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The Interlude Of The Student And The Girl
''The Interlude of the Student and the Girl'' () is one of the earliest known secular plays in English, first performed . The text is written in vernacular English, in an East Midlands dialect that suggests either Lincoln or Beverley as its origin, although its title is given in Latin.Wickham (1976, 193). The name of its playwright is unknown. Only two scenes, with a total of 84 lines of verse in rhyming couplets, are extant and survive in a manuscript held by the British Library, dated to either the late twelfth or very early thirteenth century. Glynne Wickham provides both the original text and a rendering in modern English in his ''English Moral Interludes'' (1976).Wickham (1976, 195–203). E. K. Chambers also provided the text in his ''The Mediaeval Stage'' (1903, vol. 2, 324–326), though Wickham points out that in that book the scenes have been inaccurately transcribed; see Wickham (1979, 198). Chamber's book is . In tone and form, the interlude seems to be the clo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secularity
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian history into the modern era. Since the Middle Ages, there have been clergy not pertaining to a religious order called "secular clergy". Furthermore, secular and religious entities were not separated in the medieval period, but coexisted and interacted naturally. The word ''secular'' has a meaning very similar to profane as used in a religious context. Today, anything that is not directly connected with religion may be considered secular, in other words, neutral to religion. Secularity does not mean , but . Many activities in religious bodies are secular, and though there are multiple types of secularity or secularization, most do not lead to irreligiosity. Linguistically, a process by which anything becomes secular is named ''secularization ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farce
Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense; satire, parody, and mockery of real-life situations, people, events, and interactions; unlikely and humorous instances of miscommunication; ludicrous, improbable, and exaggerated characters; and broadly stylized performances. Genre Despite involving absurd situations and characters, the genre generally maintains at least a slight degree of realism and narrative continuity within the context of the irrational or ludicrous situations, often distinguishing it from completely absurdist or fantastical genres. Farces are often episodic or short in duration, often being set in one specific location where all events occur. Farces have historically been performed for the theatre, stage and film. Historical context T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medieval Drama
Medieval theatre encompasses theatrical in the period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century and the beginning of the Renaissance in approximately the 15th century. The category of "medieval theatre" is vast, covering dramatic performance in Europe over a thousand-year period. A broad spectrum of genres needs to be considered, including mystery plays, morality plays, farces and masques. The themes were almost always religious. The most famous examples are the English cycle dramas, the York Mystery Plays, the Chester Mystery Plays, the Wakefield Mystery Plays, and the N-Town Plays, as well as the morality play known as '' Everyman''. One of the first surviving secular plays in English is '' The Interlude of the Student and the Girl'' (c. 1300). Due to a lack of surviving records and texts, low literacy in the general population, and the opposition of the clergy, there are few surviving sources from the Early and High Medieval periods. However, by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Plays
Folk plays such as Hoodening, Guising, Mummers Play and Soul Caking are generally verse sketches performed in countryside pubs in European countries, private houses or the open air, at set times of the year such as the Winter or Summer solstices or Christmas and New Year. Many have long traditions, although they are frequently updated to retain their relevance for contemporary audiences. With the rise in folklore studies as an academic discipline, research into folk plays has increased. Notable organizations in this area (in the UK in particular, often centred on Yorkshire) have included: * Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language (CECTAL), founded in 1975 based on prior research programmes, inside the University of Sheffield's Department of English * Institute of Dialect and Folklife Studies (IDAFS, part of Leeds University, closed in 1984) * National Centre for English Cultural Tradition (NATCECT, new name for CECTAL since 1997; run by Joan C. Beal and Professor J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Bevington
David Martin Bevington (May 13, 1931 – August 2, 2019) was an American literary scholar. He was the Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and in English Language & Literature, Comparative Literature, and the college at the University of Chicago, where he taught since 1967, as well as chair of Theatre and Performance Studies. "One of the most learned and devoted of Shakespeareans," so called by Harold Bloom, he specialized in British drama of the Renaissance, and edited and introduced the complete works of William Shakespeare in both the 29-volume, Bantam Classics paperback editions and the single-volume Longman edition. After accomplishing this feat, Bevington was often cited as the only living scholar to have personally edited Shakespeare's complete corpus. He also edited the Norton Anthology of Renaissance Drama and an important anthology of Medieval English Drama, the latter of which was just re-released by Hackett for the first time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thorn (letter)
Thorn or þorn (Þ, þ) is a letter in the Old English Latin alphabet, Old English, Old Norse alphabet, Old Norse, Old Swedish and modern Icelandic orthography, Icelandic alphabets, as well as modern transliterations of the Gothic language, Gothic alphabet, Middle Scots, and some dialects of Middle English. It was also used in Middle Ages, medieval Scandinavia but was later replaced with the Digraph (orthography), digraph ''Th (digraph), th,'' except in Iceland, where it survives. The letter originated from the runic alphabet, rune in the Elder Futhark and was called ''thorn'' in the Anglo-Saxon and ''thorn'' or ''Jötunn, thurs'' in the Scandinavian rune poems. It is similar in appearance to the archaic Greek letter Sho (letter), sho (ϸ), although the two are historically unrelated. The only language in which þ is currently in use is Icelandic language, Icelandic. It represented a voiceless dental fricative or its voiced dental fricative, voiced counterpart . However, in mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medieval Theatre
