Flashcards on English Renaissance Literature and Thought
English Renaissance Literature and Thought: A Student Guide
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Poplawski - The Renaissance
98 cards
Card 1
Question: How were Greek texts most commonly accessed by the wider reading public during the Renaissance in Britain?
Answer: Through Latin translations rather than directly in Greek.
Card 2
Question: Which Italian humanist's translations and commentaries helped disseminate Plato's ideas across Europe?
Answer: Marsilio Ficino.
Card 3
Question: Give two ways Renaissance readers might encounter Platonic ideas indirectly.
Answer: Via later texts such as Ficino’s translations of Plotinus and the writings of Cicero or Petrarch.
Card 4
Question: How is (neo-)Platonic thinking often expressed in Renaissance literature?
Answer: By associating earthly beauty with a higher spiritual beauty and portraying the human soul as motivated by intellectual (non-erotic) love.
Card 5
Question: What worldview about earthly realities is common in neo-Platonic Renaissance writing?
Answer: Earthly realities are seen as shadows of a higher unchanging spiritual realm, with creation organized in hierarchies ascending toward the divine.
Card 6
Question: Name three literary forms or works that explored Platonic thinking in Renaissance England.
Answer: Sonnet sequences (e.g., Spenser’s Amoretti, Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella), court masques, and epic narratives like Spenser’s Faerie Queene.
Card 7
Question: Why were Platonic ideas of interest to many European scholars during the Renaissance?
Answer: Because of their potential affinities with Christian beliefs.
Card 8
Question: Which Roman writer was particularly valued by Renaissance scholars for his style and philosophical contributions?
Answer: Cicero (Tully).
Card 9
Question: What aspects of Cicero's work made him important in the Renaissance?
Answer: His ornate, elegant diction, commitment to public life, ethical enquiries, analysis of philosophical thinking, and provision of sceptical thought.
Card 10
Question: What medieval literary and performance practices continued into the Renaissance?
Answer: Dramatising scriptural narrative, allegorising the soul's struggles between sin and virtue, scriptural translation and commentary, sermons, confession