The Renaissance

The beginning of the Modern PeriodA period of transition

Major Themes of the Renaissance

• Humanism (both secular and religious)– Human potential, human progress, expansion of

human knowledge • Secularism-greater emphasis on non-religious

values and concerns• Individualism-focus on the unique qualities

and abilities of the individual person

Background of the Renaissance- High and Late Middle Ages

• Increased trade and commercial activity during the High Middle Ages

• Urbanization-growth of cities and towns• Commercial and business developments (banking)• Middle class merchant elite developed • Decline in feudalism• A decline in the Church’s hold and control on society

and government• Growth in vernacular literature/growing literacy• Rise of universities and the expansion of learning

IMPACT of RENAISSANCE on ENGLISH LITERATURE

What is renaissance?Over view of RenaissanceInvestigations about RenaissanceEngland’s place in the worldBeginning of English RenaissanceEnglish literary historyRenaissance artists and authorsReligious Prose , Instructive Prose , Bible Translation , Drama.

The Coming of the Renaissance• The Renaissance was a flowering of literary, artistic

and intellectual development that began in Italy in the fourteenth century.

• Renaissance means “Rebirth”/ “Revival”

What started the Renaissance• Religious devotion of the Middle Ages gave way to interest in

the human being’s place on this earth• Universities introduced a new curriculum.

– Humanities: including history, geography, poetry, and languages• Invention of printing made books more available• More writers began using the vernacular

Figures of the Renaissance• Mostly Italians

• Petrarch, Spenser, Shakespeare (poets)

• Leonardo Da Vinci, a painter, sculptor, architect, and scientist

Renaissance Man• Da Vinci typifies a Renaissance man—a person of

broad education and interests whose curiosity knew no bounds.

• A person who encompassed a wide range of interests and abilities.

Renaissance: In 1550,the painter George Vasari wrote of a

rinascita in his native Florence and in Italy in the 15th century , a ‘rebirth’ .The French 19th century historian Jules Michelet extended this idea of a ‘renaissance’ from the Italian 15th century , the Quattrocento ,to a general cultural renewal in western Europe beginning earlier.

Renaissance is sometimes known as the ‘Revival of Learning’ .It can also recall as ‘Death of Medeival Age’ or early beginning of Modern Age.

Overview:

Def:”The revival of European art and literature under the influence of classical models in the 14th-16th century”.

It started as a cultural movement in Italy in the late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe, marking the beginning of early modern age . It is known as a bridge between Middle ages and Modern history . It was a time of great social and cultural change in Europe spanned from 14th-16th century spreading across Europe from its birthplace in Italy . Its influence was felt in literature, art, music, politics, science, religion and other aspect of intellectual inquiry.

Change from medieval to renaissance:

The change from medieval to renaissance was at first more formal than substantial; literature changed less than art and architecture, although the content of all three remained Christian. Celebrated icons of the . High Renaissance are Michaelangelo ’s gigantic David in Florence, his central design for St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and its Sistine Chapel. In Italy the Renaissance had intellectual origins, drawing on the study of Plato (c.427-348 BC) and his followers. It also found civic expression in the Florence of the Medici and the Rome of Leo X (1513-21). As well as many smaller city-states.

Investigations:Contemporary with the renaissance were physical

discoveries by Iberians of the West Indies by Christopher Columbus (1492) and of the western sea route to India by Vasco da Gama (1498).

Since the Fall of Rome in the 5th century ,historians has found renaissance in the 8th century under Charlemagne,and in the 12th century ,but the 15th century revival of classical models made the Gothic seem deficient .The period betwwen the Fall of Rome and the renaissance was first termed as Middle Age by Neo-Latin writer in1604.

England’s place in the world: The Spanish and Protuguese discovery of the New

World meant that England was no longer at the end of Europe but at its leading edge.England gained power in in the 16th century.The spring signalled by Mores Utopia (1517) and the verse of Wyatt had been blighted by the disruption of religion in 1530s,its fruition put back forty years.

Beginning of English Literature: In 1564,the year of Michaelangelo’s death and Shakespear’s birth the Italian Renaissance was over,but the English Renaissance had hardly begun.

By 1579 a renewed cultural confidence was clear in Sir Philip Sidney’s Defence of Poesy;and the achievement of Spencer,Marlowe and Shakespeare followed. English literary history cherishes the poetry of Sir

Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) and Henry Howard,Earl of Surrey(1517- 47),and such humanist writings as The Governor(1531) by Thomas Elyot and The School Master (1558) of Roger Ascham,who became tutor to Queen Elizabeth.The achievements of the sixty two years between Utopia and 1579 would include the refoundation of humanist schools,the development of a critical prospectus for english poetry,the establishment of its meter,and the establishment of the first blank verse,some fine lyrics and songs,and the first Elizabethan

plays.These preparations eventually led up to that Renaissance man,Sir Philip Sidney.Yet Sidney’s Defence of Poesy(1579) found little praise in English writing to date.The establishment of the Tudor state under Henry VII and Henry VIII and of a national church under Elizabeth I necessitated a consciously national literature,so might english compete with Latin ,Greek,French ,Spanish and Protuguese.

