuro, clothed nude, tremendous detail, foreshortening, child-like children, and a return to landscapes and portraits. Sonnets of Shakespeare (related to assignment 5) Sonnet18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest; So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. William Shakepeare (1564 - 1616) The rhyme scheme of this sonnet is as following: Abab cdcd bebe ff
The structure of the sonnet: Line 1 Question
Line 2 – 12 Reasoning, arguments
Line 13 and 14 Explanation, conclusion
In this Sonnet Shakespeare is comparing an person to the summer. We think this is not a good comparison to a person (you, thee) because, Summer is: 1 less beautiful than the person
2 less temperate, more extreme: “Too hot the eye of heaven shines, and
often is his gold complexion dimm’d.” 3 only temporary, it’s beauty will fade, while the beauty of the
person will be eternal. Line 7: In this line “Fair” or beauty declines at some time. Reasons for this are
1 By chance or nature’s changing course. Summer will eventually evolve into
autumn and lose it’s splendour, for that’s how nature works. When Death thriumps. Naturally, when one dies, one starts decaying; a
process that usually wipes all traces of former beauty. Line 9: “thy eternal summer” means: The summer of life, the beauty this person has. Line 14: “this” means “This” means this poem. Shakespeare has made the person he is talking to
immortal through his writing. So long as men live to read the poem, the

person shall not cease to exist, thus gives the poem ‘life’. The message of this Sonnet is: Beauty can be made eternal, if one uses poetry, which is eternal. Chapter two An Italian writer Francesco Petrarca Italy in the period of Francesco petrarca In the time of Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) there was a weakening of papal and imperial authority and there were great intellectual changes in Italy. An intellectual revival, stimulated in part by the freer atmosphere of the cities and in part by the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Latin writings, gave rise to the humanist attitudes and ideas that formed the basis of the Renaissance. About the same time, many of the communal governments of the city-states fell under the rule of dictators called "signori". In Milan the Visconti family rose to power in the 13th century, to be succeeded by the Sforza family in the mid-15th century, a few decades after the Medici family had seized control of Florence. Meanwhile the Este family ruled Ferrara from the 13th through the 16th century. Although they subverted the political institutions of the communes, the signori (who became known as principi, with royal titles) were instrumental in advancing the cultural and civic life of Renaissance Italy. Under the protection of the Medici, for example, Florence became the most magnificent and prestigious centre of the arts in Italy. The appearance of towns was transformed with the introduction of new styles of architecture. During this period Italy indeed became the cultural centre of Europe and Italian ideas influenced all of Europe. Francesco Petrarca in general Francis Petrarch also know as Francesco Petrarca was born in Arezzo, 1304, as the son of a notary, but he spend his early childhood in a village near Florence. His father, Ser Petracco, was expelled from Florence by the Black Guelfs, who had seized power. Petrarch spent much of his early life at Avignon. He studied at Montpellier (1319-1323) and moved to Bologna, where he studied law in 1323-1325. Petrarch was primarily interested in writing and Latin literature, sharing this passion with his friend Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), the writer of Il Decamerone. In Avignon Petrarch composed numerous sonnets which acquired popularity. In search for old Latin classics and manuscripts, he travelled through France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. When his father died in 1326, Petrach returned to Avignon, where he worked in different clerical offices. The turning point in his life was April 6 1327, when he saw Laura in the church of Sainte-Claire d'Avignon. She became the queen of his poetry. He wrote many poems about her. As a scholar and poet, Petrarch soon grew famous, and in 1341 he was crowned as a poet laureate in Rome. He was charged with various diplomatic missions. The latter part of his life he spent in wandering from city to city in northern Italy as an international celebrity. Petrarch settled about 1367 in Padua, where he passed his remaining years in religious exercises. He died in Arquà in the Euganean Hills on July 18, 1374. Petrarch bequeathed to Boccaccio a small sum of money for a new cloak. Fracesco petrarca and literature Petrarch wrote a great deal of poetry, most of it in his own language, Italian also called the vernacular. He wrote in the vernacular because that was making it easily accessible to those of the general public who were literate. His most famous collection of poems is his Canzoniere, a collection of 366 love songs, in which he expresses his love of the earthly things that surround him. Most of it was inspired by his idealised love for the beautiful Laura. She was a symbol of spiritual beauty and erotic attraction. It was his poetry more than anything which brought him the fame and recognition he desired. Other works he wrote are: I trionfi, Africa, Epistolae metricae, remediis utriusque fortunae and much more. His works made popular the sonnet and influenced poets such as Chaucer, Ronsard, Spencer, and Shakespeare. Petrarca is such a well known writer because he kind of is the inventor of the renaissance. He was the first one who wanted to make the distance between his own world and the ancient classics smaller. And he also was the one who started to write in the vernacular. This two things have both something to do with the Renaissance, on one hand the interest in old Italian literature and on the other hand the use of the vernacular which enlarged the feeling to be national self-assured. Petrarca also started the ideas of individuality and balance. By his interests in politics Petrach showed that not god was the centre of interests but men, an other point of people of the Renaissance. Petrarca wrote many sonnets, which are also a characteristic of the Renaissance. Especially Canzoniere changed much in the way how poems were build up. More and more writes through whole Europe started to write sonnets.
