enaissance 1476-1650

Renaissance 1476-1650

A time of great In 1476, Caxton introduces the printing press to England. He prints all kinds
cultural and of texts: mythic tales, popular stories, poems, phrasebooks, devotional
intellectual pieces & grammars. In the following 150 years around 20,000 books are
development printed. Books become cheaper and are therefore increasingly popular.
Literacy rates rise. Printers have to make a choice about which words,
grammar and spellings to use. The choices they make help to set and
spread a standard language. They base their decisions on the dialects of
the South East - the most socially and economically influencial region. But
these rules are not set in stone, and people continue to speak in different
accents and dialects, and to write with different spellings. Over the next 200
years wonderful discoveries and innovations are made in the fields of art,
theatre and science. There is a fresh interest amongst scholars in classical
languages, while intrepid explorers and opportunistic traders travel to the
New World.
New words With these fresh findings come new words from across the globe,
including atmosphere, explain, enthusiasm, skeleton and utopian (from
Latin);bizarre, chocolate, explore, moustache andvogue (from
French); carnival, macaroni andviolin (from Italian) harem, jar,
magazine andsherbet from Arabic); and coffee, yoghurt andkiosk (from
Turkish); tomato, potato and tobacco(from Spanish)
Classical Renascence.
The birth of the classical renascence.
THE classical renascence implied a knowledge and
imitation of the great literary artists of the golden past
of classical antiquity, and, as a preliminary, a
competent acquaintance with, and some power to
use, the Latin and Greek languages. Italy gave it birth
and it gradually spread beyond the Alps into Germany,
France and England.

The enthusiasts of the classical renascence, who had

spent time and pains in mastering the secrets of style
of the literary artists of antiquity, were somewhat
disdainful of their mother tongues. They were inclined
to believe that cultured thought could only find fit
expression in the apt words, deft phrases and
rhythmical cadences, of the revived language of
ancient Rome. They preferred to write in Latin.

The classical renascence had a powerful effect in

moulding the literary languages of modern Europe and
in enriching them with graces of style and expression.
Its influence was so pervading and impalpable that it
worked like leaven, almost imperceptibly, yet really
and potently.
Erasmus
The classical renascence recognised no one land in Europe as its own; it possessed all and
belonged to all. Yet it is possible to describe its progress in Italy, Germany, France and even
Spain, without introducing alien names. England is an exception. Erasmus belongs as much to
the history of the classical renascence in our land

Erasmus visited England for the first time in the summer of 1499.

His visit had been short, lasting about six months, just long enough to make him acquainted with
the most prominent scholars in England; and his correspondence enables us to judge of the
progress which the classical renascence had made there.

The letters of Erasmus are, as a rule, more rhetorical than matter-of-fact; but, in this case,
he seems to have been perfectly sincere. He believed that England was a specially favoured
land, and that the classical renascence had made progress there in an exceptional way. Six
years later, during his second visit, which lasted about fourteen months and was spent, for
the most part, in London,he had had intimate converse with five or six men in London who
were as accurate scholars in Latin and Greek as Italy itself then possessed.
William Lily.
Lily ranked as one of the most erudite students of Greek that England possessed. After graduating
in arts at Oxford, he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, spent some time with the Knights of St.
John at Rhodes, and returning home by Italy studied there under Sulpitius and Pomponius Laeto.
He became an intimate friend of Thomas More, and, in conjunction with him, published
Progymnasmata, a series of translations from the Greek anthology into Latin elegiacs.

Sir Thomas More.

Sir Thomas More was the one member of the band of English humanists who had a distinct
gift of literary genius. The son of a well-known London lawyer, he was placed by his father in
the household of archbishop Morton, who, recognising his precocious genius, sent him to
Oxford. There he became a good Latinist and a fair scholar in Greek. Together with Lily, he
translated epigrams from the Greek anthology into Latin elegiac verse, and, in company with
Erasmus, he translated into Latin prose portions from Lucian. The former, largely added to,
were published in Progymnasmatal 6 and the latter, in 1506, under the title Luciani
compluria opuscula ab Erasmo Roterodamo et Thoma Moro traducta.

