Literary Achievements of the Renaissance

Literary Impact The Renaissance is known for creativity in a number of different artistic endeavors. Literature was no exception. The historical impact of writers like Dante Alighieri, Miguel de Cervantes, and William Shakespeare was HUGE. Dante was an Italian writer famous for his epic poem The Divine Comedy. It tells the story of an imaginary journey through Heaven and Hell.

Cervantes was a Spanish writer famous for his novel Don Quixote. It tells the story of a mildly insane man who believes he is a knight who must right every wrong. Many consider this novel to be the greatest ever published.

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon England in He is known as the world’s greatest playwright and one of its finest poets. He was a major figure in the English Renaissance. Known for famous plays like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, and Macbeth.

Shakespeare wrote many sonnets (154) and plays (37), both tragedies (sad) and comedies (funny). His plays are considered the greatest in the English language. Many of his plays are still performed today, all over the world.

Romeo and Juliet In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet two teenagers whose family’s hate each other, fall in love at first sight. In the famous balcony scene (that takes place on a balcony ) Juliet speaks of how Romeo is more than just his family name – that his looks, his personality, and everything that makes him special has nothing to do with his name, but with who he is inside.

Balcony scene – Romeo and Juliet JULIET O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet. ROMEO [Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this? JULIET 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? it is not hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself. ROMEO I take thee at thy word: Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Now let’s see some professionals do this.

Shakespeare also wrote many sonnets (14 line poems, usually about love). Here are two of his most famous sonnets.

Sonnet 18 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 oft' 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 wanderest 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.

Sonnet My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; 2. Coral is far more red, than her lips red: 3. If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; 4. If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. 5. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, 6. But no such roses see I in her cheeks; 7. And in some perfumes is there more delight 8. Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. 9. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know 10. That music hath a far more pleasing sound: 11. I grant I never saw a goddess go, 12. My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: 13. And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare, 14. As any she belied with false compare.

Tonight for homework you will write a sonnet about yourself. It should be 14 lines and it doesn’t have to rhyme (although it can). Use descriptive language. You may choose to idealize yourself (like sonnet 18), or describe yourself realistically (like sonnet 130). Be sure to decorate your poem with color and pictures!