Chapter three A Dutch writer, Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero The Netherlands in the period of Bredero At the beginning of the 16th century Charles V was the most important man in the Netherlands. He was king of Spain and Lord of the Netherlands. The economic situation in the Netherlands at that time was very favourable. The textile sector in particular was growing strongly. From the 15th century onwards Antwerp was the economic centre. In cultural terms the Netherlands in the 16th century counted amongst the best in Europe. In this time also book printing is becoming very important, it made reading very cheap. Because reading is not so expensive anymore, a lot more people are starting to read. At the end of the 16th century the crisis broke. There were a lot of economic problems. Secondly the new religious movements were becoming more important. Thirdly the independent thinking Dutch burghers were strongly opposed to such absolute government. Also problematic was the great distance between the King (Philip II) and his lands. This offered many opportunities for opposition forces. Bredero in general Bredero was born in 1585 in Amsterdam and died in 1618. He was the son of a shoemaker, but was painter himself. In 1602 he became a member of the
Chambers of Rhetoric “De Eglantier” ["Sweet Briar"]. Between 1607 and 1610 he made a trip to Antwerp. He never married, but several women played an important role in his live. Maria Tesselschade Visscher en Magdalene Stockmans are women which he wrote some of his poems for. In the time Bredero live, it was usual to put a slogan under the poems you wrote. The personal slogan of Bredero was: “ It can change “. This slogan is to compare with the themes he often uses in his poems. He wrote often about the changes of destiny. Bredero was a rhetorician .In his poems he praised the older and famous rhetoricians. But in his own poems he shows by using everyday language that he sought and found inspiration in other directions. His lyrics are the most different form traditional rhetoricians poetry. Bredero and literature Bredero wrote songs and plays with an educational function. In his plays he wants to learn the people something about how they have to behave in the society. In the 16th and the 17th century all the plays contents a strong opinion about how to behave. The opinions which were propagated by the plays has to fit in the opinion of the local authorities, because they have to give permission to let them play in the city and because the plays had an strong influence on the civilian. Some plays of Bredero were performed in the first “Nederduytse Academie”. His most famous work is: “de Spaanschen Brabander” another famous play he wrote is: “de klucht van de koe”. The main lesson that is to be drown from these plays is that focussing on exterior is a false focusing. The chambers of rhetoricians had a great influence on the society and on the development of modern Dutch. Bredero was in the beginning of his career a member of the rhetorician chamber Later he had much critic on the rhetoricians. Especially in ‘de klucht van de koe’ he obviously gives critic to the rhetoricians. In the beginning the renaissance was still focussed on religion (God is the centre of interest) In the chambers of rhetoricians can be seen the religious element long remained of great importance alongside the secular. Bredero was a writer who was starting with denying the important element of religion (Man is centre of interest). Another important change in the time of Bredero was that most of the writers didn’t put there name under their work. This was because the writers wrote for the society, to learn them something. They didn’t wrote to became famous by themselves. When the Renaissance arrived in the Netherlands was there a change in the concept of the function of the individual. The better known rhetoricians no longer fought shy of putting their name or motto under their work. The younger rhetoricians became famous in this way.