More was a voluminous writer both in Latin and in English. His fame rests chiefly on his
Latin epigrams and Utopia
 Overview. Characteristics
The Renaissance in Europe was in one sense an awakening from the long slumber of
the Dark Ages. There was the sincerely held belief that humanity was making progress
towards a noble summit of perfect existence.

The fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries in Europe witnessed a deliberate

break with feudal modes of living. Aristocratic landowners lost their hegemony over
the lower classes, as opportunities for growth and enrichment beckoned from the
swelling urban centers.

Intellectuals adopted a line of thought known as humanism, in which mankind was

believed capable of earthly perfection beyond what had ever been imagined before.
The overwhelming spirit of the times was optimism, a belief that life was improving for
the first time in anyones memory.

Indeed, the specter of the Dark Ages and the Black Death were still very fresh in
peoples minds, and the promise of moving forward and away from such horrors was
wholeheartedly welcome.
Several threads can be said to tie the entire European
Renaissance together across the three centuries which it
spanned.

The steady rise of nationalism, coupled with the first

flourishing of democracy, were traits common to the entire
Continent. The first inklings of a middle class began to gain
power in the cities, as trade and commerce became full
enterprises in their own right.

With the fear of contagion a distant bad memory, and people

eager to get out of their homes and see more of the world,
international and even global trade began to surge forward.

Along with products and wealth, ideas also spread from one
nation to another. Fashions in Venice soon became the
fashions in Paris and eventually London.
 Speaking of the British Islands, the well-known practice of young privileged men
touring the continent first began during the Renaissance. The ideas these
travelers brought back to their homelands would influence culture, government,
literature and fashion for many years thereafter.

Until the Renaissance, Britain was regarded as something of a wilderness, lacking

culture and refinement. Even the English language was disdained. The
preeminent English philosopher Thomas More published his Utopia in Latin, and a
vernacular English translation did appear until decades afterward.
Spanning the years 1500-1660, the English Renaissance produced some
of the greatest works of literature the world has known.

The spirit of optimism, unlimited potential, and the stoic English character all
coalesced to generate literature of the first order.

At the same time, England graduated from an overlooked barbarian nation to a

seat of commercial power and influence. This power naturally translated into a
literature that was bold, sweeping, innovative, and trend-setting. Poets
experimented with form, and dramatists revived and reinvented the classical
traditions of the Greeks and Romans.
The dominant forms of English literature during the Renaissance were the poem and the drama.
Among the many varieties of poetry one might have found in sixteenth century England
were the lyric, the elegy, the tragedy, and the pastoral. Near the close of the English
Renaissance, John Milton composed his epic Paradise Lost, widely considered the
grandest poem in the language.
Expectations about style, subject matter, tone, and even plot details were well-established
for each poetic genre.

Not infrequently, poetry of the era was intended to be accompanied by music.

In any case, the general consensus among critics is that the chief aim of English
Renaissance verse was to encapsulate beauty and truth in words.

English poetry of the period was ostentatious, repetitious, and often betrayed a subtle wit.
One attribute that tended to set English letters apart from the Continent was the
willingness to intermix different genres into a sort of hodgepodge, experimental affair. This
pastiche (imitating) style is exemplified in Edmund Spensers Faerie Queen, a long poem
which mingled elements of romance, tragedy, epic and pastoral into an entertaining and
still cohesive whole.
Paradise Lost

This first Book proposes, first in brief, the whole

Subject, Mans disobedience, and the loss thereupon of
Paradise wherein he was plac't:

OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit

Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, [ 5 ]
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
 Faerie Queen

Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene (1590-96) is

an allegorical romance designed to glorify Queen
Elizabeth I of England. The Faerie Queene is divided
into Books I through VI, each focusing on the
adventures of a different hero or heroine and a different
virtue, including Holiness, Temperance, Chastity,
Friendship, Justice, and Courtesy.

