More and Utopia Part Deux (2)

We continue with More's Utopia Book 2. More gives us a description of Utopia, the island is crescent shape of a moon. There are fifty-four cities on the island, all similar in make-up and design. These cities seem to be well fortified and defensible. They go on to give us the make up of the Utopian society and the roles the citizens in the cities. The slave section was particularly interesting. Utopia doesn't condemn slavery at all, they are used as labor force, maybe to help rehabilitate them back to freedom. More is clearly impressed by the way Raphael describes Utopia, but some of the ideals and customs of Utopia some what far fetched compared to societies of Europe.

Sir Thomas More and Utopia : A perfect place....

Sir Thomas More was a very distinguished figure during the English Renaissance. More received an Oxford education, but he was devoted to the religion. More was entwined in the humanist thought. He wrote in Latin, enjoyed ancient classical philosophy of Cicero and Plato. More would serve in the court to King Henry VIII. He served as a diplomat, a undersheriff, and was part of Parliament. Towards the end of his life, Thomas More became Lord Chancellor. When Henry VIII broke from the church, More refused to acknowledge the divorce of Cathrine. More was more devoted to his Catholic faith that would eventually cost him his life, More was beheaded in 1535 on treason. More is remembered as a Saint in the Catholic faith, but to the humanist contribution of his thoughts and writings, especially his book Utopia:

Book One of Utopia starts out with More writing letters to Peter Giles of Antwerp. More eventually makes it to Antwerp to meet his friend Peter Giles. Peter introduces More to Raphael Hythloday, who has accompanied Amerigo Vespucci on his voyages. Raphael knows a great deal of philosophy, the three get into a conversation on how a prince should conduct rule the realm. They have a discussion on theft and punishment and constant poverty affecting the people of the realm, blaming it on sheep farming. More is amazed by Raphael, and tries to convince him to use his mind to serve politics.

This reading was easy for me to understand, I've read Niccolo Machiavelli's, The Prince. Which were guidelines on how a prince should rule his kingdom. Also Book One of Utopia gives us what English society was like during the early rule of Henry VIII. Henry enjoyed starting wars with Francis I and Charles V. Maybe the prince mention in Utopia is Henry VIII, More was able to criticize the way the King was conducting his rule. Further in the book, we begin understand the English society in the 16th century. Poverty was huge problem and theft (no matter how serve) was punishable by death. These were better off killing off the victims if they knew that theft was punishable by death. To me, Book One was critical on the political atmosphere in England at the time.

Sir Thomas Wyatt The Elder and his Sonnets...

Sir Thomas Wyatt was born in 1503 during the height of the Renaissance in Europe. Wyatt served Henry VIII as protector of the jewels and was a diplomat representing the court in France and Spain. While he was abroad, he was affected by the Italian Renaissance, which transformed his writing. When he returned to England, he eventually found himself imprisoned in the Tower of London, about the same time Anne Boleyn was accused of committing adultery. Wyatt would succumb to fever in 1542. Wyatt brought a new rhyme scheme that was different from the traditional Petrarchan form.

We observed some of Wyatt's sonnets in our text books. We mainly focused two particular sonnets, Whoso list to hunt and My gallery, also we discussed The long love that in my thought doth harbor. We begin to understand that his poems are full of conceit. Wyatt's sonnets are filled with symbols that describe emotion. For example, in Whoso list to hunt, the female deer may represent Anne and Wyatt is hunting or chasing this deer. Wyatt talks about the object of love and physiological events in the minds of character's he writes.

I think it would be good to point out that, humanism grew in the Renaissance. Francesco Petrarch is considered to be the "father of the humanist". Humanism was a rediscovery of the past. Old philosophical thought, Latin (spoken by Cicero and Plato), and traditional ancient art forms were revived by the humanist. Emotion was brought out into view to the public through writing and art. A lot of these Renaissance poets are connected to the humanist train of thought.

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