Historical overview of English literature

3.1. *Elizabethan era (1558-1603):

English playwrights were influenced by the Italian style. So the Elizabethan Era was a very violent age which coincided with the political assassinations in Renaissance Italy ( due to Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince). As a result, representing violence on stage was suitable for the Elizabethan audience. The two major earlier Elizabethan plays were Gorboduc (1561) by Sackville and Norton, and The Spanish Tragedy (1592) by Kyd (1558–94).

     The most important literary figures in Elizabethan theatre include William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Beaumont and Fletcher.

     It is at this time that the city comedy genre advanced. The sonnet also was presented into English by Thomas Wyatt. In the later 16th century, English poetry was featured by the elaboration of language and immense allusion to classical myths. One of the major poets of this period is Edmund Spenser author of The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and outstanding allegory narrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. Elizabeth I herself produced some poems like On Monsieur’s Departure.