Age of Revival: English & Scottish Chaucerians
Age of Revival
Age of Revival
Importance of the age of revival
“The 15thcentury was an age of preparation, of learning the beginning of science and of getting acquainted with the great ideals, the stern law, the profound philosophy, the suggestive mythology and the noble poetry of the Greek and Romans. So, the mind was furnished with ideas for new literature.”
Poetic Trends
English Chaucerians
Thomas Hoccleve (1369-1426)
His first work is Letter of Cupid, which was published in 1402. And his major poems were The Male Regimen (autobiographical poem), and The Regiment of Princes (1411-12)was written for King Henry V, when he was Prince of Wales.
John Lydgate (1370-1449)
He was a Benedictine monk who belongs to the prestigious Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. His only prose work, The Serpent of Division, was published in 1422. And his major poems are The Troy Book (1412-20), The Siege of Thebes (1420-22), and The Fall of Princes (1431-38).
The Siege of Thebes (1420-22)elaborates 4540 line exemplum chronicling the disastrous careers of King Oedipus, his sons Eteocles and Polynices, and Creon. In this work poet imagines himself joining Chaucer’s pilgrims in Canterbury and narrate a tale companion to The Knight’s Tale.
Stephen Hawes (1475- 1525)
He was served to King Henry VII of England. His long allegorical poem, The Passetyme of Pleasure (1509), based on the Knight Graunde Amoure. His other notable work was The Example of Vertu. Written in the form of rhyme royal stanza.
John Skeleton (1460-1529)
He was a prominent Tudor poet and satirist, Erasmus called him ‘the one light and glory of British letters’ because his contribution towards translations of classics and his Latin verses.
His major works are Of the Death of the noble prince King Edward IV (elegy), The Bowge of Court (satire of court), Colin Clout (1521), and Magnificence (1516).
Alexander Barclay (1474-1552)
His most famous work is The Ship of Fools (1509), is an adaptation of a German satire, Das Narrenschiff, by Sebastian Brant. This work describes a ship laden with fools setting sail for the fool’s paradise of Narragonia.
Other English Chaucerian
- George Ashby (1390-1475) – His works are Policy of a Prince, and Dicts and Sayings of various Philosophers.
- Osbern Bokenham (1393-1463) – Legends of Holy Women is collection of verses.
- George Ripley (1415-1490)
- Thomas Norton (1433-1513)
- Henry Bradshaw (1450-1513)
Scottish Chaucerian
King James I of Scotland (1394-1437)
His love poem The Kingis Quair (The Kings Book, 1435) focus on James love for Joan Beaufort, and follows Boethian conventions in portraying his sufferings and his attempts to obtain immortal assistance.
Robert Henryson (1425-1500)
His major works are Aesop’s Fables, The Testament of Cresseid, Robene and Makyne, and Orpheus and Eurydice.
The Testament of Cresseid, takes the story of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Trolius and Criseyde and provides his own interpretation of the Story.
William Dunbar (1460-1520)
He was referred to as ‘Chaucer of Scotland’. His major poems are The Golden Targe (dream vision celebrates the victory of love over the golden shield of reason), The Thrissil and the Rois (a prothalamium celebrate the marriage of James IV and Margaret Tudor), Lament for the Makers ( an elegy dedicated to Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, and Joh Lydgate), and The Dance of Seven Deadly Sins.
Gavin Douglas (1475-1522)
Douglas was a Scottish Bishop, translator, and poet, best known for his translation of Virgil’s Aeneid into scot, the lowlands of Scotland in July 1513.
He wrote a poem called The Palace of Honor, dedicated to James IV.
Sir David Lyndsay (1490-1555)
His famous work is A Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaits, the Scottish play in the genre of morality, which portrays main religious and political problems the era.
New Court Poets
Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
Earl of Surrey, Henry Howard (1516-1547)
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.