THE LEGENDE OF THE

KNIGHT OF THE RED CROSSE,
OR
OF HOLINESSE.
LO I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske,
As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds,
Am now enforst a far vnfitter taske,
For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds,
And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds;
Whose prayses hauing slept in silence long,
Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds
To blazon broad emongst her learned throng:
Fierce warres and faithfull loues shall moralize my song.
In the area of drama, no one matched William Shakespeare in
terms of variety, profundity, and exquisite use of language.
Shakespeare is known for his ability to shift between comedy and tragedy,
from complex character study to light-hearted farce. He is likewise highly
regarded for the exquisite formal structure which all of his plays demonstrate.
This goes beyond just acts and scenes, but encompasses the emotional and
psychological arc of the action in the drama. More than anyone else, he elevated
the English language to a level of sumptuousness that previous generations
would not have thought possible. In particular, Shakespeares sonnets display a
verbal pyrotechnics seldom seen even today, with images layered one on top of
another in a kind of sensory collage. Strangely enough, very few details of the
playwrights life are known today. His uncertain biography has led to numerous
conspiracy theories, even to the point of questioning whether he was in fact a
single person. One of the profound difficulties in ascribing authorship to any
piece of literature from so long ago is that copyright, in the modern sense of the
term, did not exist. A writer simply did not own his or her own words, an
inconceivable state of affairs
The theatre in Renaissance England steadily
evolved from a village festival attraction to a
genuine cultural institution.

In 1567, the Red Lion was erected on the

outskirts of London, one of the first commercial
playhouses. From the very beginning, the
theater had its detractors. Locals despised the
crowd and the noise that the popular houses
attracted, and the pubs and brothels that
inevitably cropped up nearby. Many saw the
theater as an invitation to laziness, with
children abandoning their studies and laborers
leaving work to see the plays. Others found the
subject matter distasteful and wicked. The
Puritans, in particular, aimed their barbs directly
at the Elizabethan stage. The intensely
conservative offshoot of Protestantism, the
Puritans feared that the cross-dressing and
playacting one found at the theater would lead
to sexual corruption among the general
populace.
Reformation Literature in England.
Aspects of the reformation.
From the literary point of view, the most striking feature of the reformation is its connection
with the English Bible, and that Bible itself is its greatest monument. Here, again, we might
consider the production of the Bible as prepared by that more conservative movement,
associated with the revival of learning and seen both in the Oxford reformers and in the
Cambridge scholars. But it was also connected with a more revolutionary school of
thought, and was placed by many as the sole rule of life in sharp opposition to the
teaching of the church. Thus, the history of the English Bible itself becomes mingled,
strangely and sadly, with the history of religious strife. Beyond and above all that, however,
its literary influence shows itself as uniquely as its power in giving an inspiration for life.
 The Book of Common Prayer.
The history of The Book of Common Prayer, like
many other parts of the English reformation, shows
curious likenesses to the course of affairs abroad,
mingled with features peculiar to itself. With the
greater sharpness of national divisions and the
stronger coherence of national languages, the use
of the vernacular in the services of the church was
more and more demanded

