The Renaissance Period in

English Literature
Lokdeshwar More
Assistant Professor in English
K J Somaiya College of Arts and Commerce, Vidyavihar, Mumbai
The Renaissance: Definition
The Renaissance was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic,
literary, political and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages.
Generally described as taking place from the 14th century to the 17th
century, the Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical
philosophy, literature and art.
1. Meaning rebirth or revival --- historical period of approximately 300
years marked by a revival in art, literature, and learning.
2. The period served as a bridge or transition between medieval
and modern Western Europe.
Definition: The complex features of the intellectual and cultural life of
numerous European countries over several hundred years.
It has been described as the birth of the modern world out of the ashes
of the Dark Ages , the discovery of the world and the discovery of
man; and as the era of the emergence of untrammelled individualism
in life, thought, religion, and art.
The Renaissance: Introduction
It began with the rediscovery of Greco-Roman Civilization
which had been neglected during the Middle Ages.
It emphasized reason, a questioning attitude, experimentation,
and free inquiry.
This is contrasted with the medieval concern with faith,
authority, and tradition.
It glorified the individual and approved worldly pleasures,
viewing life as worthwhile for its own sake, not chiefly as a
preparation for the life to come (salvation).
Focused attention upon secular society rather than the
medieval preoccupation with the Church and religious affairs.
Featured great achievements in literature, art, and science.
 The Renaissance: Background
King Henry VIII: He broke with the Roman Catholic Church and had Parliament
declare him supreme head of the Church of England, starting the English
Reformation, because the pope would not annul his marriage to Catherine of
Aragon. He wanted to remarry and produce a male heir. Anxiety and yearning for
male heir. Wanted to have second marriage: Anny Boleyn. He cut all contact with
Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome, part of a reaction against the Catholic
Church in many parts of Europe.
Children: Edward VI King of England(June 1547 to 1553) Mary I, Queen of
England 1553 to1558; Elizabeth Queen of England: 1558--1603
Erasmus, the Dutch thinker, wrote of mankind as central to the world, and
this humanist concern was the basis of most Renaissance thought. He also called
for a translation of the Bible into the everyday language of the people. Erasmus
also called for reforms (changes) in the Church. He challenged the worldliness of
Church practices and urged a return to early Christian traditions. His best known
work is The Praise of Folly. In this work, he uses humor to expose the ignorance
and immoral behavior of many people of his day, including the clergy (church
officials).
The Renaissance: Background
William Caxton and Johannes Guttenberg:
The first English printer William Caxton (1422-1491) learnt the art of printing
at Cologne in the early 1470-s (Guttenberg in Germany in 1440). In 1470-s he
returned to England. In 1477 the first book was issued from his press at
Westminster, Earl ‘Rivers’ ”Dictes and Sayengs of the Phylosophers”.

Thomas More (1478 – 1535), was the most outstanding writer of the first
stage of English Renaissance. He was Lord Chancellor of England from 1529-
1532), scholar and saint. He trained as a lawyer, entered parliament in 1504. He
resigned in opposition to Henry VIII’s religious policies and was arrested for
refusing to swear the oath to the Act of Succession and thereby deny papal
supremacy.
He was convicted executed. Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia, which describes an
ideal society, where men and women live in peace and harmony. Private property
does not exist in More’s utopia. No one is idle, all are educated, and justice is used
to end crime rather than to eliminate the criminal.
The Renaissance: Features
The New Learning: Renaissance scholars of the classics, called
humanists, revived the knowledge of the Greek language, discovered and
disseminated a great number of Greek manuscripts, and added considerably
to the number of Roman authors and works which had been known during
the Middle Ages.
The New Religion: The Reformation led by Martin Luther (1483-1546)
was a successful heresy which struck at the very foundations of the
institutionalism of the Roman Catholic Church. This early Protestantism
was grounded on each individual's inner experience of spiritual struggle
and salvation.
Faith (based on the word of the Bible) was alone thought competent to
save, and salvation itself was regarded as a direct transaction with God in
the theater of the individual soul, without the necessity of intermediation
by Church, priest, or sacrament.
 The Renaissance: Features
The New World: In 1492 Christopher Columbus, acting on the
persisting and widespread belief in the old Greek idea that the world is a
globe, sailed west to find a new commercial route to the East, only to be
frustrated by the unexpected barrier of a new continent. The succeeding
explorations of this continent and its native populations, and its
settlement by Europeans, gave new materials to the literary imagination.
The New Cosmos: The cosmos of medieval astronomy was Ptolemaic
and pictured a stationary earth around which rotated the successive
spheres of the moon.
In 1543 Copernicus published his new hypothesis concerning the
astronomic system; this gave a much simpler and more coherent
explanation of accumulating observations substantiating the fact that
stationary Sun around which rotated the successive spheres of the
moon, and other planets, and other stars.
The Renaissance: Patrons
Certain Popes in Rome.
The Sforza family in Milan.
The Medici family in Florence

