1600 to 1699: "Go and Catch a Falling Star" to Medee (Medea)

John Donne. British. 1633. Poetry. “Go and Catch a Falling Star.” Series of impossible feats is less difficult than the task of finding a woman “true and faire.”

John Donne. British. 1633. Poetry. “Twicknam Garden.” The paradoxes of fidelity and falseness in love. Intensity of feeling.

John Fletcher. British. 1634. Play. The Two Noble Kinsmen. Palamon and Arcite—the same as Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale.” Two friends vie for the same girl. Duel. Winner gets the girl; loser to be executed. Arcite wins, falls from horse; before dying, gives girl to Palamon.

John Milton. British. 1634. Masque. Comus. Theme: struggle between chaste temperance and sensual pleasure with both causes eloquently represented.

Pierre Corneille. French. 1635. Play. Medee (Medea). First tragedy by Corneille; Medea’s bloody vengeance on the faithless Jason.