After reading pages 58 and 59 from my book, I found out the following main points.

In England there had been a profound change: this concept is underlined because in the first paragraph we will read about the change that involved Britain at the end of the 15th century.

• In 1485 the Wars of the Roses had come to an end

• Modern English was born

• Scientific discoveries and explorations

--> Copernicus demonstrated that the Earth was not in the centre of the universe

--> In 1492 Columbus discovered a new continent

• New society (secular world view)

• Art inspired by the classical world (Greece and Rome)

The second paragraph is about Elizabethan England: Elizabeth I was a powerful queen who brought stability to England. She had important responsibilities in a society in which women were underrated.

England was divided into Catholics, Protestants and Puritans.

Religion: was changed by the Reformation of Henry VIII. The king asked for the annulment of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon --> opposition of the Pope.

Henry’s decision was supported by the people and thus Henry VIII declared himself as the Supreme Head of both the Church and the State in 1534. Protestant England was separate from Europe.

Contrast between --> serious economic problems

• Inflation

• increase in population

and --> prosperity period

• increase in trade and exploration

• rebirth of art and learning

• flourishing literary culture

Literature was inspired by Italian scholars and poets.

• Central position of the human body

• Drama focused on man--> qualities and weaknesses

• Drama was the greatest expression of literature ( golden age of drama)

Drama: • Shakespeare (1564-1616) --> sonnet

John Donne and George Herbert were important Metaphysical poets: they talked about love and religion in a different language(violent, direct). They used metaphors and paradoxes to examine God’s and human world.

Age of questions: change brought uncertainty. But there was also a creative tension: people recognize that the world wasn’t ordered and stable as they thought during the Middle Ages.