Medieval theatre encompasses theatrical in the period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century and the beginning of the Renaissance in approximately the 15th century. The category of "medieval theatre" is vast, covering dramatic performance in Europe over a thousand-year period. A broad spectrum of genres needs to be considered, including mystery plays, morality plays, farces and masques. The themes were almost always religious. The most famous examples are the English cycle dramas, the York Mystery Plays, the Chester Mystery Plays, the Wakefield Mystery Plays, and the N-Town Plays, as well as the morality play known as '' Everyman''. One of the first surviving secular plays in English is '' The Interlude of the Student and the Girl'' (c. 1300). Due to a lack of surviving records and texts, low literacy in the general population, and the opposition of the clergy, there are few surviving sources from the Early and High Medieval periods. However, by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Roister Doister
''Ralph Roister Doister'' is a sixteenth-century play by Nicholas Udall, which was once regarded as the first comedy to be written in the English language. The date of its composition is disputed, but the balance of opinion suggests that it was written in about 1552, when Udall was a schoolmaster in London, and some theorise the play was intended for public performance by his pupils—who were all male, as were most actors in that period. The work was not published until 1567, 11 years after its author's death. Sources Roister Doister seems to have been inspired by the works of Plautus and Terence. The title character is a variation on the "Braggart Soldier" archetype, but with the innovation of a parasitic tempter which stems from the morality play tradition. By combining the structures, conventions, and styles of the ancient Greek and Roman comedies with English theatrical traditions and social types (especially the relatively new and burgeoning English middle classes), Uda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gammer Gurton's Needle
John Still (c. 1543 – 26 February 1607/1608) was Master of two Cambridge colleges and then, from 1593, Bishop of Bath and Wells. He enjoyed considerable fame as an English preacher and disputant. He was formerly reputed to be the author of an early English comedy drama, ''Gammer Gurton's Needle''. Career Still was born 1543 in Grantham, Lincolnshire. After finishing school at The King's School, Grantham, he became a student at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he gained a BA in 1562, a MA in 1565, and a DD doctorate in 1575. In 1561 he became a fellow of his college and took holy orders. Still was appointed in 1570 to be Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, and later held livings in Suffolk, where he was Archdeacon of Sudbury from 1576 to 1593, and in Yorkshire. He was then Master successively of St John's College (1574) and of Trinity College (1577). Still was Vice-Chancellor of his university in 1575/1576 and again in 1592/1593. He was raised to the bishopric of Bath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy (drama)
Comedy is a genre of dramatic performance having a light or humorous tone that depicts amusing incidents and in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity. For ancient Greeks and Romans, a comedy was a stage-play with a happy ending. In the Middle Ages, the term expanded to include narrative poems with happy endings and a lighter tone. In this sense Dante used the term in the title of his poem, the ''Divine Comedy'' ( Italian: ''Divina Commedia''). The phenomena connected with laughter and that which provokes it have been carefully investigated by psychologists. The predominating characteristics are incongruity or contrast in the object, and shock or emotional seizure on the part of the subject. It has also been held that the feeling of superiority is an essential factor: thus Thomas Hobbes speaks of laughter as a "sudden glory." Modern investigators have paid much attention to the origin both of laughter and of smiling, as well as the development of the "play ins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Celestina
''The Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea'' (), known in Spain as ''La Celestina'', is a work entirely in dialogue published in 1499. Sometimes called in English ''The Spanish Bawd'', it is attributed to Fernando de Rojas, a descendant of converted Jews, who practiced law and, later in life, served as an alderman of Talavera de la Reina, an important commercial center near Toledo. The book is considered to be one of the greatest works of all Spanish literature and is even the single topic of a Spanish literary journal, ''Celestinesca''. ''La Celestina'' is usually regarded as marking the end of the medieval period and the beginning of the renaissance in Spanish literature. Although usually regarded as a novel, it is written as a continuous series of dialogues and can be taken as a play, having been staged as such and filmed. The story tells of a bachelor, Calisto, who uses the old procuress and bawd Celestina to start an affair with Melibea, an unmarried girl kept in seclusio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Four PP
''The Play called the foure PP; a newe and a very mery interlude of a palmer, a pardoner, a potycary, a pedler'' or ''The Four PP'' (pronounced "pees", plural of the name of the letter P) is an interlude by John Heywood written around 1530 that relates the tale of four men whose trades begin with the letter P. The characters in the play include two churchmen (a Pardoner and a Palmer), a medieval pharmacist (an aPothecary), and a Pedlar. The play has no female characters. Plot The four characters introduce themselves and quarrel. To settle the argument, the Pedlar challenges them to hold a competition of lying. With Pedlar as the judge, the man with the unsurmountable lie would have mastery over the others. Pardoner starts by boasting about his relics since he is licensed to sell papal indulgences. The Pothecary begins by telling in crude details his marvelous cure. The tale has many bawdy elements. The Pardoner relates the tale of his visit to hell and how he witnessed the fru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
