The Elizabethan Age (1558-1603): Literary Works

Elizabethan Prose Writers

4. Stephen Gosson (1554-1624) 

• Preacher, Pamphleteer and a Satirist

• He was influenced by Puritanism

• The principles of Puritanism made him go against contemporary poetries and theatres

Works

a) The Schoole of Abuse (1579)

• Full title- ‘Schoole of Abuse, containing a pleasant invective against Poets, Pipers, Plaiers, Jesters and such like Caterpillars of the Commonwealth’

• Gosson has used ‘euphuism’ in this prose work

• He has mainly condemned poetries and stage plays in this work

• Gosson gave 4 reasons against poetry

          i) Poetry is a waste of time

          ii) Poetry is the mother of lies

          iii) Poetry nurses abuse

          iv) Plato has banished Poets

• Defences against this attack

          i) Philp Sidney’s ‘An Apology for Poetry’ (written in 1580) was a defence against Gosson’s work

          ii) Thomas Lodge also had written ‘Defence of Poetry, Music and Stage Plays’ (1579/80) against this work

5. Richard Hakluyt (1553-1616)

• Associated with East India Company

• He is known for the sharing different accounts of his voyages

• He was there with Walter Raleigh

• He promoted English colonisation of North America

• He is regarded as the first professor of modern Geography at Oxford

• After his death ‘Hakluyt Society’ was formed to publish his records of voyages

Works

a) Principal Navigations, Voyages, and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589)

• Written in 3 volumes

• Talks about the experiences of voyages

• Accounts are not fully authentic

• It has expressed the energy and spirit of English race

6. Samuel Purchas (1577-1626)

• English Cleric

• He used to record the personal experiences of different experienced sailors

Works

a) Purchas his Pilgrimes (1614-1626)

• Total of 4 editions have been published of the same book from 1614 to 1626 (1614, 1619, 1625, 1626)

• The third edition is also known as ‘Hakluytus Posthumus’(1625)

• It is a continuation of Hakluyt’s voyages

• It is based on the Hakluyt’s manuscripts which were left to Purchas by Hakluyt himself

• This work is the source of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem ‘Kubla Khan’

7. William Camden (1551-1623)

• English Historian

• He pursued antiquarian researches in his lifetime

Works

a) Britannia (1586)

• It is a historical and topographical survey of Great Britain and Ireland

• Written in Latin

• Total of 6 editions were published from 1586-1607

• In 1610, Philemon Holland translated it into English

• His intension was to ‘restore antiquity to Britaine, and Britain to his antiquity’

b) Annales (1597)

• It is a history of Queen Elizabeth’s reign

• ‘Annals’ means ‘a record of events year by year’

• This work has contributed greatly to form the present picture of Queen Elizabeth

8. Thomas North (1535-1604)

• North is known for his translation

• Studied at Cambridge

• He then served in military offices

Translations

a) Plutarch’s Lives

• Full title- ‘Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans’

• Also known as ‘Parallel Lives’

• It has recorded the 48 biographies of famous people

• North dedicated the first version of this work to Queen Elizabeth

• North’s translation of Plutarch is based on the French version by Jacques Amyot

• This translation had influenced Shakespeare greatly to write the works like-

          i) Julius Caesar

          ii) Timon of Athens

          iii) Coriolanus

          iv) Antony and Cleopatra

• George Chapman also used this translation as a source for his Classical tragedy ‘Caesar and Pompey’

9. John Foxe (1516/17-1587)

• English Historian

• He became a Protestant

Works

a) Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (1563)

• Original title of this work is – ‘Actes and Monuments’

• It talks about the Protestant history

• It shares the list of Protestant martyrs during the reign of Queen Mary

• Foxe has been accused for telling partial truths in this work

• He was accused of ‘wilful falsification of evidence’

10. John Knox (1514-1572)

• Scottish minister and reformer

• He is known as the founder of Presbyterian (a reformed tradition within Protestantism) Church of Scotland

• Knox started working in the Church of England

• He became royal chaplain and served King Edward VI

• Know was forced to resign when Queen Mary ascended the throne

• He moved to Geneva and got influenced by John Calvin

• After returning to Scotland he led the Protestant Reformation there

• France wanted Scotland to be converted completely into Catholicism

• He had his attribution in the ‘Book of Common Prayer’

Works

a) The History of the Reformation in Scotland

• Book in 5 volumes

• Written between 1559-1566

• The complete publication of this work happened in 1644

• It serves as a historical source

11. William Painter (1540-95)

• Known mainly as an translator

• Studied at Cambridge

Works

a) The Palace of Pleasure (1566)

• It is a collection of tales based on original classical authors like Bandello, Boccaccio, Giovanni Battista, Herodotus, Boccaccio, Plutarch, Livy etc

• First volume of 1566 contained 60 tales

• By 1575, this work (second improved edition) was organised with 101 tales

• Painter has dedicated this work to the Earl of Warwick

• Authors have used this work as a source of stories

• The influence of this work can be seen in the works of Shakespeare-

         i) ‘Edward III’

         ii) ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’

         iii) ‘Timon of Athens’

         iv) ‘Romeo and Juliet’

• • Dramatists like Webster, Beaumont, Fletcher, Shirley also have used this work as a source