period. Blank verse, introduced into the language by Surrey,
became the main form for writing tragedies and comedies.
In 1600, when the new century began, Elizabeth was an aging
queen not in the best of health. She was chi Idless. After her death,
in 1603, King James o f Scotland, the son o f Mary, Queen of Scots,
became the king o f England.
The Decline o f the Renaissance
James I, the first Stuart king, had little first-hand knowledge of
England. Elizabeth had managed to maintain religious balance
between Protestants and Catholics, but under the Stuarts that
balance was lost. Religious and political unrest was growing.
At that period a number o f young Cavaliers, loyal to the king,
wrote about love and loyalty, but even in the love poems it was
evident that the freshness o f the Elizabethan era had passed.
Among the best o f these poets were Richard Lovelace and Robert
Herrick.
Drama continued to flourish in England under the Stuarts.
Shakespeare’s great tragedies were written during the reign of
King James, and Shakespeare’s acting company, taken under the
patronage o f the king, became known as the K ing’s Men. The
theatre in fact remained a popular form o f entertainment until the
puritan government closed all playhouses in 1649.
The greatest o f the Puritan poets, and one o f the greatest
English poets was John Milton, Latin secretary to the Puritan
Commonwealth. While in this position his sight began to fail;
eventually he became blind. He composed “Paradise Lost”, his
greatest work and the most successful English ep ic, sightless.
Supplement
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