The Sociology of Court Life
Viewing:
Portraits from the Court of Henry VIII
- Hans Holbein the Younger, Henry VIII (c1534)
- Hans Holbein the Younger, Henry VIII (1540)
- Hans Holbein the Younger, Thomas More (1527)
- Hans Holbein the Younger, Thomas Cromwell (c1532)
- Unknown, after Hans Holbein the Younger, Sir Thomas Wyatt (c1540)
- Unknown, 1550 copy of contemporary portrait, Anne Boleyn (c1534)
- Hans Holbein the Younger, Jane Seymour, Queen of England (1536)
- Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors (1533)
Reading:
- Petrarch, Il Canzoniere 190, ‘Una candida cerva sopra l’erba’ (pub. 1374)
- Sir Thomas Wyatt, “Whoso List to Hunt” (written 1530s)
- Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (written 1590s)
- Sir Walter Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” (1600)
Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:
- Wyatt’s and Raleigh’s poems each respond to an earlier work, by Petrarch and Marlowe respectively. Focusing on ONE of these two instances of literary influence, how would you characterize the later poet’s relationship to the earlier one? Try to find a strong word (for instance “reverential” rather than merely “imitative”) and point to specific language in the poems to justify your characterization.
- Considering the portraits, how does the king’s portrait differ from those of his courtiers—or those of his wives? In characterizing this pattern, point to specific details in the images.