Shakespearean Literature
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (June 11, 1572 - August 6, 1637)
Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet, and actor.The types of poems Jonson primarily wrote were satirical comedies and what he became was a towering literary figure; he has even been described as "One of the most vigorous minds that ever added to the strength of English literature." He began to decline in the 18th century; especially in the romantic era where Jonson was unfairly compared to Shakespeare. One of the plays Jonson was known for was The Alchemist (play); it is known for having acute completion of the classical unities and vivid description of human folly, making it one of the few timeless Renaissance plays. Jonson is also know for Volpone, a merciless satire of greed and lust. It still continues to be one of Jonson's most-performed plays.
Edmund Spencer (XX, 1552 - January 13, 1599)
Spencer was another famous poet that lived during Shakespeare's time. Scholars have pointed out that his poetry does not belabor tradition, but rather his own instead. His most famous work was The Faerie Queene; which is still one of the longest poems in the English language. It accompanies several knights in an examination of many amenities. Spenser states that the whole epic and righteous poem is "cloudily enwrapped in allegorical devices, as stated in Spenser's "Letter of the Authors"; and the purpose behindThe Faerie Queene was in order to "fashion a gentlemen or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline."
John Milton (December 9, 1608 - November 8 1674)
He was an English poet, a scholarly man of letters, and a polemicist. Milton is still called "as one of the preeminent writers in the English language." Milton's most famous work was Paradise Lost; it has been praised as "a poem which...with respect to design may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the human mind" by Samuel Johnson. The poem mainly concerns the enticement of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton, in the first book, states that it is to "justify the ways of God to men." Paradise Lost is still widely popular today and is still considered one of the greatest literary works in the English language.
Shakespearean Art
Nicholas Hilliard (XX 1547 - January 7, 1619)
Hilliard was an English goldsmith and mostly known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. Hilliard's paintings still embody Elizabethan England's visual image,which differs a lot from much of Europe in the late sixteenth century. His paintings magnificently conducted and have a nice refreshing charm that has his continuing ego as "the central artistic figure of the Elizabethan age, the only English painter whose work reflects, in its delicate microcosm, the world of Shakespeare's earlier plays." Despite having a lot of success, Hilliard had financial problems which caused him to be briefly imprisoned for debt.
Isaac Oliver (XX, 1565 - October 2, 1617)
Oliver was born in northern France, but he moved to London with his parents to escape the Wars of Religion in France. Oliver then studied miniature painting under Nicholas Hilliard; he ended up developing a naturalistic style, which was very much influenced by Italian and Flemish art.