THE ENGLISH

RENAISSANCE
THE SOCIO-HISTORICAL,
CULTURAL AND LITERARY
SCENE

 The transition from the Middle Ages (feudal

order) to early capitalism
The beginning of modernity
Contemporary scholars include the
Renaissance in the more extended period of
Early Modernity
The term Renaissance: focus on literary and
artistic aspects
The term Early Modern: focus on social and
economic matters, as well as on larger cultural
processes (e.g. popular culture)

The age of geographical

explorations
Christopher Columbus
(1451 1506)
The discovery of
America: 1492

 Sir Francis Drake

(1540 -1596)
The first Englishman
to circumnavigate the
globe (1577-1580)
Vice-admiral in the
English fleet in the
war against the
Spanish Armada:
1588)

The beginning of an intellectual

revolution and the birth of modern
science
Departure from the rigid logical and rhetorical systems of
Scholasticism
The study of natural phenomena - the experimental
approach
From astrology to astronomy (from the Ptolemaic
geocentric view to the heliocentric theory of
Copernicus and the theories of Galilei and Kepler)
From alchemy (symbolic interpretation of the realities
behind natural processes) to chemistry
The separation of science from religion

One of the central figures of

the Renaissance:
FRANCIS BACON (15611626)
Knowledge is power
The true and lawful goal
of the sciences is simply
this, that human life be
enriched by new
discoveries and powers
The promoter of the
inductive method of
investigation the founder
of modern rationalist
empiricism

Emphasis on Man and Nature

The rediscovery of the beauty of Nature
and of the human body
New value attached to life (in contrast with
mediaeval asceticism and its contempt for
the world/earthly life)

Humanism
The revival of the interest in the ancient authors
The reformation of education the New
Learning emphasis on classical studies
Emphasis on the individuals spiritual autonomy
and creative powers
The secularization of philosophical thought
abetted by the dissemination of the spiritual
heritage of ancient Greece and Rome
Growth of the reformist spirit the questioning of
any type of authority (religious, ethical, aesthetic)

The Renaissance worldview

Mixture of the old and the new
Indebtedness to the mediaeval worldview: the universe
seen as a fixed hierarchy of interrelated spheres and orders
the Great Chain of Being
The necessity to respect degrees the fear of chaos, the
need for social, political and moral order
The mediaeval passion for analogy continued man as
microcosm: analogy with the macrocosmic universe; in
man: all the ranks of the hierarchy of creation the vision of
man as complex and paradoxical
The growing sensitivity to the transiency of things the
awareness of flux and change, of lifes brevity and mutability
[Shakespeares plays reflect all these features and debate
upon them]

The awakening of the national feeling

Political centralization; the growth of royal authority
the strengthening of the national state
The Tudor rule the accession of the House of Tudor
to the throne, in 1485 the end of the internal struggles
for power which dominated the Middle Ages
The restoration of order and peace by the
consolidation of royal power
[Shakespeares history plays dramatise these processes
and explore the transition from mediaeval conceptions
of political rule to modern statecraft and the issue of
national identity]

Tudor kings
Henry VII: end of the War
of the Roses, 1485;
Henry VIII (1509-1547):
also head of the reformed
church the separation
from Rome the
establishment of the
Protestant, Anglican
church;

 Elizabeth I (15581603): national symbol

the catalyst of the
emerging national spirit
Great victory over
catholic Spain (those
enemies of my God, of
my kingdom, and of my
people) defeat of the
Spanish Armada:
1588

The Elizabethan Age

The High Renaissance
(the Late Renaissance: the Jacobean and Caroline ages i.e.
the reigns of James (Latin Jacobus) I Stuart [1603-1625] and
Charles (Latin Carolus) I Stuart [1625-1649], respectively)
England: a powerful state, keeping the balance of power in Europe
in an age of expansion and increasing prosperity
New colonies (e.g. Virginia 1587 named after Elizabeth, the
virgin queen)
Increase of trade, owing to the voyages of exploration (e.g. Francis
Drake) the establishment of organised trade monopolies: the
Levant Company, 1581; the East India Company, 1600
Elizabeths personality: heroic wide popularity in the country
exceptional politician; tolerant and skeptical in an age of growing
fanaticism

The Literary Scene of the English

Renaissance
The Court: the centre of intellectual and literary life
the arbiter in matters of literary taste and fashion
The flourishing of literature: a consequence of the
church Reformation the Protestant iconoclastic
attitude: the discouragement of religious art the
encouragement of portrait painting
The key terms in the Renaissance poetics: ART (i.e.
discipline, order, proportion, symmetry, refinement,
restraint, in imitation of the classical models) and
NATURE

 Literature: conformity to the classical-humanist ideal of

art Renaissance classicism: based on the theories of
Horace and Aristotle general features:
Learning (literature demonstrates the writers
familiarity with ancient, mediaeval, and modern
philosophical and moral ideas; abundance of classical
allusions)
Artificiality (the attention to design, to the
argumentative, logical structure; the ample use of
rhetorical devices; eloquence: a sign of urbanity,
civility)

 Literature reflected the

Renaissance ideal of the
courtier
The model: Baldassare
Castiglione, The Book of
the Courtier, 1528 - Engl.
translation 1561:
The perfect courtier: a man
of wide education, charming
manners and cultivated taste

The romantic spirit of Renaissance

literature

The presence of the fabulous and the fantastic

The celebration of the creative faculty in man
Intense lyricism
The desire to assert the dignity of the English
language and the originality of native literature
The typically modern distrust of authority
manifests itself in literature in the disregard of,
or the cautious attitude towards, classical rules

Dominant literary forms

The lyric in its various forms (the song, the
pastoral, the sonnet, the ode)
The romantic epic: Edmund Spenser, The
Fairie Queen (1589-96) an allegorical poem
set in a mediaeval setting, glorifying Queen
Elizabeth (Gloriana)
Drama the Golden Age of English drama the
most original expression of the English creative
genius