Florence: Preeminent Renaissance City

1. 15th Century: Florence came under the control (rule) of the Medici
family. Originally a merchant family who amassed a fortune in the wool
trade and then expanded into banking.
2. The Medici's (especially Lorenzo the Magnificent, 1469-1492)
became outstanding patrons of Renaissance Art.
3. Florence attracted people of talent from elsewhere in Italy, and the
city acquired many priceless works of art.
The Italian Renaissance
The Renaissance Begins in Italy
The Renaissance began in Italy in the mid-1300s and later spread
north to the rest of Europe.
It reached its height in the 1500s. The Renaissance emerged in Italy
for several reasons.
1. It had been the center of Greco-Roman Culture, Italy
contained sculpture, buildings, roads, and manuscripts that excited
curiosity about classical civilization.
2. Located on the Mediterranean, Italy had absorbed stimulating
new ideas from the more advanced Byzantine and Moslem
Worlds.
3. Benefiting from the revival of trade that resulted from the
Crusades, Italy had wealthy influential people who became
patrons (supporters) of literature, art, and science.
The Renaissance Spreads

In the 15th Century, Renaissance ideas began to spread from

Italy to France, the German states, Holland, and England.

The spread of these ideas resulted from religious, military, and

commercial contacts.

Many northern scholars also traveled to Italy to absorb Italian

art and learning.
 Humanism
The chief characteristic of Renaissance was its emphasis on
Humanism.
Humanism illustrated the Spirit of the Renaissance (a literary
movement that began in 14th Century Italy.)

Concerned themselves, not with religious matters, but with

everyday human problems.

Drew inspiration from classical civilization - eagerly seeking,

studying, and publicizing ancient Greek and Roman
manuscripts.

Revived interest, chiefly among educated people, in literature

and writing.
Humanist Writers
Petrarch (1304-1374)
a. Italian who studied the classics and wrote in both Italian and Latin.
b. He imitated the style of classical writers.
2. Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494)
a. An Italian, who lived for a while near Florence, was a scholar of law,
philosophy, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic.
b. He spoke in praise of the dignity of human beings.
3. Erasmus (1466?-1536)
a. He was Dutch and a brilliant classical scholar.
b. In his book, Praise of Folly, he ridiculed superstition, prejudice, upper
class privileges, and Church abuses.
c. By satirizing social evils, Erasmus encouraged people to think about
reforms.
4. Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
* An Englishman, he wrote Utopia, a book about an ideal country
that was free from war, injustice, poverty, and ignorance.
The Vernacular Replaces Latin In Literature
In the Middle Ages, Latin was the language of literature, of the Church,
and of educated people.

Over the centuries: other languages had been evolving through everyday
usage.

French, Italian, Spanish, German, and English are vernacular or

national languages.

At the end of the Middle Ages, writers began to use the vernacular.
 Writers of the Vernacular
Dante (1265-1321)
a. An Italian, born in Florence, served that city in various governmental positions
until he was exiled by political opponents.
b. Known as the "Father of Modern Italy", he was the first to write an important
piece of literature in the Vernacular.
c. His Divine Comedy, a long poem in which Dante describes an imaginary trip
through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven during which one of his guides is the Roman
poet Virgil.
2. Boccaccio (1313?-1375)
a. An Italian who lived in Florence during his formative years and was influenced by
the Renaissance spirit of Humanism.
b. He is best known for his Italian Prose in a collection of short stories called The
Decameron. * these stories were related by a group of young men who fled to a villa
outside Florence to escape the Black Death (plague).
3. Chaucer (1340?-1400)
a. An Englishman who became familiar with the works of Dante and Boccaccio while
traveling in Italy. b. Chaucer used English in his collection of stories in verse, the
Canterbury Tales.
* Supposedly these stories were related by pilgrims journeying to the religious shrine
at Canterbury.
The Invention of Printing: Encourages Literature

1. ca. 1450: printing with movable type was invented by a

German, Johan Gutenberg.

