Assignment - Renaissance Literature

IMPACT OF RENAISSANCE ON LITERATURE OF THE AGE

Name- Kavisha Alagiya

Paper- The Renaissance Literature

Roll No- 15

Enrollment no.- 2069108420200001

Email id- kavishaalagiya@gmail.com

Batch – MA 2019-21

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

IMPACT OF RENAISSANCE ON LITERATURE OF THE AGE

"Learning never exhausts the mind."

-Leonardo da Vinci

The French word Renaissance means 'revival', 'rebirth' or 'reawakening'. The Renaissance was both a revival of ancient classical mythology, literature, and culture as well as a reawakening of the human mind after the long dark Middle Ages. It was as if mankind were awakened from a deep sleep and started to explore many things. 

"It was a rediscovery by mankind of himself and of the world"

According to a French writer Lamartine (Alphonso de Lamartine) the revival of learning means 

"MAN DISCOVERED HIMSELF AND THE WORLD"

Taine says that

"Man so long blinded, had suddenly opened his eyes and seen"

Roger Ascham, a  famous classical scholar who published a book called 'Toxophilus' (school of shooting) in 1545, expresses in his preface,

“And as for ye Latin or Greek tongue, everything is so excellently done in them, that none can do better”

The 15th century was an age of preparation, of learning the beginning of Science and getting acquainted with the great ideals - the stern law the profound philosophy and suggestive mythology. So the mind of every man was furnished with good ideas for new literature. Here we would like to see how this impact of the Renaissance period reflected in the age of Elizabeth. 

A series of events extending over a period of nearly two centuries and transforming the Medieval into the Modern can be called Renaissance. 

The two impulses which reflect the age are-

1. The impulse derived from Ancient art and Literature 
2. The impulse derived from various voyages and discoveries.    

•         Classical Mythology and Literature

Some English Scholars attracted by the fame of new learning towards the end of the 15th century and visited the place as it was the home and center of the Renaissance. On their return to England, they founded Oxford. The impulse given by early English humanists was arrested and retreated by the new Reformation, and there was a little original literature produced during the early Renaissance. The great Elizabethan literature had its rise in the midst of a multitude of works of ancient and foreign literatures. 

Legouis says,

"The rich soil was fertilized by a deep layer of translations"

Hence, the fame of new learning was flourishing and all great works begin to be translated from time to time. The printing press was introduced by Caxton to the soil. 

Pinto says,

"A window on the enchanted world of classical antiquity, which appeared with all freshness of new discovery, the world of the gods and goddesses of Greece, and great soldiers and statesmen of the Roman Empire. Moreover, they brought their readers into contact with life and thought of contemporary Europe and especially of Renaissance Italy."

In this way,

•         Connection with Italy

Some of the English scholars had gone to Italy and for the first time had got inspired by the literature. The classical learning and art of Italy was very sensuous and splendor, they have recorded their ways and corrupted the morals from Italy. Some of the licentious or sensational which had such a profound impression in English literature are reflected in the works like-

Christopher Marlowe - Hero and Leander

William Shakespeare- Venus and Adonis

William Shakespeare- The Rape of Lucrece

By looting of Italian treasure, the literature of England became enriched very much.

•         Modern and revived values

The ideals of life were profoundly inspired by Greco-Roman culture. The ascetic ideal of the Middle Ages was replaced by the new ideal of the enjoyment of life. People begin to think in a different way and their values were highly modified by novelty. All the men were demanding for entertainment and in response to this demand there flourished the new form of literature that is drama and the novel-stories of love, bloodshed, and violence, often licentious. Drama begins to take a new form that is poetic drama in a lyrical way. 

Action and enjoyment became a new ideal and the energetic men of action in the drama were admired by masses. 

Spenser's 'Faerie Queene' with all the high values and ambitions was admired. The close connection between life and letters can be found in Elizabethan Literature. The noted Elizabethan writers were also an energetic man of action who portray their characters with chivalry. They were not only well versed in the classics but were also accomplished courtiers, soldiers, and statesmen. 

The best-represented writer, as far as ideal and values are concerned, is Sir Philip Sydney who represents the perfect life of a Renaissance man in portraying characters through his work.

•         The spirit of Questioning

The spirit of questioning became the prime focus of every Renaissance man. People started to think rationally and intellectually as well as in a logical manner. The land became the center for the free and impartial quest for truth. Literary criticism also came into existence during this era and is an expression of this very spirit. 

Christopher Marlowe's "The tragical history of Dr.Faustus" contains the same theme as a prime location of the Renaissance spirit. The hunger for knowledge of Dr. Faustus gives another insightful character to the Renaissance world. All the characters of all dramas are portrayed with a questioning attitude and a longing to find the ultimate truth.

•         Plato's Influence

The Renaissance also inspired England of Queen Elizabeth with faith in the greatness of letters, especially poetry. One of the ancients whose influence was especially exemplary was Plato who made the greatest influence in this era. The Platonic doctrine was widely followed by men. This high concept of poetry swept England onward to attempt all these genres

"in which the Ancients and the moderns had won distinction- pastoral, epics, comedies and tragedies, lyrics of every kind, every kind of prose romances, criticism, history, and philosophy."

This is remarked by Legouis. 

•         The delightful Beauty of Language

It is important to note at the very outset that the sonnet, an invention of thirteenth-century Italy has flourished among the people of England. Bacon introduced a new literary form in English and he also rendered a considerable service to the development of English prose style. During this age, Latinism became a passion and run through the less intelligent kind of writing in wild access. Foreign words were adapted from Latin and French language and scholars like Cheke and Ascham and Wilson were compelled to raise a warning finger against the dangers of such excessive use of what was then called "inkhorn terms". 

Hence, it can be said that there were beauty and dignity of the poetry as well as other art forms at this age.

•         The Spirit of Adventure and Discovery

During this age, Latinism became a passion and run through the less intelligent kind of writing in wild access. Foreign words were adapted from Latin and French language and scholars like Cheke and Ascham and Wilson were compelled to raise a warning finger against the dangers of such excessive use of what was then called "inkhorn terms". 

  

This was an era of adventure and Discovery where all the explorers set out to find something new.

The English great explorers as they were, went to the West Indies and down the coast of South America and written with their ships loaded with Bass of silver and gold, hits of pearls, sapphires, and opals, and grass-green Emerald, shining silks and fragrant spices- which not only encrusted the clothes of the nobles but found its way with barbaric profusion into their poetry. Awestruck, they listen to travelers' tales such as those with which Othello won the heart of Desdemona in Shakespeare's famous tragedy "Othello- The Moor of Venice".

•         Humanism

The new humanistic learning which resulted from the rediscovery of classical literature is frequently taken as the beginning and the heart of Renaissance on its conscious, intellectual side, since it was to the treasures of classical culture and to the authority of classical writers that the man of runners turned for inspiration. Here, the break with medievalism seemed inescapable. In medieval society, man's interests as an individual were subordinate to his function as an element in a social unit; in medieval theology man's relation to the world about him was reduced to a problem of adapting or avoiding the circumstances of earthly life in an effort to prepare his soul for future life.

In a nutshell, it can be said The period of the Renaissance was notable for rapid expansion in commerce, new scientific discovery, intense political nationalism, and religious controversy perhaps the most salient characteristic of its intellectual life was a quality of uncertainty the breaking down of ancient convictions and groping for old against the new.