The changes were, at first, gradual. The wish for uniformity of service throughout the
realm was marked (1541) by a re-issue of the Sarum breviary. There had been many
struggles as to liturgical use in medieval days, and these were thus ended before the
great struggle began. A chapter of the Bible was ordered to be read in English upon
Sundays and holy days and the Litany was put forth in English; the old Latin was retained
but an English communion service for the people was added. Under Henry, and under
Edward, revision had begun with the Primers.
Upon the side of purely popular and personal
devotion, Primers had appeared with fresh
matter. The king had ordered Cranmer to turn
certain prayers into English and to see that they
were used in his province. This Kings Primer
embodied the English Litany, which, alike in its
changes and in its incomparable prose, may be
certainly ascribed to Cranmer. The same literary
genius was now to work upon a larger field and
with greater results. But it is necessary to note
the popular tendencies that had helped to form
the Primers. These books lay to Cranmers
hand, and, if much of the English prayer-book is
to be ascribed to his fine workmanship,
something was also due to the general literary
excellence of the day. We have already seen
how the literary instinct arose from the union of
popular feeling and intense personal devotion.
The reformation, like the Middle Ages, shows a
fitting expression of devotion and religious
thought, reached more through schools and
tendencies than through individual minds.
Thomas Cranmer
Called from a quiet position to great scenes, forced to act a part beyond
his strength, he showed weakness where it is rarely forgiven.
He was pitifully compliant with Henrys wishes in the matter of
his divorce; at the death of Edward, he let himself be hurried into
a policy he did not wholly approve. His instincts were
conservative enough, his mind receptive enough, for the
guidance of a great movement, but he failed in decision and
power.

And yet, no one who reads his letters and writings, or who traces his
work upon the prayer-book, can doubt that he represents faithfully much
of the mind of the English reformation.

He was skilled in all the older ecclesiastical learning, even in the canon
law which many of his friends despised.
His chief writings deal with the Holy Eucharist, and their
historical, as well as theological, interest is, therefore, great. His
Defence of the true and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of
the Body and Blood of Christ (1550), to which he added while in
prison and which was afterwards reprinted, shows his ample
learning, and yet, even when dealing with intricate points, it is
always simple in phrase and striking in its expressions.
His influence
It was the influence of Cranmer that restrained the English reformation from following more closely
the extremes of foreign example. When Edwards reign was over, he regretted his compliance with
regard to the change in the royal succession, but he was prepared to justify, with arguments that
were forcible as well as learned, the theological position which he finally reached and which he
had at least made possible under the second prayer-book. His martyrdom was a great incident in
the reformation, and it added to his individual influence. To his friends and foes alike, the death-
scene was both pathetic and important; eye-witnesses of very different sympathies have described
it; and complicated questions, legal and canonical, have been asked concerning it. But the simple,
self-distrusting mind of the scholar and writer wished to make no pose, and sought after no
display. The cruelty shown him did little to check the movement. The leaders of the Elizabethan
church were men of much his mould, but with an added touch of strength and effective purpose.
They thankfully took as the basis of their work the prayer-book that had translated the devotion of
the past into the language of the future. They followed Cranmer in his wish to learn from the
church, as he had strongly expressed it in his Appeal to a Council; they followed him also in his
love of the Scriptures.
William Tindale
William Tindale is above all the translator of the Scriptures.

His preaching in the villages and in Bristol first brought him into
collision with the church authorities. Gradually, Tindale came to
think that there was no place in England for his purpose, and he
crossed over to Hamburg (1524). It was possible to print books
abroad and send them into England by an evasion of the
existing regulations.

Phamphlets which troubled the government became more

numerous in England after Tindales arrival on the continent.

He was now opposed to all ceremonies that were not perfectly

understood; he questioned confirmation and baptism with
arguments which were often expressed disrespectfully and
sometimes irreverently; while his insistence upon the need of
faith alone was accompanied by a dangerous depreciation of all
good works.

But the main effect of Tindales writings was to urge the private
appeal to the sole authority of Scripture, secured by the
unlimited power of the king, with his full power of reforming
the church. Such teaching made him a useful ally to Henry VIII,
and led to his being secretly encouraged. But his strong
condemnation of Henrys divorce, creditable to him as it was,
lessened his usefulness in Henrys eyes.
Hymns

One further result of the liturgical changes and the growing use of the
vulgar tongue calls for mention. The hymns in the daily offices had always
been popular, and the tendency to replace them by English substitutes
was natural and strong. The best example of devotional poetry was to be
found in the Psalms, and, when religious and poetic interests were warmly
felt, a rendering of the Psalms into English verse seemed a happy method
of stirring up religious zeal.
 Results of the reformation period
A general survey of the field teaches us how varied the religious impulses of the
reformation were, and how vital they were for the national welfare, both upon their
positive and negative sides.

