Skip to content
Home
Literature
Renaissance Literature

Renaissance Literature

Articles

Comprehensive guides to renaissance literature, from foundational works to specialized topics.

Learning Path — 18 articles

1 Renaissance Literature Guide — An Overview of the English Renaissance A comprehensive guide to English Renaissance literature — its historical background, major genres, key figures from … 8 min Start Here 2 Edmund Spenser — Guide to the Poet of The Faerie Queene A comprehensive guide to Edmund Spenser, the poet of The Faerie Queene — his life, epic-romance masterpiece, the … 9 min Start Here 3 The Faerie Queene — Spenser's Epic Romance of Virtue and Adventure An in-depth analysis of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene — its six books, knights representing virtues, allegorical … 9 min Start Here 4 Christopher Marlowe — Guide to the Elizabethan Playwright and Poet A comprehensive guide to Christopher Marlowe — his life as scholar, spy, and playwright, major works including Doctor … 8 min 5 Doctor Faustus — Marlowe's Tragedy of Ambition and Damnation An in-depth analysis of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus — the bargain with the devil, the seven deadly sins, the … 8 min 6 Elizabethan Poetry — The Golden Age of English Verse Elizabethan poetry from Spenser and Sidney to Shakespeare and the sonneteers — the sonnet craze, pastoral verse, the … 8 min 7 John Donne — Guide to the Metaphysical Poet's Life and Works A comprehensive guide to John Donne, the leading metaphysical poet — his life from Catholic upbringing to Anglican … 9 min 8 John Milton — Guide to the Epic Poet of Paradise Lost A comprehensive guide to John Milton, the epic poet of Paradise Lost — his life, political writings, poetic career, the … 8 min 9 Paradise Lost Analysis — Milton's Epic of the Fall of Man An in-depth analysis of John Milton's Paradise Lost — the epic structure, Satan's rebellion, the council in hell, the … 8 min 10 Metaphysical Poets — Donne, Herbert, Marvell, and the School of Wit The metaphysical poets of the English Renaissance — John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, Henry Vaughan, Richard … 8 min 11 Cavalier Poets — Carew, Lovelace, Suckling, and Royalist Verse The cavalier poets of seventeenth-century England — Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling, and Richard … 11 min 12 Renaissance Drama Guide A comprehensive guide to English Renaissance drama — the development of the Elizabethan playhouse, the University Wits, … 8 min 13 Revenge Tragedy — Kyd, Shakespeare, Webster, and the Genre of Blood Revenge tragedy in English Renaissance drama — from Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy to Shakespeare's Hamlet to … 8 min 14 Renaissance Prose — Essays, Romance, and the Birth of the Novel Renaissance prose from More's Utopia to Bacon's essays and Sidney's Arcadia — the development of English prose style, … 9 min 15 Renaissance Humanism — The Intellectual Foundation of the Renaissance Renaissance humanism — its origins in Petrarch and Italian humanists, the revival of classical learning, studia … 9 min 16 Sonnet Sequences — Petrarch, Sidney, Spenser, and the Elizabethan The Elizabethan sonnet sequence craze from Sidney's Astrophil and Stella to Spenser's Amoretti and Shakespeare's sonnets … 8 min Advanced 17 Shakespeare — The Complete Guide to the Bard of Avon A comprehensive guide to William Shakespeare — his life in Stratford and London, the four genres, major plays including … 8 min Advanced 18 The Legacy of Renaissance Literature The lasting legacy of English Renaissance literature — how Shakespeare, Milton, the King James Bible, the sonnet … 10 min Advanced