It was to late to compete with Latin:as late as 1638,the Puriton John Milton went to Italy to complete his education.

By 1579,when English was about to ‘burst out into sudden blaze’French already had the poems of

Du Belly and Ronsard to rival those of Petrarch.English writers had been unlucky under Henry VIII,who beheaded More and Surrey.Wyatt a lover pf Ann Boleyn ,escaped the axe,but his sons rebelled against Mary Tudor and lost his head.Mary burnt many Prostestants as heretics;her father Henry,brother Edward and sister Elizabeth excuted fewer Catholics,including in 1587 Mary Queen of Scots,as Traitors.After 1581 ,Catholicism was considered as treason:Elizabeth also executed four Puritans.

The Printing Revolution• Printing Press – allowed

new ideas to spread more easily. Spread from China to Middle East to Europe.

• Gutenberg: invented a new type of printing press. Used movable type.

• Books suddenly within reach of ordinary person.

New Perception and Values:The most significant impact of the Renaissance on

English Literature was seen in the change of perception of human beings.

The wods of Williams, “Now he looked inward into his own soul, seeking the meaning of experience in te- rms of his own free indiduality”.(William:78)The great uprise of secular writings embodied in the

poems and sonnets of the Earl of Surrey,Thomas Wyatt and Sidney,Sir Thomas More’s Utopia,John Heywoods Interludes and writings of Thomas

Sackville concern with man’s emotion and experiances.

So strangely,alas,thy works in me prevail, That in my woes for thee thou art my joy, And in my joys for thee my only annoy. -Sidney’s Astrophel & Stellail Virgil, Plato, Seneca, Terence , Ovid , Petrarch and

other great classical masters taught English masters to find the greatest joy . Petrarchan Sonnets are translated by Wyatt and Surrey.

…..to heart’s forest he fleeth, Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry..

Classical Elements:Renaissance opened out a great mythical world to

English writers.In 1541 Nicholas Udall staged comedy called Ralph Roister Doister modeled on Plautus .Another early comedy was Garmine Gurton’s Needle whose form was borrowed from Latin model.

Sonnet was introduced by Wyatt ,and Earl of Surrey from Italian poetry.Among Wyatts,120 surviving poems more than 70 were tranlations from the Latin original.In C.S.Lewis opinion, “Wyatt’s ‘Myne olde dere enmy my forward maister”.

Renaissance Artists and Authors:• Leonardo da Vinci (1452) – artist

(Mona Lisa, The Last Supper), inventor ( helicopter, weapons, music box, many more), architect, botanist, musician, anatomy, optics, engineering.

La Giaconda: The Mona Lisa – Louvre Museum, Paris

Helicopter

Art-Michelangelo

The David – The David – Florence, ItalyFlorence, ItalyThe PietaThe Pieta

Italian Genius of Renaissance Writing – Machiavelli:• Machiavelli published a book in 1513, The

Prince. Theorized about how a perfect ruler would govern.

• Stressed that the end justifies the means. Urged rulers to use whatever means necessary to achieve their goals.

Genius Writers of the Northern Renaissance:

• William Shakespeare – England. Playwright between 1590-1613. Wrote about the actual human condition of his time.

• Cervates – Spain. Novelist. Wrote Don Quixote.

The Courtier by Castiglione 1528• Written in Italian• Treatise on the training of young

men in the courtly ideal of a Renaissance gentleman

• Stressed the value of education and manners

• Influenced social mores and norms during the period

Sir Thomas More• Lord Chancellor of England during

the reign of Henry VIII- highest political office in England

• Lawyer and scholar• Wrote Utopia – explored the idea of

a “perfect” society• Eventually executed by Henry VIII

for refusing to agree to the king and Parliament’s Act of Supremacy

Protestant Reformation:• Selling indulgences - The Church taught that most Christians

after death went to purgatory to suffer a time of punishment for their sins before going to heaven. Indulgences were intended to remit a part of that time. They were granted previous to death by the Church for various good works that came to include monetary offerings. This last became very controversial because it appeared that the Church was selling the right to avoid all or part of an individual’s time in purgatory.

Martin Luther • Associated with the

Protestant Reformation• Critical of Church

corruption and abuses• Sought reform • Wrote the first translation

of the Bible in German

Elizabethan Poetry• Perfected the sonnet and experimented with other

poetic forms

• Philip Sidney wrote the first Elizabethan sonnet cycle (a series of sonnets that fit together as a story)—Astrophel and Stella

• Edmund Spenser wrote a long epic, The Faerie Queen, in complex nine-line units now called Spenserian stanzas

The Renaissance brought a new way of thinking and living to Europe

A new worldview was emergingThe medieval Christian worldview was giving way to a more MODERN (secular and humanistic) view of the world and humanity.