In the lists of early printed books, a number of medieval manuals of devotion and
instruction precede the controversial writings.

At first, as in the Middle Ages, schools conceal individuals, the same material is
re-used and authorship is difficult to settle. But, as in the cases of More and
Tindale, the weight of well-known names begins to be felt, and the printing
press, fixing once for all the very words of a writer, put an end to processes
which had often hidden authorship.
The needs of controversy hastened the change, and individualism in literature
began. An author was now face to face with his public. It is trite to call the
reformation an age of transition, and its significance for creative thought is
sometimes over-estimated.

At the close of the period we have dealt with the translation of an English Bible,
the formation of an English prayer-book, stand out as great religious and literary
results, and each of them is due less to individual labourers than to the
continuous work of schools.
The Dissolution of the Religious Houses.
Destruction of books and of opportunities for study.
The general wave of new thought breaking upon England in the first half of the
sixteenth century swept way with it , among other things, the almost countless
religious houses with which the country was covered.

The destruction of books was enormous. (it is estimated a loss of liturgical books to
have approached the total of a quarter of a million.

A second destruction was that of the homes of study which the religious houses,
especially those of the Benedictines, provided for all who leaned that way. The classical
renascence had not yet made sufficient way, except among the more advanced, to
disturb the old system by which it was natural for the studious to enter the cloister and
the rest to remain men of sport or war.

Next must be reckoned the direct and indirect loss to the education of children. To a vast
number of religious houses, both of monks and nuns, were attached schools in which the
children of both poor and rich received instruction. Every great abbey, practically, was the
centre of education for all the country round..
Decrease of scholarship.
The scholastic method had done its work. It is evident that there was no more progress to be made. The deductive method
was to yield more and more to the inductive; the rubbish generated by every system of thought carried to extremities
must be swept away, and new principles enunciated. Against this inevitable movement, the religious houses were the most
formidable obstacle, since they focussed and protected a method of thought of which the learned world was growing
weary. With the fall of the monasteries, therefore, the strongholds of academic method were, for the time, shattered.

New methods of thought.

In the place of tradition, rose up enterprise. The same impulse of new life which drove Drake across the seas forty years later
and burned in full blaze in the society of the brilliant Elizabethans, had begun to kindle, indeed, before the dissolution of the
houses. In the world of letters it broke out in curious forms, showing a strange intermingling of the old and the new, few of them
of intrinsic value with the exception of the great leaders of humanist thought.

And the rich development that took place was furthered by the movement in which the fall of the religious houses was a
notable incident. They were obstacles, and they were removed. The monastic ideal was one of pruning the tree to the loss of
luxuriance; the new ideal was that of more generous cultivation of the whole of human nature.

As regards education, although the years immediately following the crisis were years of famineof destruction rather than
reconstructionthey were, at the same time, the almost necessary prelude to greater wideness of thought. It was not until
three centuries later that the state took the responsibilities of .

New channels of intercourse.

New connections of England with northern Europe as well as with the vigorous life of renascence Italy. The coming
of men to Cambridge at the invitation of the king, the intercourse with Geneva and Zrich, culminating in Marys
reignthese channels could hardly have been opened thus freely under the old conditions; and if this exchange of
ideas was primarily on theological subjects, yet it was not to the exclusion of others
The New English Poetry.
The inspiration of the new poetry was almost
entirely foreign. It was upon French, and,
especially, upon Italian, models that the
courtiers of Henry VIII founded the poems which
now began to be written in large numbers and
made public in print.

Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

The Poetry of Spenser.

The Elizabethan Sonnet