Chapter four A France writer Pierre Corneille France in the period of Corneille: In the 16th century the Renaissance flourished in France, and figures such as the poet Pierre de Ronsard, the satirist and humorist Rabelais, and Michel de Montaigne, credited with inventing the essay, were to become internationally acknowledged. French Neoclassical drama reached a climax during the next hundred years in the tragedies of Pierre Corneille and Racine. During the same period, Molière displayed his vast and varied talents in the theatre, particularly as a writer of comedies; Jean de La Fontaine produced moralistic verse in his Fables; and Mme de La Fayette created the classic La Princesse de Clèves, generally considered the first French psychological novel. Corneilles life: Born June 6, 1606 in Rouen, France, to a family of lawyers, Pierre Corneille would follow in his father's footsteps. Educated by the Jesuits, he studied law and then entered the Rouen parlement in 1629. He would serve as the king's counselor in the local office of the department of waterways and forests for 21 years, and remarkably, he still found the time to write 20 plays during this period. After his retirement from the legal profession, he would write 12 more. In 1635 he joined a group of literary friends, accustomed to meet regularly for the purpose of discussion, wich had been officially recognized by Cardinal Richelieu and elevated into a national institution under the name of the French Academy. This body of men, inspired by the great Cardinal, reproached Corneille for too close an observance of the classic rules; for "sinning against nature in his anxiety not to sin against the rules of art." In 1647, Corneille moved with his family to Paris and was admitted to the Académie Francaise, the same organisation which had helped to wage the earlier campaign against ‘Le Cid’. Throughout the rest of his days, Corneille would continued to write, but the public taste had turned against him in preference of younger writers. Complicating his situation still further was the financial difficulty caused by the intermittent disappearance of the pension he had been granted by Richelieu. On October 1, 1684, Corneille died in his house on the rue d'Argenteuil, Paris. Corneille and literature: Although as a writer of comedy he exhibited undoubted genius, yet his greatest work, both in bulk and in quality, was in tragedy. He wrote thirty plays, choosing a great many historical subjects, several of which had often been used before, for example ‘le Cid’ (1637) , which was influenced by Spanish tales of the famous 11th-century warrior known as El Cid. In this the hero is placed in a clearly defined social world. The conflict arises between the claims of society and personal choice. In the end, love must be subordinated to a higher sense of purpose. The problem of choice is stressed differently in each of Corneille's major plays. In ‘Le Cid’ it is honour; in ‘Horace’ (1640), patriotism; in ‘Cinna’ (1640-41), politics; and in ‘Polyeucte’ (1642-43), religion. These four plays are considered Corneille's greatest achievements as a writer and thinker. For a part of the time he adhered to the ‘Aristotelian rules’ named to the Greek philosopher and critic Aristotle. Who analysed the plays of the fifth century as well as those of his own time, classified the kinds of drama, and laid down rules for the construction of tragedy. Conclusion
After making this final assignment we’ve noticed some things about the writers we’ve discussed. And we think we’ve found the most answers on the questions we wrote down in the introduction. Petrarca, the Italian writer who lived in the very beginning of the Renaissance was very important for the development of the literature in the Renaissance. He introduced it in a kind of way. Petrarca introduced the use of sonnets. He wrote many sonnets and many of them he wrote in vernacular. With those things he influenced many other writers, also the writers from other countries. This means he was respected for what he was doing and that he had a great influence on the development of the Renaissance. Bredero, the Dutch writer lived later than Petrarca. When in Italy the Renaissance was allready started, it had just begon in the Netherlands. Bredero was one of the writers who was starting to write like writers did in the Renaissance. He followed the characteristics of the Renaissance. He didn’t had a great influence on the development of the Renaissance in Europe, but he definitely had a some influence on some writers in the Netherlands, who were inspirited by his work. Bredero was taking care of the Hollands dialect. He proctected it form the Brabants dialect. By pointing out that the Hollands dialect has as much as aesthetic faults as the Brabants dialect. Special about his way of writing was, that he was mixing up classical elements as well as Renaissance models in his work. Corneille was a French writer of tragedies. He lived later than Petrarca and Bredero. He wasn’t a writer who introduced the Renaissance in French, but he was one of the most famous. He wrote in the time that the Renaissance flourished in French. He had joined a group of writers with who he observed the classic rules. He used in his plays historical subjects which made his plays neoclassical. He kind of introduced the tragedy in French. An important subject in all his plays is choice. Other writers in French also began to write tragedy. So he had some influence on other writers in French. Shakespeare, the famous English writer lived in the period between Pertacrca a LOGBOOK Who What Time When

Elisa, Cindy and Anna Making plans 50 min 7 October
Anna, Elisa and Cindy Table of contents 50 min 9 October
Cindy, Anna and Elisa Search for information about Shakespeare 50 min 10 October
Elisa, Cindy and Anna Discussing the notes of the teacher 50 min 23 October
Anna Search information about Bredero 60 min 16 October
Cindy Search information about Corneille 60 min 19 October
Elisa Search for information about Petrarca 90 min 31 October
Anna Writing about Bredero 120 min 28 and 30 October
Cindy Writing about Corneille 120 min 4 and 6 November
Elisa Writing about Petrarca 120 min 3 November
Elisa, Anna and Cindy Discussing about the work we made 50 min 6 November
Anna Introduction and time table 80 min 11 November
Elisa Writing about Shakespeare 120 min 14 November
Cindy Writing about the renaissance 120 min 24 November
Elisa, Anna and Cindy Starting to write Conclusion 100 min 8 December Bronnen: The internet · http://
www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc57.html · http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/spectop007.html · http://www.theatredatabase.com/17th_century/pierre_corneille_001.html · http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Theatre/Corneille/corneille.shtml · http://history.evansville.net/renaissa.html#Introduction
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/r/renaiss.htm