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The Age of Elizabeth The death of Henry VIII in 1547 was followed by a period of acute political uncertainties over the question of succession. The young King Edward VI was the titular head of the state. His premature death in 1553 unleashed a phase which saw untold violence and suffering for the people of England professing the Protestant faith, under the Catholic Mary Tudor. The accession of Elizabeth I to the throne of England in 1558, at the age of 25, marked the beginning of true nationalism and the gradual attainment of stability in all spheres. The first few years of Elizabeth’s reign were dominated by the twin issues of settling the theological disputes and solidifying her own position as Queen of England. By the time the Spanish Armada was defeated, in 1588, Elizabeth was able to demonstrate her invincible power as a leader of men. In addition, France and Spain no longer posed themselves as constant threats to England. Her charismatic presence was felt in every aspect of English life-not merely was she the head of state and Church, she was a dominating presence in all forms of the literary and artistic culture of the period. The Elizabethan era lifted itself above political struggles and religious wars. The period was characterised by an unprecedented vitality; it became the nursery of art and adventure because of its healthy passion for experiment, its lust for exploration and its inherent flexibility. England adapted itself to rapid cultural changes and the country thrived equally upon the strength of the southern Renaissance and the northern Reformation. The English spirit was thus liberated for new concepts in literature and science, as well as for a revival in statecraft and religion. Freedom and spontaneity became the characteristics of a period, which within a quarter century, produced such immortals as Drake, Raleigh, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Campion, Jonson and Donne. Shakespeare was the central figure, but the Elizabethan age was also crowded with many other luminaries. The glorious outburst of creativity that characterised the Elizabethan age as the golden age of literature was actually concentrated in the last fifteen years of Elizabeth’s reign. Although most of its supreme achievements in poetic drama and in prose argument came in the reign of her successor James I, this great age of literature is rightly called ‘Elizabethan’, for its greatness belongs, in spirit, to this indomitable queen. But the question arises as to why this literary surge arrived so late, when the queen herself had been reigning for thirty years, long after the Renaissance in Italy and France had come to an end. Also, when it did arrive, and the sixteenth century had only twelve more years to run, why should it suddenly break into that firework display of poetic genius? Both the questions may be easily answered. Great literature demands a powerful and flexible language, and English literary forms were, so far, either borrowed from Italy and France as in the case of verse, or as with prose, which was mainly confined to translation, often crudely experimenting with syntax. We must also remain aware of the fact that, until the onset of the Renaissance, England was never an integral part of the mainstream of European civilization. The Tudor rule transformed England into a new country: Henry VIII created a new social order which had to be confirmed and stabilised by Elizabeth. Hence, those first thirty years of her reign were years of effort, of solemn endeavour, of will and purpose, all reflected in the writing of the time, in the didactic prose work of Ascham and Elyot, in the splendid poetry of Sidney and the early poetry of the great Spenser. With the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Elizabethan England came of age. This sudden release of creative energy can also be explained by the electrifying presence of a remarkable pool of talent. There was astonishing variety within this new and still-growing nationalistic society. The multiplicity of the mind-sets of this motley crowd manifested itself in a literature which was diverse, novel and amazingly original. The Elizabethan world was made up of disparate elements: in religion, there were Anglicans, Catholics, Puritans, sceptics and atheists. It veered between extremes of brutality and refinement: a building that offered bear-baiting on one day would be playing Romeo and Juliet on the next. Life in London was an incredible medley of varied experiences, and in such a vibrant atmosphere, artistic endeavour was bound to flourish. Poetry in the Age of Elizabeth The Elizabethan age opened with the publication of a seminal text of great historical significance, if not of great poetic value. A Mirror for Magistrates (1559), written by William Baldwin, George Ferrers and others, was a collection of verse monologues inspired by John Lydgate’s The Fall of Princes (1494). The book included about 19 verse monologues spoken by historical figures ranging from the reign of Richard II to Edward IV (1377 to 1483) and, in the main, the intention of these accounts was to warn rulers and subjects alike, against tyranny and rebellion. This edition highlights the instability of fortune and the punishment of vice. The reader is constantly reminded that ‘the only thing which is purposed herein is by example other’s miseries to dissuade all men from all sins and vices’. The poems are connected by prose links, and many deal with characters later made familiar by Marlowe’s and Shakespeare’s history plays—the Mortimers, Richard II, Henry VI, Edward IV, etc. The second edition of A Mirror, in 1563, added eight more stories including that of Jane Shore by Thomas Churchyardand introduced a new young writer Thomas Sackville (1536-1608- Sackville’s two great poems, Induction and Buckingham’s Complaint, were published in The Mirror for Magistrates (1563). The two poems make Sackville one of the major English poets who outshone all the rest and handled the rhyme royale as few poets have done since Chaucer. Numerous editions appeared throughout the sixteenth century and well into the seventeenth. With each edition, the work expanded. Though A Mirror was perhaps not an artistically distinguished enterprise, it nevertheless exerted a considerable thematic influence on the writing of history plays in … Read more