16th century epistemology and natural philosophy
New Science (Astronomy) and magic--the omnipotence of the human; Platonic theology
Astrology--human impotence
Both views can be found in the same writers.

New Geography
Some in More's Utopia; some in Shakespeare, Spenser, and Donne.

Humanism and Puritanism
Definition of humanist
Humanist contributions and limitations.
Humanists on style
Humanists on content
Chief character of Humanism: hatred of medieval
Book Burning 1550
Definition of Puritan
Faith vs works and its appearance in literature
Reformation --preCalvinist stage
Calvinist stage
Spencer and Shakespeare as anti-puritan

Political change
Sovereignty and the Divine Right of Kings
Law vs. Custom (the Law of Nature)

Different Heroes
The loss of the tears of the hero
Separation of morality from religion
The hero as convinced of his own worthiness
The godlike hero

Why Lewis doesn't speak of the Renaissance

Economic Influences on Lit
The dissolution of the monasteries
Poetry of the country (bucolic poetry)
Education 60ff
Rhetoric as king

16th Century poetry: three marks of the English lyric were modern--
1) they were brief, intense, and personal;
2) they forsook allegory and didactism;
3) they were modelled on courtly European examples, and they became public in print.