Balti state university a. Russo chair of english philology

 
The poetry of the Age 
The reign of Queen Elizabeth, the second of the Tudor monarchs who ascended the throne in 
1558 brought prosperity to the nation and gave a chance to many people of talent to develop their 
abilities. A number of writers, poets, philosophers and actors appeared in rapid succession. The 
literature of the period was rather various. Lyrical poetry became very widespread, becoming very 
emotional. The poets introduced blank verse and Italian Sonnets./2 
A Sonnet is a poem consisting of 14 lines, being divided into 2 groups: 1
st
group comprising 8 lines 
– making an octave and the 2
nd
group including 6 lines – creating a sestet.
Another literary form which was very rampant was the epigram – the most important Elizabethan 
satiric genre.
An epigram is a short poem or saying expressing an idea in a clever amusing way. The noblest lyric 
genres were thought to be the hymns and odes.
A hymn is a song in praise of God. This form of praising God is still practiced by many protestant 
churches in the world.
An ode is a lyric poem of exalted style and tone, celebrating worthy men and women on notable 
occasions.
The poets of Renaissance were Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Thomas Wyatt and Edmond Spencer, 
who followed the course of poetic development set by Virgil, beginning with pastoral and rising to 
epic. 
The main literary modes of the age were: the pastoral mode, lyrical mode and historical mode. The 
conventions of the pastoral mode presented a simple and idealised world inhabited by shepherds, 
who were chiefly concerned with tending the flocks, falling in love, and engaging in friendly poetry 
contests. The values of this mode were defined by Otium as leisure and humble contentment – 
being opposite to the values of Middle English literature. The pastoral mode included several 
different genres, such as: pastoral songs, elegies, eclogues, romances, episodes and dramas.
Pastoral songs commonly expressed the joys of the shepherds‟ life and disappointments of love 
2. The Norton Anthology of English Literature/ New York , 1973 p 420 

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Pastoral eclogues were dialogues between shepherds who might stage a simple poetry contest. The 
genres of satire were less well fixed in the sixteenth century as compared to the later periods but 
there was a good deal of satirical verse. The poems in the lyric mode were comparatively brief, and 
usually concerned with praise of various kinds, with celebrations of nature, good life, etc. 
Still the most important lyrical form of the 16
th
century was the Sonnet, which reached its 
height in the 1590‟s. Its conventions were established by Petrarch (1304 – 1374) in Italian literature 
and were carried on by his numerous imitators in Italy and France. The Sonnet was introduced in 
English Literature by Wyatt and Surrey. Sonnets celebrated love, beauty, pain, eternity of love and 
disappointment of love. Later on sonnets became religious devotions and occasional sonnets might 
have addressed a wide variety of topics. The most common Italian form of sonnet was divided into 
an octave (8 lines) + a sestet (6 lines) = 14 lines. The so-called English sonnet was divided into 
three quatrains and a couplet: 
(rhymed: abab, eded, ef ef, gg)
The most popular was the Spenserian Sonnet awhich was later exploited by the great
poet and 
dramatist of the age William Shakespeare.