The
word “renaissance” literally means rebirth. It represents the rebirth from the
decadence and corruption of the Middle Ages and returning to the achievements
of classical antiquity. This term was invented by humanist writers of the late
fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Renaissance is a cultural and
intellectual movement. Its main motto is humanism. It aims to go back to
classical works and tries to change the corrupted values of Middle Ages.
Some
of the most important events of the term include Christopher Columbus’ siling
to America in 1492 and Vasco da Gama’s arrival to India by sailing around Cape
of Good Hope. Those important events bring colonization. There become to be
some changes in trade and the arts of war. England start growing its economy
which depends on agriculture to manufacture and exporting. Therefore people
prefer moving to cities for new labor opportinities. This makes London a
metropolitan city.
There is also an important development
in printing. William Caxton establishes his own printing press in 1475. So that
literacy increases in the 15th Century and many more people start reading than
before. Nearly 60 percent of the people can read in English by 1530. Thanks to
the printing press books become cheaper and more abundant so that people can
have more opportunity to read books.
With the reformation feudalism
declines and nationalism rises. The circulation of the Bible increases after
the invention of printing press. It becomes easier for scholars to share their
knowledge and ideas with the upper and middle classes.
Education is conducted by tutors in
the great families or in gramer schools. It was ordered according to the
subjects of medieval grammar, logic and rhetoric and arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy and music. Latin grammar is studied. The rhetoric was a very strict
discipline in all the stylistic devices used by classical authors. The sons of
nobility and gentry are taught to speak and write good Latin, the diplomatic
language and of all higher learning. The daughters are always trained at home
or in other noble houses.
The Renaissance period can be
summarized as the age of energy and the time of discoveries since there is an
important development in trade and printing press. Most of all people are
introduced with humanism.
Important names of the Period; Sir
Thomas More, Sir Thomas Wyatt, Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher
Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh.
When it comes to Renaissance Drama,
there are also some changes in it. Drama becomes to be the most important point
of English literature. It focuses on ordinary people rather than the religious
and moral themes of medieval drama. Interludes and short one-act plays become
popular. They begin to be performed as a part of evening’s entertainment. Plays
are written to be acted not read.
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