Renaissance research paper

Seize the day A. Renaissance History The term Renaissance means ” rebirth”, and is the period in European civilization, immediately following the Middle Ages. The Renaissance began in northern Italy and then spread through Europe. Italian cities such as Naples, Genoa, and Venice became centers of trade between Europe and the Middle East. Arab scholars preserved the writings of the ancient Greeks in their libraries. When the Italian cities traded with the Arabs, ideas were exchanged along with goods. These ideas, preserved from the ancient past, served as the basis of the Renaissance. Some writers would date its origin specifically from the reign of Frederick II, from 1215 to 1250. Others believe Italian Renaissance began with Giotto in 1267 to 1337, who is considered to be the first painter to have broken the tradition of Byzantine art at the end of the middle ages. Giotto made advances in representing the human body in a more realistic way. Frederick ll was well versed in languages and science, and was a patron of scholars. (http://www. mrdowling. com/704renaissance. html) Some writers date the Renaissance quite precisely, some say the starting point is 1401, when the rival geniuses Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi competed for the contract to build the bronze doors for the Baptistery of the Florence Cathedral (Ghiberti won). B. Carpe diem theme used by male personas in Marlowe’s and Marvell’s works To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell,  and The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe, share several characteristics as well as many striking differences.   Marvell’s poem calls upon the carpe diem concept in order to persuade a lady he had fallen in love with to bed. Marlowe, uses the same concept to eventually attempt to get the woman that he loves to stay by him. The man throws himself to her, promising her endless commitment and a future life full of bliss, promising much more than he could ever fulfill. These two poems are quite different, while still portraying the same moral concept. Both men are attempting to get the woman they are in love with. (http://www. cummingsstudyguides. net/Guides4/Marvell. html) The concept of Carpe diem, also known as seize the day, reveals itself in the creation of timelessness. Marvell’s,  To his Coy Mistress employs metaphor imagery in order to explore the heroic endurance and imaginative quality of its themes through carpe diem. On the other hand, Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to his Love approaches carpe diem at a more personified perspective. Marlowe begins by persuading his woman to take him in as a friend and finally, persuades her of a powerful love in the future. He ponders the imagined wonderful life they will have in the future and his unending future commitment to her. He writes of the future, their companionship and he seizes the time they have together. He uses flattery defining her as exotic and making the woman of his dream, wanting her to belong only to him. Unlike Marlowe’s writing,  To his Coy Mistress brings in the issue of timelessness. He knows he doesn’t have forever, as he says “ times winged chariot” is racing along. Marvel talks of his love growing slowly overtime, then hurriedly to become bigger than empires and later slowly and gently. In Marlowe’s writing, the shepherd had been in love then whole time. These two poems are similar but yet different in various ways. The passionate shepherd to his love is a pastoral lyric, a poetic form that is used to create an idealized vision of rural life within the context of personal emotion. In To His Coy Mistress, the poet enters the mind of the man and reports his thoughts as they manifest themselves. The young man is impatient, desperately so, unwilling to tolerate temporizing on the part of the young lady. (http://www. eliteskills. com/c/1598) While their approaches to love are different, the two poems call to task the concepts of carpe diem. In Marvell’s work the young man is trying to persuade a young woman to have sex with him by charming and rushing her into it. In Marlowe’s work, the young man is looking for love and would truly do anything to have this girl as his own.