Introduction to the Renaissance
Section 2
Time travel is a popular concept with seventh graders and the Renaissance is no exception. Students are keenly interested in this period of change, expansion, and exuberance. To introduce historical context, I start with a collaborative activity. Students are divided into groups, with the task of reading about one aspect of the time: education, medicine and the plague, art, science, music, theater, books and printing, exploration, etc. I encourage students to sign up for an interest group in an area they would like to learn more about. A class period is dedicated to reading about their topic from several sources such as John Clare's Italian Renaissance and Lee McRae's Handbook of the Renaissance. Each group is responsible for teaching us what they have learned during the next class period. In gifted and talented classes, we pursue additional knowledge about subject areas through library research before the class presentations and produce a newspaper with individually-written articles. To prepare these students, I show them an example like The Medieval Messenger, a parody produced by Fergus Fleming, as well as contemporary examples of the genre.
Because the issues of marriage and women's role in Renaissance society are so crucial to understanding A Midsummer Night's Dream, I also stress them in our early studies. One starting point is to have students read and compare two poems from the period: "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love" (Christopher Marlowe) and "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" (Sir Walter Raleigh). Using an organizer, students contrast the speakers, their desires and philosophies, and the structure of the two poems. In addition to learning about the fun writers have with intertextual responses, they also learn about the continuing gender debate and how personal desires collide in society. A more informative resource on women's roles at this time is Margaret King's book, Women of the Renaissance. I will have students read selected passages so that they will understand Hermia and Hippolyta's dilemma at the beginning of the play. An excerpt from John Knox's First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558) completes the picture of the societal strictures against women's freedom, despite the paradox of a woman reigning over England.
To balance this picture of women oppressed, I also introduce some of the women who were able to overcome the biases of the period. Selections from Christine de Pizan's Book of the City of Ladies can be useful, as well as art from Sofonisba Anguissola and Artemisia Gentileschi. Further art slides can be chosen to stress the focus on the individual reflected by the popularity of the individual portrait. Writing about these art works helps students observe closely, analyze, and practice both expressive and descriptive modes of writing, as well as getting them into the spirit of the time.
As a final activity, this year I will have students read selections from Leonardo Bruni's "Panegyric to the City of Florence" (Kohl). We will analyze this writing from two perspectives: first, does this explain why Florence was the birthplace of the renaissance, and second, how does this writing work rhetorically? We discuss the use of evidence to support the arguments and how Bruni puts a positive spin on less-than positive attributes of the city. Students then will write their own panegyric to the city, place, or group of their choice, either as a serious piece of writing or as a parody of the form. And now we are ready to launch Shakespeare!
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