Krantz
English 4620
Discussion Questions
Nash, Lanyer, Raleigh

Attributes of the courtier, the ideal Elizabethan man or woman, included the following: woman as the mainstay and inspiration of courtliness; belief that Beauty and Goodness are one; witty (knowing how to use puns and jests--to twist words) but also to use them discreetly; scholarly; cunning; a passionate friend; a sweet prince but able to use violence (active and gallant, perfected in arts of war and exercises of the body); humble; easy of grace (sprezzatura-able to do difficult things with the appearance of little effort). In old age the courtier's lust becomes disciplined to a spiritual love of women that leads to contemplation of their beauty as coming from God and, ultimately, to the contemplation of God as the source of all Beauty.

These ideas were among those that informed works of art in the Elizabethan period. Additionally, as we consider the Elizabethans mentioned below, we continue to connect their works with both the medieval literature and philosophy we've studied and that of the humanists in the early Sixteenth Century.

Nash
1. How do his two lyrics (1201-02) compare in theme to medieval themes? How are they reflections of his own time and education?

2. How might Nash have arrived at the title of Pierce Penniless? If it is an invective against the Puritans, what would seem to be their attitude toward art?
Who are the writers admired by Nashe? Why does he admire them?

3. How does Nashe defend plays? Sidney says that the purpose of poetry is "to teach and to delight." How does this fit with what Nashe has to day?

Lanyer
1. What is the clever argument that Lanyer uses to prove that men are worse sinners than women (1285-87)? How does she "redeem" Eve?

2. In "Cooke-Ham" what images of life on the estate does Lanyer create? How do these work to give exaggerated praise to the Countess of Cumberland and her daughter Anne?
How does the image of Fortune bring us back to medieval ideas?

3. Lanyer seems to use the humility topos in "To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty." What tone do you think the poem is written in? How do you support your reading? Can the poem support an ironic or sarcastic reading? If so, how?

4. How does the essay "To the Virtuous Reader" create a feminist reading of the Old and New Testaments? Give examples.

Raleigh
1. Consider Marlowe's poem "The Passionate Shepherd...." How does Raleigh's "The Nymph's Reply" parody it: that is, how is it like Marlowe's poem and how does it differ? (Consider all the things you know about poems: meter, rhyme, images, tone, diction, literal meaning.)

2. What seems to be Raleigh's attitude toward life, humans, religion (from the poems on pp 918-921). How much of a courtier does he seem to be from these poems?

3. How does Raleigh's description of Guiana (923-926) parallel More's Utopia? Does he seem to have been influenced by it? Does his attitude match that of More with respect to wealth and colonization?

4. In Raleigh's History (888) what ideas about the world and people make the speaker a man of his time, that is, a man with Renaissance ideas about the cosmos, human place in it, science, and learning? Shakespeare's As You Like It contains several themes that impinge closely on Raleigh's work esp. 879 80. If you remember the play, you might make a connection. If there is time in class, I'll read two pieces from the play to show this overlap of ideas. Remember that as much as they were connected to the past, the Renaissance poets also influenced each other or were mutually influenced by ideas in their own culture.