Elizabethan Era

Transcription

1 Name: _ Date: Elizabethan Era Directions: Before Reading Preview the text by reading all of the section headings and subheadings. Next, turn each heading into a question; be sure to be specific about the time period or other pertinent information. Use your question starters: who, what, where, when, why, and how. Write your questions here. You should have six questions. An example has been provided. Heading Created Type of QAR Fashion What was fashion like in the Elizabethan Era? Think and Search

2 Directions: During Reading Keep your questions in mind while you read. Highlight or underline AT LEAST THREE SPECIFIC FACTS in each section that will help you answer the questions. The Fashion section has been done for you as an example. Overview Queen Elizabeth I's ascension to the throne at the youthful age of twenty-five ushered in the Elizabethan Era, also known as the English Renaissance. During her reign, the graphic arts, theater and literature flourished, with William Shakespeare perhaps being the most famous writer of this period. The Elizabethan era was a period of great advances in world exploration, medicine, and the study of the universe. Additionally, the period brought great advances in medical science, namely in the study of human anatomy and developments in dissection and surgical operations.

3 Daily Life Fashion During the Elizabethan period, fashion served as a mode for self-expression for all social classes. At the beginning of the era, women's clothing was particularly modest, with garments designed to cover nearly every inch of the wearer's body, from neck to ankle. Men's fashion during this period experienced dramatic changes. At the beginning of the era, men wore embroidered jerkins, or vest-like shirts with buttons down the front, and loose-fitting pants that extended at the knee. Food and Cooking During Elizabethan times, people generally ate two meals during the day: dinner at noon and supper around 6:00 in the evening. At a feast, guests usually sat on benches, with chairs reserved for the only most honored guests. Commoners used wooden bowls and spoons at their meals and ate with their bare fingers rather than forks. Salt was a rare commodity, and meat was in short supply in most households. The lower and middle classes generally ate grains and vegetables; the nobility enjoyed eating meats and sweets. Elizabethan cooking was generally sweeter than cooking today, although sugar was an expensive luxury. Meats were often cooked with fruits for flavoring. Desserts were commonly flavored with almond, as vanilla and chocolate were rare. Sports, Games, and Leisure Recreation during the Elizabethan Era encompassed spectator blood sports, team sports, and individual amusement activities. Most of the sports of the Elizabethan era were carried over from the medieval period. In blood sports, large crowds of men and women from all classes flocked to see bear baiting or bull baiting. Bear baiting involved tying a bear to a stake by a long rope. The animal was put into a pit where four or five large, fierce dogs (or in some cases, lions) were let in for the sole purpose of attacking the confined bear. Any dogs that might survive the bear's retaliation were pulled off just before the bear was killed. The dogs would be considered winners if the large animal was killed, but losers if many of them were disabled. Sometimes apes were used instead of bears. Bull baiting was much the same as bear baiting, except that the bull was let into the pit and "worried to death" (teased or hurt until it died). Team sports gained in popularity during Elizabeth I's reign. They, too, were rough and violent like the sports involving animals. Common men played football (not an ancestor of American football, despite the similarities), which received its name not because the ball was kicked, but because all the players went on foot. It was extremely violent as there were few rules. Hurling, a combination of hockey and polo, had some players on foot, others on horseback. The object of the game was to strike a ball (with a stick or a club) so that it went over the opponents' goal. Country hurling might match the entire adult male populations of two villages, and the goals might be three or four miles apart. Soccer was also played, but the government frowned upon it since it was the cause of many riots and bloodshed.

