The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages

-The date between the fall of Roman empire and Renaissance
-Much of Europe was disorganized, fragmented
-Catholic monasteries were islands of intellectualism as the world around them devolved into anarchy
-Religion and feudism dominated life. Christian Europe was at war to recapture land feature by Muslims (The Crusades)
-Latin was the language of the church and intellectual universities (Knights, King Arthur, holy Grail)
*Robes came from religion costumes

Geoffrey Chaucer
Why was he important?
-He was one of the initiatory to write in vulgar side not Latin
-He likewise wrote about common people, not God or Saints
-His Canterbury Tales return the stories of the pilgrims on their way to Canterbury
-The characters cover a wide site of society (high, low) and are known for their unusual realism, humour and characterization.
-Language of the time was Middle English
-Enough words are still recognizable to us that we can read Chaucer with a glossary, helps to read out loud.
-Note how uniform the spelling is compared to modern English!
-Pronunciation had not yet drifted past from spelling.




















Early Renaissance Sonnets

The Sonnet was the dominant form of rhyme in this era. Why?




Classical models (as filtered through Italian Renaissance)
Petrach (1304-1374) Wyatt (translator poet, low gear English sonnets)

What is a sonnet?
-14 lines, usually iambic argumentation in English (weak vs strong)
-10 syllables in each line

Petrachan (Italian)
Octavo (8) + sextet (6) abba abba + cde cde

Traditionally, the 8vo introduced a problem and the sestet contained the solution!!
situation 9 is the volta (turn), where the sonnet changed tone and direction and
1ov responds? to the proposition.

Shakespearean (English)
(Sonnet 18 is an example, Astrophal and Stella, 50)
-An adaptation of the sonnet
-3X quatrains conceit proposition, 3 parts=more rhymes
-easier for English poets with less rhyming...If you want to get a full essay, pronounce it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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