Impact of Renaissance in English Literature
Answer
The term 'Renaissance' means 'Re-birth', 'Re-awakening' or 'Revival.' It began in Italy in the late 14th century (1350s) and from Italy the movement spread through Germany, Spain, France and the Netherland and finally to England in late 15th century (1450s). The term 'Renaissance' is first used by Jules Michelet in 1858 to describe a revival of the culture and civilization of Ancient Greece and Rome and there was a radial shift of interest from the religious to the humanistic interception of life. M.H. Abrams describes Renaissance as "The birth of modern world out of the ashes of the Dark Ages and the discovery of the world and discovery of man, the era of emergence of individualism in life through religion and art."
The English Renaissance influence covers most areas from the early Elizabethan Period (1579-1602) to the Caroline Period and Commonwealth Period (1620-1660). The efflorescence of the Renaissance spirit appeared in the Elizabethan Literature which was marked by fullness of rational life, passion for knowledge and a spirit of adventure. The dramas of the University Wits are animated with the spirit of Renaissance. Among the University Wits, Christopher Marlowe has been called 'The Child of Renaissance.' In his four plays 'Tamburlaine', 'Doctor Faustus', 'The Jew of Malta' and 'Edwaed II' we notice a blood expression of the entire age with all its new aspirations. The pleasure of the earth which the man of the Renaissance like so much are given full expression in Tamburlaine:
A God is not so glorious as king:
I think the pleasure they enjoy in heaven,
Cannot compare with Kingly joys in Earth;-
The man of Renaissance song the glorious song of human being, Shakespeare writes in Hamlet:
"What a piece of work is a man, how noble in
reason, how
infinite in facilities [...]
the beauty beauty of the world, the paragon of
animals"
Renaissance paved the way for Classical learning. Perhaps the single most potential Classical influence on Elizabethan theatre was Seneca, whose examples did much to shape Elizabethan tragedy. Seneca percepts introduced appearance of Ghosts which the later Elizabethans so magnificently utilized in their tragedies. Seneca's mature rhetorical devices were instrumental in moulding and developing, satarical reference, replete with antithesis and paradox etc.,.
As in Drama, so in Prose works too, the continental influence as prominently active. Machiavelli's 'The Prince' Cortegiano's 'Courtier', Plato's 'Republic' and several other works were studied and translated by English writers. The prose writing of Thonas Malory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur' Desiderus Erasmus's 'In Praise of Folly' and Sir Thomas More's 'Utopia' were largely responsible for heralding the dwan of Renaissance which attained maturity in the Elizabethan Age. In the 16th century, the prose writing of Bacon present the fullest and finest expressions of the practical wisdom he acquired from Renaissance culture.
In the Renaissance spirit had its full play in the hands of Edmund Spencer. He has been recognized as the touchstone of English Poetic Sensibility. In Spenser we have fine expression of ideal of adventure and active life which is expressed in The Faerie Queene:
"The noble heart, that harbours vertuous Thought,
And is with child of glorious great Intent,
Can ne'er rest, untill it forth have brought
Th' eternal Brood of Glory excellent:"
Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard Earl of Surrey were the pioneers of the new poetry in England. The diplomats brought with them the new spirit of the Renaissance from Italy and put in Tottel's Miscellany which is recognized as one of the landmarks of English Literature.
In Milton's poetry there is the presence of the qualities of Renaissance and Reformation. He is both a belated Elizabethan of the Renaissance and a fervent disciple of the Reformation. Renaissance elements are paramount in his succeeding poems 'L'Allergo' and 'II Penseroso.' Milton's great epic 'Paradise Lost' is the product of the Reformation and Renaissance.
The glory perception of the miserable and of the great figures in history that we find in Thomas Sackville was awakened by Dante's Inferno. Descriptions of human nature in terms of humours were a new attempt at understanding man in terms of inner makeup. Ben Jonson's comedies are based upon humour.
Virgil, Plato, Seneca, Ovid, Petrarch and other great writers of classical age taught English masters to find the greatest joys and meaning in the deeds and destinies of man. The portrayal of man therefore became richer, fuller and more complex.
Several metrical and stanzaic innovations were directly borrowed from Italian Literature such as Terza Rima, Enjambment etc.,. Under the Classical influence Blank Verse was popularized by Surrey and was faithfully explored by several authors.
The Renaissance donates in its broadest sence, the gradual enlightenment of the human mind after the darkness of the Middle Age. The essence of the movement, according to Taine that man so long blinded "had suddenly opened his eyes and seen." This unique discovery of man by man left a deep imprint in the mind of the intellectuals and English Literature received its overwhelming impact.
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