SIXTEENTH CENTURY / ELIZABETHAN PROSE

SIXTEENTH CENTURY/ELIZABETHAN PROSE

The Elizabethan Age has well been called as a young age. It was full of boundless vigour, reawakened intellectual esteem and soaring imagination. The best of the age is found in drama and next in poetry. As prose, unlike verse, does not admit any substantial restriction hence Elizabethan prose developed substantially. For the first time prose had risen to a position of first rate importance. The dead weight of the Latin tradition was passing away and English prose was acquiring a tradition and a universal application. During the 15^th century Latin dominated as the medium of expression while English came to its own in the 16^th century. With the arrival of mass printing, English prose became the popular medium for works aiming both at amusement and instruction. The books which date from this period covered many departments of learning. The early Elizabethan use of prose was rich, gaudy and overflowing. It is far from commonly accepted principle of simplicity as it was colourful, blazing, rhythmic, indirect and polished.

The sixteenth century prose can be categorised into two periods: 

a) prose writings before 1579  

b) prose during the later half of the 16^th century. 

During the early years Sixteenth Century Prose was cultivated by Elyot, Cavendish, Cheke, Willson and Ascham.

SIR THOMAS ELYOT is the author of The Governance of England (1531). The book is a fine specimen of a perfect combination between matter and manner. Elyot’s style is classical and he is rather too much given to long sentences. He lacks the deliberate classical plainness of his younger contemporary Ascham.

GEORGE CAVENDISH wrote the biography of Cardinal Wolsey. Cavendish wrote in a rhetorical style and with no simplicity. SIR JOHN CHEKE’s actual composition was in Latin. He wrote the Heart of Sedition. In this work Cheke shows himself vigorous in arguments and eloquent in impression. SIR THOMAS WILLSON’s main work is Art of Rhetoric (1553). In this book he recommends purity and simplicity of the language. He lays emphasis on the necessity of writing English for Englishmen.

ROGER ASCHAM is the representative of the earliest school of Elizabethan prose. Born at Yorkshire and educated at St. John College, Cambridge, Ascham became a teacher of Greek in 1540. He participated in the literary and religious controversies of his time but managed a firm position on the shifting ground of politics. He was appointed tutor to Young Elizabeth (1548) and secretary to Queen Mary. He is among the pioneers of English prose and the most popular educationist of his times. His two chief works are Toxophilus (1545) and The School Master. The first is a treatise, in dialogue form, on archery and the next is an educational work containing some ideas that were fairly fresh and entertaining. He was a man of moderate literary talent, of great industry, and of boundless enthusiasm for learning. Though he was strongly influenced by classical models, he has all the strong Elizabethan sense of nationality. In Toxophilus he declares his intention of writing the English matter in English speech for the Englishmen.

English prose up to 1579 does not show any marked progress and after this date it registered a rapid growth and improvement. The later 16^th century prose took its various forms such as Prose romances, Pamphlets, Translations, Critical prose, Sermons, Dramatic prose, Character writing, Essays etc.

During the later half of the 16^th century a number of prose romances were produced. They were all written in Euphuistic style, a prose style cultivated by John Lyly. John Lyly’s first prose work Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit (1579) made him a foremost figure of his day. He repeated the success in Euphues and his England (1580). Euphuism is the first consciously fabricated prose style in English.

All through the period there was a flood of short tracts on religion, politics, and literature. In its buoyancy and vigour, its quaint mixture of truculence and petulance, Elizabethan pamphleteering is refreshingly boyish and alive. It is usually keenly satirical, and in style it is unformed and uncouth. The most notable among the pamphleteers were THOMAS NASHE (1567-1601), ROBERT GREENE (1560-92) and THOMAS LODGE (1558-1625). These pamphleteers cultivated a journalistic style characterised by vigour, force and raciness.

Sermon writings rose to a level of literary importance in this period. Donne was the most notable and his sermons contain his finest prose work. Numbered 160 Donne’s sermons show his unflinching faith in God and Christianity and his oratorial skill. Donne’s sermons, of which the finest is probably Death’s Duell (1630), contain many of the features of his poetry. The other prominent sermon writers are James Ussher and Joseph Hall. 

JAMES USSHER (1581-1656), born and educated at Dublin, was descended from a protestant family. He rose to be the bishop of Meath and the Arch bishop of Armagh. In 1640 he came to England and remained there through out his life due to disturbances in Ireland. His sermons, discourses and tracts show learning, adroit argument and a plain and easy style. 

JOSEPH HALL (1574-1656) was educated at Cambridge, took orders, and became a prominent of the puritans, among whom was Milton. He was appointed bishop of Exeter and Norwich. Hall’s opinions brought him to disgrace during the Puritan rule. Hall’s devotional and theological works were numerous and include tracts, sermons and treatises. Though he is often shallow and voluble, he writes with literary grace. He is the most literary of the theologians of the time.

The zeal for learning and spirit of adventure, which were prominent features of the early Elizabethan age, were strongly apparent in the frequent translations. The translators cared little for verbal accuracy, and sometimes were content to translate from a translation, say from a French version of a Latin text. They worked in many varied fields. Of the classics, Virgil was translated by PHAER (1558) and STANYHURST (1562); Plutarch’s Lives by NORTH (1579); Ovid by GOLDING (1565 & 1567), TURBERVILLE (1567), and CHAPMAN (1595); Homer by CHAPMAN (1598). All Seneca was translated into English by 1581, and Suetonius, Pliny and Plutarch’s Morals were translated by HOLLAND. Among the translations of Italian works were Machiavelli’s Arte of Warre (1560) and Castiglione’s The Courtyer translated by HOBY (1561); the Palace of Pleasure by PAINTER (1566); Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso by HARRINGTON (1591). From France were drawn FLORIO’s translation of the Essays of Montaigne (1603) and DANNETT’s Commines (1596), while Spain provided NORTH with The Diall of Princes (1557).

The birth of literary criticism during this period indicates the growing stature of the national literature and the realisation of the need to establish the principles of writing. The critics turned to the classics for their guides and models. They were chiefly concerned with three topics: the status and value of poetry, the importance of classical models, the merits and demerits of rhyme. Stephen Gosson attacked poetry as immoral in his Puritanical treatise The School of Abuse (1579) and Sidney replied in his epoch making The Apologie for Poetrie (1582). William Webbe, in A Discourse of English Poetrie (1586), attempted the first historical survey of poets and poetry, and Puttenham’s The Arte of English Poesy (1589) is the first systematic consideration of poetry as an art. Intermittent discussion on the merits and demerits of rhyme culminated in the debate between Campion and Daniel. In reply to Campion’s condemnation of rhyme in his Observations in the Art of English Poesie (1602), Daniel’s famous A Defence of Rhyme (1602) asserted the right of every literature to its own customs and traditions.

Beginning in the pamphlets, character sketches, and other miscellaneous writings English essay developed in the works of Bacon. The English essay has its roots in the Elizabethan period, in the miscellaneous work of Lodge, Lyly and Greene and other literary free lancers. Sidney’s Apologie for Poetrie attains a rudimentary essay form. But the first real English essayist was Bacon who published a short series of essays in 1597. In him we have the miscellany of theme and the brevity and the musings of the philosopher.