2. During the Middle Ages books had to be hand copied (time

consuming and expensive) on parchment (goat skin).

3. 12th Century: Europeans discovered paper from the Moslems.

4. Impact: printing tremendously increased output and accuracy

and decreased the cost.

* Inexpensive printed materials afforded all people opportunities for

literacy & learning, and encouraged talented people to write.
Renaissance Literary Achievements:
Machiavelli (1469-1527)
a. An Italian born in Florence, served the Florentine Republic as a
secretary and diplomat.
b. When the Medici family was restored to power in Florence, Machiavelli
was dismissed from office and permitted to retire to his country home
where he devoted himself to writing.
c. The Prince: major work on ethics and government describing how rulers
maintain power by methods that ignore right or wrong and accept the
philosophy that "the end justifies the means".
d. The word Machiavellian has come to mean "cunning and unscrupulous"
-- a prototype for a totalitarian dictator, right or left wing.
Rabelais (1494?-1553)
a. A Frenchman who wrote the romance Gargantua And Panatagruel.
b. A humorist who portrayed a comic world of giants whose adventures
satirized education, politics, and philosophy.
Renaissance Literary Achievements:
3. Montaigne (1533-1592)
a. A Frenchman who wrote a series of essays.
b. He expressed skepticism toward accepted beliefs, condemning
superstition and intolerance and urging people to live nobly.
4. Cervantes (1547-1616)
A Spaniard who ridiculed feudal society, especially knighthood and
chivalry, in relating the adventures of the mad knight of La Mancha, Don
Quixote.
5. Shakespeare (1564-1616)
a. His plays employed a dramatic technique to probe historical events and
human character.
b. Best Known Plays: Histories: Henry IV and Henry V
Comedies:
Twelfth Night and Midsummer Night's Dream
Tragedies:
Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth.
Renaissance Literary Achievements:
Milton (1608-1674)
a. Englishman: Paradise Lost: retold the Biblical story of Creation and the
Garden of Eden in this epic poem.
b. Areopagitica: in which Milton advocated freedom of the press.

Moliere (1622-1673)

a. Dominated French literature as its leading comic dramatist.

b. Best known plays: the Misanthrope and the Imaginary Invalid.
Characteristics of Renaissance Art:
Influenced by the artistic achievements of Classical Greece and Rome.
Particularly in sculpture and architecture--- Renaissance artists often
imitated classical works.

Renaissance painting emphasized realism, attention to detail, and a desire

for perfection.

Early Renaissance painters dealt with religious themes but with a lifelike
approach.

Later Renaissance painters also employed a realistic style and continued

to recreate Biblical themes.

In Addition: they also depicted worldly subjects, landscapes, portraits, and

scenes of everyday life..
Renaissance Artistic Achievements:
4. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
:
a. He worked in Florence, Milan, and Rome. b. He was a skilled painter,
sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, and scientist.
c. In military engineering - he improved the method of loading cannons
and devised equipment for scaling walls. d. He devised the possibility of a
parachute and a flying machine. e. In painting he is best known for his Self
Portrait, The Last Supper, and the Mona Lisa.
5. Michelangelo (1475-1564)
a. He worked in Florence and Rome; he was talented as a painter, sculptor,
poet, and architect. Famed for the biblical scenes he painted on the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
c. As a sculptor - he is best known for his Pieta, David, and Moses.
d. Michelangelo also designed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
7. Raphael (1483-1520)
a. Worked in both Florence and Rome. b. Known for the Frescos he painted
in the Papal Library at Rome.
Conclusion:
English Renaissance is really ended with Elizabeth in 1603. Scepticism
entered with dour Scot James I, and exuberance faded before the rising of
Puritans, who closed the theatres in 1642.
Grandeur
Nevertheless, Francis Bacon’s The Advancement of Learning (1605) and
Novum Organum (1620), his new instrument of empirical science,
continued the Renaissance quest to toward expanded horizons.
Spontaneity
In France, Descarter’s immensely influential Discourse (1637) rendered
into Latin (1644), carried the Renaissance to its ego-centric extremity:
cogito ergo sum, “I think; therefore, I am”.

Even a repressive Commonwealth which, killed a king to set up a

government of legislators (1649) was a late Renaissance expression. Hence
historians close the Renaissance in 1660 with the Restoration of King
Charles II to monarchy in England.