BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE--THE ART OF POETRY—— George Gascoigne & George Puttenham

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE --Blamiers

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers--

Approaches--Unit I

The RENAISSANCE II

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Note: The summary is in FIVE parts

PART II THE ART OF POETRY—— George Gascoigne & George Puttenham

a. George Gascoigne (1534-77)

Gascoigne was a poet and dramatist. His ‘Certain Notes of Instruction Concerning the Making of Verse or Rhyme in English’ is a study of English versification. He explains the system of scansion to some extent, but adds that rolling rhythms and resonant vocabulary are not enough to write poetry.

·        There must be ‘invention’. Descriptions that are commonplace and obvious (‘crystal eye’, ‘cherry lips’) must be avoided.

·        The search for imaginative novelty is the most difficult thing in writing. Here, Gascoigne lays emphasis on the use of conceits, fanciful turns of thought and avoidance of the obvious.

On the subject of scansion, Gascoigne illustrates the importance of placing accents correctly.

b. George Puttenham (1529-91)

He is the author of a massive work: The Art of English Poesy. The work was published anonymously in 1589.

The book has a kind of “pedestrian thoroughness”. In the first section ‘Of Poets and Poesy’, Puttenham says that poets were the first priests, the first prophets, the first legislators and politicians of the world. He takes up religious poetry, didactic poetry , satirical poetry, comedy and tragedy, pastoral, historical, love poetry, poetry of lamentation etc. for consideration. There is little of true critical significance in his views.

However, Puttenham shows sensitivity to praise Wyatt and Surrey. He praises Chaucer for the ‘grave and stately’ meter of Troilus and Cressida. Gower is praised as a ‘good and grave’ moralist. Sidney is praised for his pastoral poetry and ‘that other gentleman’ (Edmund Spenser) is praised for Shepherd’s Calendar.

The second book, Of Proportion Poetical, deals with the ocular appeal of stanzas. But when he takes up scansion, his limitations become clear. He shows metrical insensibility.

The third book, Of Ornament, examines figures of speech with a dogged determination. He makes his writing lively with anecdotes and digressions. But his poetic sensibility is very limited and he is blind to the finer points of poetry.

To follow——

PART III—THE DEFENCE OF POETRY——Stephen Gosson & Sir Philip Sidney

PART IV—CLASSICAL & NATIVE VERSIFICATION

PART V—Bacon & Jonson

Study material for MPhil English students of Bharathiar University by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Dr. S. Sreekumar