4 The Arts Graphic Arts All of the arts flourished under Elizabeth I's reign, largely due to the Queen's love of the arts. During the age of Elizabeth, painting was dominated by portraiture, particularly in the form of miniatures, while elaborate textiles and embroidery prevailed in the decorative arts, and sculpture found its place within the confines of tomb and architectural decoration. Artists made large-scale, full-length paintings that portrayed the noble class in richly decorative costumes with armor, embroidery, ruffs, hunting gear, weapons, and lace. This artificial and decorative style became characteristic of Elizabethan painting in general. Additionally, some of the most famous Elizabethan works of art are miniature paintings. Painted on vellum or ivory or card, such miniatures often functioned like lockets or cameos. Intended for private viewing, portrait miniatures were often highly personal and intimate objects that often depicted lovers or mistresses. Many of the larger court portraits of Elizabeth were based upon miniatures and portraits. In the decorative arts, demand for domestic silver significantly increased during the midsixteenth century because of rapid growth in population and subsequent expansion of the middle and upper classes. Silver plates were often decorated with embossed sculptural vegetal forms, fruit, grotesque figures, and strapwork. These intricate designs of foliage and patterning were also applied to suits of armor and domestic textiles embroidered with colored silks and threads of gold and silver. Architecture of the Elizabethan period became expression of wealth and status. Symmetry and ornateness characterized the style of the English Renaissance, with tall houses and towers, for example, accented by elaborate gardens and stables. Elizabethan style followed the Tudor style, and was succeeded in the beginning of the 16th century by the purer Italian style introduced by Inigo Jones. It responded to the Cinque-Cento period in Italy, the Francois I style in France, and the Plateresque or Silversmiths style in Spain. Literature and Poetry Influenced by Italian sonnets, English writers of the period began introducing complicated poetic structures in both verse and prose. The sonnets and plays of William Shakespeare became exceptionally popular in England and eventually across Europe. Shakespeare's plays abounded in different forms such as comedies, satires, tragedies, and romances, and included Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. As a result, theater became a national pastime across social classes in England. In addition to Shakespeare, playwrights Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson flourished during this era. Marlowe was known for his magnificent blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his own untimely death. Jonson was a dramatist, poet, and actor, best known for his plays Volpone and The Alchemist, his lyrics, his influence on Jacobean and Caroline poets, his

5 theory of humours, his contentious personality, and his friendship and rivalry with Shakespeare. Poets such as Edmund Spenser and John Milton produced works that demonstrated an increased interest in understanding English Christian beliefs, such as the allegorical representation of the Tudor Dynasty in The Faerie Queen and the retelling of mankind's fall from paradise in Paradise Lost. Music Music of this period became increasingly expressive and refined, and a knowledge and appreciation of music set apart the truly genteel members of the high social classes. In addition, court musicians gradually moved into their own music houses and guilds. Several different instruments became popular during the Elizabethan era, including the lute (a forerunner of the guitar or cello), viol (predecessor to the violin), spinet (a piano-like instrument), bagpipe, fife, and cornet (a short trumpet). Science and Technology The Elizabethan era was a period of great advances in world exploration, medicine, and the study of the universe. Sir Francis Drake became the first Englishman to sail around the world. He left from England in 1577 on a trading expedition to the Nile. Instead, he soon found himself on the coast of South America. From there, he made his way up the coast of the American continent until he reached the North American northwest, near the present states of Washington and Oregon. Continuing westward, Drake's crew sailed through the Indian Ocean, passed the coast of Africa, and returned to England in He had spent almost three years spanning approximately 36,000 miles across the globe. The period brought great advances in medical science, namely in the study of human anatomy and developments in dissection and surgical operations. Inventions of the period include the graphite pencil, the modern calendar, time bomb, wind-powered sawmill, and the thermoscope. Galileo Galilei's thermoscope indicated temperature differences and was the predecessor to the thermometer. During the Elizabethan era, Galileo also invented the hydrostatic balance, an instrument that could weigh objects in water such that their density could be calculated. In 1602, Galileo began work on a telescope modeled after one made by Hans Lippershey.

6 Directions: After Reading Using your question as a sentence stem and your underlined or highlighted facts, answer each questions your composed before reading IN COMPLETE SENTENCES. An example has been provided for you. Please note how the three facts underlined in the article are included in the response. Your responses should be THOROUGH with specific details from the text. What was fashion like in the Elizabethan Era? In the Elizabethan Era, fashion served as a mode for selfexpression for all social classes. Women's clothing was particularly modest, and men wore embroidered "jerkins" (vest-like shirts with buttons down the front) and loosefitting pants that extended at the knee.

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8 Directions: After Reading Because this was just an overview of each subject, much information was left out; there are still many things we do not know about Elizabethan times. Think of one specific question you could ask for each section and write them here. The facts you have already found in the article are a good place to start. A few examples for the Fashion section have been provided. Your questions can be specific or broad; you should have six of them. Don t forget your question words: who, what, where, when, why, and how. Example : Example : Fashion If they covered their bodies from head to toe, did they wear bathing suits? What types of shoes did they wear? : :

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