The English Renaissance Period Poetry Characterisitics

The English Renaissance was an important time in the history of literature and it is during this time that William Shakespeare, widely regarded as the greatest poet in history, lived and worked.

Characteristics of the English Renaissance writing are humanism, religion, and Iambic Pentameter

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18)

William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
     So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
     So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Shakespeare wrote the sonnet above and the characteristics of the English Renaissance can be seen being present in the writing.

Humanism is shown through the lines because humanism is seeing goodness in human beings. This is present in the sonnet because William Shakespeare is comparing someone (the reader) to a summer's day. A summer's day being a positive and good thing.

Religion is a theme in the English Renaissance because it started to become less important. Religion was still very important but at this time held much less power than it did before. In the sonnet Shakespeare makes references to heaven but doesn't have a big religious influence.

Shakespeare is known for using Iambic Pentameter and this rhythm is in this sonnet too.