Scottish Chaucerians

1. Scottish Chaucerians:

The Scottish Chaucerians were a group of poets in Scotland during the Renaissance period who were heavily influenced by the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Major figures included Robert Henryson, William Dunbar, and Gavin Douglas. They wrote in the Middle Scots language, which was the literary language of Scotland at the time. Their poetry often dealt with moral themes and satirized social issues. Henryson's fables and Dunbar's religious allegories are particularly renowned. The Scottish Chaucerians played a key role in continuing the literary traditions established by Chaucer in England.

2. University Wits: 

The University Wits were a group of English Renaissance playwrights and poets who were educated at Oxford or Cambridge universities in the late 16th century. Key members included John Lyly, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greene, George Peele, and Thomas Nashe. Known for their wit and wordplay, they contributed greatly to the development of prose fiction and drama. Their works displayed an intellectual humanism influenced by classical literature. The University Wits laid the groundwork for later Renaissance dramatists like Shakespeare by developing comedy, tragedy, and the use of blank verse in plays.

3. Comedy of Humors:

Comedy of Humors was a dramatic theory and genre of comedy play popular in the Renaissance. Based on the medieval theory of humors that believed bodily fluids controlled human personality and behavior, it depicted characters as embodying one dominant humorous trait like melancholy or choler taken to an ridiculous extreme. Major playwrights who wrote these comedies satirizing human folly included Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker, John Marston, and George Chapman. The comedy of humors influenced later satirists and comedic writers who employed character types and humorous exaggeration.

4. Masque:

The masque was a popular Renaissance courtly entertainment that combined acting, dancing, singing, and elaborate scenery and costuming. Masques celebrated events like marriages or courtly festivities through allegorical stories performed by aristocrats, servants, or paid actors with music and choreographed dances. Major masque writers included Ben Jonson, John Milton, and Thomas Campion. While originally just courtly diversions, the masque developed into a respected dramatic art form by the early 17th century, influencing later forms of opera and ballet.

5. Sons of Ben:

The Sons of Ben, also called the Tribe of Ben, were a group of Renaissance playwrights influenced by and devoted to Ben Jonson. Members included Thomas Randolph, Richard Brome, Thomas May, Shakerley Marmion, and James Shirley among others. Like their mentor Jonson, they wrote satirical city comedies and lyric poetry that displayed wit, classical learning, and biting social commentary on contemporary vices and manners. Though lesser talents than Jonson, the Sons of Ben carried on his dramatic ideals and defended them against the romantic tendencies of Jonson's rivals.

6. Metaphysical Poets:

The metaphysical poets were a group of 17th century English poets whose works were marked by conceptual complexity, philosophical exploration, unusual metaphors, paradoxes, and vivid imagery. Key figures included John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, Henry Vaughan, Thomas Traherne, Edward Herbert, and Richard Crashaw. Their hyperbolic style and intellectually challenging content rejected the conventions of earlier Renaissance poetry. Metaphysical poetry fused emotion, physicalreality, andmetaphysical concepts drawn from sources like the Neoplatonic philosophy in an innovative synthesis of passion and thought.

7. Cavalier Poets:

The Cavalier poets were a group of 17th century English lyric poets who supported the Royalist cause against the Puritans in the English Civil War. Major cavalier poets included Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace, Thomas Carew, John Suckling, and Sir John Denham. Their poetry was characterized by its polished elegance, light grace, and celebration of sensual pleasures.