Archive for January, 2009»
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
Christopher Marlowe was the most famous Elizabethan tragedian next to William Shakespeare. He is best known for his work in blank verse, as well as his colorful life and mysterious death. Although little of it can be proved, Marlowe was reputedly an atheist, a homosexual, and a government spy. He was eventually murdered after the discovery of threatening and libelous documents attributed to him.
For GRE purposes, I recommend you check out my previous post on Marlowe, which contains an audiobook of his poem, The Passionate Shepherd to his Love. Also take note of the post prior to that, which contains a recording of “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” by Sir Walter Raleigh.
Marlowe’s most famous work is The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, a play composed in blank verse about a protagonist who sells his soul to the devil in return for worldly power. (Not to be confused with Faust, which is Goethe’s dramatization of the same German legend.) I haven’t included an audiobook of Doctor Faustus, because I personally find audiobooks of plays to be extremely confusing, especially if you happen read them before. That said, is very likely to appear on the GRE, so I’d recommend you read it. Read the wikipedia summary .
Other works of note
Further reading
Christopher Marlowe site at
The Faerie Queen is a big one on the GRE, but it’s pretty easy to recognize if you know your Spensarian stanza. You should also take some time learning the characters and their allegorical significances. I hate to even suggest it, but is good for this. I know you’re going for a Ph.D. and all, but just remember: the GRE is not about how well you know things, its about how much you know.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find many great audiobooks for The Faerie Queen, but here are three of the cantos just to give you a sense of it. In the meantime, you can download the free e-book of at .
Listen to the Audio recording of:
bk2_01 – The Legende of Sir Gyvon – Canto 01.
bk4_03 – The Legende of Cambel and Telamond – Canto 03 ·
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
Sir Philip Sidney isn’t a huge figure on the GRE, but “Astrophel and Stella” is likely to appear. This was the first of the famous English sonnet sequences, and was composed sometime in the early 1580s. It is also referred to as a “sonnet cycle, ” because, taken as a whole, the sonnets contain a narration of a romantic relationship from its beginning to its decline.
The names of the protagonists are derived from the Greek words ‘aster’ (star) and ‘phil’ (lover), and the Latin word ’stella’ meaning star. Thus Astrophel is the star lover, and Stella is his star. There are 108 Sonnets in all, and 11 songs. I’ve included links to the first 60 of them, which is more than enough to give you a sense of the form. If you’d like to hear them all, they’re available .
Sidney’s form is (with a few exceptions) a variation on the Petrarchan sonnet: 14 lines, rhyme scheme abababab cdcd ee, with a rhyming couplet at the end. Here’s the text of the first sonnet.
1
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That the dear She might take some pleasure of my pain:
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain:
Oft turning others’ leaves to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention’s stay,
Invention, Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows,
And others’ feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,
‘Fool’ said my Muse to me, ‘look in thy heart and write.’
Other texts to look out for are and
Further Reading:
Sir Philip Sidney page at
– includes full text of selected works.
Here is the aforementioned poem by Christopher Marlowe,
Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 – 1618)
Raleigh isn’t a huge figure on the GRE, but The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd (see earlier post) is very likely to come up. You can read his bio on wikipedia . You won’t generally need to know any biographical information on the test, but I find that both biographical information and pictures can be very helpful memory aides.
The Author’s Epitaph, written by himself
Even such is time, which takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, and all we have,
And pays us but With age and dust,
Who in the dark and Silent grave
When we have wandered all Our ways
Shuts up the story of our days,
And from which earth, and grave, and dust
The Lord shall raise me up, I trust.
Listen to the audiobook ofby Sir Walter Raleigh.
This is a GRE heavy hitter. You should know that it’s written in response to Christopher Marlowe’s poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” Donne, Herrick, and C. Day Lewis also parodied Marlowe’s original.