17th c writing
Politics has always been the patriarch of arts. Power of the pen to form, affect and sway opinions has been recognised and used effectively by politicians from time immemorial. Most writers transcended political reigns, for example Shakespeare wrote under Queen Elizabeth I and continued well into the reign of James I. Each monarch influences literature in his or her own way, which writers imbibe or reject, thus producing a change in their writing styles. Therefore political boundaries are very useful to consider literary writings. In this essay I will provide an overview of literary writing within the contexts of reigns of James I and Charles I. Scottish printing of The essayes of a prentise in the divine art of Poesie in 1584 and His Majesties poeticall exercise at vacant houres in 1591 had ensured that James I was known for his own writing skill. Accession of this 'Poet King' in 1603 propagated diverse genres of literary writing. The king was of the opinion that the best poetry was the kind that could be rewritten as prose without losing its beauty, so on one hand was his simplistic views on poetry and on the other hand he was the patron of flamboyant genre of Masques an satirical comedies.
God is like a magnet attracting the poet's 'iron heart', here the sonnet resonates Calvinist humility as the poet may turn to god only if by god's permission. each other in the Stuart reign as James Doleman correctly points out that religious verse was 'public and political activity' under James I. In The Alchemist Jonson offers a critique of 17th century society but in particular of the Puritan characters of Ananias and Tribulation. Employing the courtly genre of Masques Milton rejects coterie aesthetics and puritan limitations to develop a stance on art. Barbara Lewalski notes Love's triumph through Callipolis, the last collaboration between Jonson and Inigo Jones, as reminiscent of Luadian Anglicanism or Catholicism. In The Alchemist Jonson tries not to offend the Royals and the influential in being careful in selecting the kind of puritans he satirizes. The English monarch were the nucleus of the social religious, and political developments which had a ripple affect on literature in terms of writers, content, readership or audience and style. A reaction to James's religious policies was The Gunpowder plot of 1605 that fuelled anti-Catholics sentiment. Sonnet 5 expresses a healing quality through divine judgement that man deserves because while mortality is a fact of life, sin has also ensured his spiritual death. James I laid the foundation of Stuart absolutism with his belief in the divine right of kings and inherently the supremacy of the Church of England, which he headed. The year 1610 saw the creation of works with discrepancy of views. Although Francis Bacon dismissed this genre of writing, as 'toys' Jonathan Goldberg is correct in saying that a masque 'mirrors the royal mind' both in its staging as well as content. Neptune's Triumph was written (but never performed) to cover up the Prince Charles' bride-less return from a disastrous visit to Spain. In Masque of blackness, James is the 'Sun King' capable of giving beauty of colour to the black daughter of Niger. Jonson supports the unpopular Buckingham as 'loyal Hippius' who was Albion's companion on the journey.
Common topics in this essay:
Charles Scottish,
Keeping Caroline,
Holy Sonnets,
John Burke,
England Calvinism,
Queen Elizabeth,
Charles English,
England Jonson's,
,
Alchemist Jonson,
genre masques,
church england,
literary writing,
neptune's triumph,
caroline masques,
ananias tribulation,
reign james,
alchemist jonson,
spain jonson,
donne wrote,
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