The pre – renaissance period in english literature plan brief General outlook – from Humanism to Renaissance The Renaissance in England

THE PRE – RENAISSANCE PERIOD IN ENGLISH LITERATURE
PLAN
1 Brief General outlook – from Humanism to Renaissance
2 The Renaissance in England
3 The Protestant Reformation and the English Renaissance
 
The Renaissance was a direct development of Humanism, tracing its date back to 1453, when Constantinople was overtaken by the Turks. At first the Greeks who fled the area sought refuge in Italy where they brought their traditional knowledge with the masterpieces of classical Greece such as Homer’s, Sophocles’ and Plato’s works along with studies about physics and medicine.
The “New Learning”, as Humanism was also called, stressed the importance of human reason through which it was now possible to interpret Man and Nature, philosophy focussed its attention on Man while God was no longer the centre of Man’s concern whose new awareness allowed him to begin considering the idea that he could, in fact, mould his own life and destiny and that not all had to fit in a divine design
The Renaissance in England
After reaching Italy these new ideas also spread through Europe but the New Learning was delayed in England and the Renaissance movement developed only in the 16th century. At first the delay was due to the fact that England lacked aristocratic patrons that were willing to encourage it, while in Italy there were many patrons who fostered it, moreover, Henry VII was much more concerned with practical matters, and later, Henry VIII, although himself a scholar, after the Reformation, dissolved the monasteries and lost all their treasures of art and literature. Yet, these were not the only factors that marked English Renaissance as different and unique especially if compared to the Italian Renaissance which was prevalent and dominant in the rest of Europe. The Protestant Reformation and the English Renaissance
As a matter of fact, in spite of the importance recognised to the study of Greek and Latin which were taught in all grammar schools and in the two universities of Cambridge and Oxford; the English also struggled to be free of foreign influence, especially of Italian influence which they identified mainly with Rome and the Catholic Church. English Renaissance, on the contrary, was based on Protestant and, in some aspects, on Puritan cultures therefore it lacked the Italian joyful brilliance based on pagan serenity, whereas, instead the English individualism and self-awareness awakened by humanism was more centred on responsibility rather than on self-assertion and enjoyment. Another aspect that must also be considered with English differentiation is that although Latin was considered of great importance their main effort was to develop a modern English that could have the same dignity of other European languages thus they struggled to improve its vocabulary and syntax..