And We are DONE!

I hope everyone is finished or near completion of the paper at this point. For this blog entry, I thought I would simply reflect on the semester and share my thoughts about our class. Not only was the small class setting something new and enjoyable for me, but also, the content was something that I was unusually interested in. While literature classes before this often challenged me, Brit Ren emphasized an even greater importance on the connections that we find between literature, speeches, critical reviews, art, and research, which we often to do not have the opportunity to do! Though the research at times was grueling, I found that it gave me a knowledge that expanded the complete topic which I investigated, making me a feel a small expert in a vast historical world. The majority of the favorite texts that I read came from the Elizabeth collection! I think I am going to ACTUALLY read it past this class because I found it so intriguing. I hope that heading into future literature and writing classes, we can all apply the connection emphasis and the dreaded enthymeme prep :) We made it and I'm so glad it was with this crowd of people! You rock!

--Alexa

Merry Christmas EL371!

In light of my recent posts being more culturally interesting than helpful in research, I thought I'd post one last thing for fun. A part of me is a little sad we did not have a final class meeting because I enjoyed everyone so much. So here's a hearty Renaissance Christmas wish:

On the Morning of Christ's Nativity
This is the month, and this the happy morn
Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

- John Donne "Nativity"

Merry Christmas everyone, thanks for a great semester!

for Kindle: women's oppression

In response to the SOS looking for women's oppression pieces, I thought of something. I'm not sure exactly how it will fit into your argument, Kindle, but I think you could be able to use Emilia Lanyer's poem, "Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum." You'll have to work to get it in, but I think you could use it as an example of how some women were vocal about the oppression. You could provide a feminist viewpoint of the Fall through this piece as Lanyer does, as an objection to the way the Church had portrayed women as the downfall of man. Just a thought. Hope this helps!

I've been Thinking about Pants...

I've been doing some serious research on the equality of women during the Renaissance. I've learned about the "roaring girls", the anonymous women writers, crazy theatrical heroines that changed the perspective of a woman's ability to--- well anyway I've been wondering about pants. It was a really big deal in the US when suddenly the 50's housewife was able to throw on a pair of pant-like things, and I want to know how that happened for women in England...and when. But FIRST I want to know about the silly leggings King James is wearing in this picture. In order to gain perspective on my paper I decided to look up some fun pictures of ole Liz and Jimmy. Then I digressed my research. According to a costume shop in London that specializes in British Renaissance attire, "One style of English Renaissance dress for the wealthy or noble man began with a plain or plaited linen shirt accented at the neck by a small ruffle or ruff. At the wrist, the sleeve was adorned with a similar ruff. Over this was worn a close-fitting square cut vest. Atop the vest, a tunic or doublet, that was slashed and reached nearly to the knee. The V-shaped opening of the tunic revealed the shirt and vest beneath. An example of this style can still be seen today in the uniforms of the "beef-eater" guards at the Tower of London" (Howard). After reading this long description of the layers it takes to dress just a male aristocrat during the Renaissance, I had a revelation. Now I know why they survived in those cold, dank castles without electric heating- LAYERS!!! Howard (costuming specialist) goes on to describe the "hose of finest wool" that went under the boots and the little dress you see James wearing in the top right picture. Though this does not even begin to answer my question about women wearing pants, it helps me to understand the necessity for the goofy layers they wore back then. With fabric and decoration proving your status, it makes perfect, logical sense for the British aristocrats to over-do their wardrobe in order to stay warm and look real good.

A James I Speech--KINDLE SEE THIS!!!

I ran across James' speech, "James I on the Powers of the Monarch" in my research and (sorry this is so specific to Kindle) it has some great quotes for you, Kindle! It might challenge your argument a little bit, but James says that he is "compared to the fathers of families, for a king is truly 'parens patriae', the politic father of his people." I found this quote interesting in light of the section of your paper that deals with the dynamics of the Church vs. the father being head of the home and source of the woman's salvation. This quote brings in another dimension of headship that isn't directly addressed in your paper, which is fine. I just thought you might find this interesting.

I hope this maybe helped some others of you too! Happy studying/writing/maybe you're already done. So Merry Christmas!

Mary Sidney Rocking that Translation.

Hello to all during finals! Hope they are going well. I thought I would just talk a little bit about the women that I am using in my paper, because they have a connection point that works to prove the power of women. As discussed in the Norton, Mary Sidney (Herbert) was a translator in the beginning of her literary career before writing works that dealt more with the theme of Queen Elizabeth. Sidney’s entertainment of Elizabeth becomes one of the distinguishing literary periods in which she moves away from her pattern of translations, though equally valuable for her as an author. Elizabethans understood translations as not only a “display [of] linguistic and technical skills but also for the indirect expression of personal and political concerns” (Lipking 994). As a translator of Robert Garnier’s French tragedy Antonius and Petrach’s Triumph of Death, Sidney was able to evolve the works of male figures in appropriate ways for the female gender, proving her value and the power she had to interpret their works.I though that this was useful in proving the a observable role that females proved moving into the Jacobean era. The other women that connect directly are Amelia Lanyer and Mary wroth, both of whom I have mentioned before. Check them out (Rachel) because they might be useful for you paper! ;)

--Alexa

Colonial Women

Hutner, Heidi. Colonial women: race and culture in Stuart drama. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.

Hey Guys! I don't know if you have checked into some of the e-books that Doug posted on the blog, but I though I would highlight one in particular that I have found helpful. The Colonial Women e-book has proven to be really useful to me for its information pertaining to Aphra Behn. There are other female writers and influences also contained in the piece as well. I thought that the text does a wonderful job of making sure to connect the writers to the Stuart age in general. It gives you some background paired with some of the inferences that the author makes about their impact on culture in a very unbiased way. You should certainly look into this piece if your paper is about women or the Stuart age in general!

--Alexa