Background of Renaissance Age
The Renaissance period in English literature is also called the Elizabethan period or the Age of Shakespeare.
The Middle Ages in Europe was followed by the Renaissance.
Renaissance means 'Revival of Learning'.
It also denotes the gradual enlightenment of the human mind after the darkness of the Middle Ages.
Here man discovered himself and the Universe.
The new art of printing in Europe came with the Revival of learning.
Many discoveries took place in several fields.
Vasco de Gama went around the world.
Columbus discovered America, etc.
The Middle Ages passed away giving way to a New World.
The old authority received a death blow, truth was the only authority.
The chief characteristic was an emphasis on Humanism.
This movement focused its on the " proper study of mankind" and many subordinate trends.
The first was the rediscovery of classical antiquity, especially of ancient Greece.
In the Medieval period, people had forgotten all things.
They had forgotten the liberal tone of old Greek, the spirit of democracy and human dignity.
Sir Thomas More was the first Englishman who wrote under Greek influence. His UTOPIA was written in Latin.
The second important aspect of Humanism was the discovery of the external world and its significance for man.
The writers became deeply interested in the problems of human personality.
In medieval plays, characters were personification as friendship, charity and friendship and wickedness.
But during the Elizabethan age, emphasis was laid on the qualities that distinguished one human being from another.
This gave them individuality and uniqueness.
The writers revealed their own minds and this gave rise, to a new literary form- Essay.
Shakespeare carried Humanism to perfection.
It was this new interest in Human personality which gave beautiful lyrical poetry.
The poetry dealt with death, the decay of life, etc.
Another aspect of Humanism was the enhanced sensitivity to formal beauty.
We find the aesthetic sense here.
It showed a new ideal of social conduct of that of the courtier.
This cult of elegance in prose produced the ornate style called Euphuism by Lyly.
Another aspect of Humanism was that men came to be regarded for their own actions - as we find in Julius Caesar where Cassius tells Brutus: "The fault - dear Brutus is not in our star
But in ourselves………."
Guidance in Elizabethan Age was to be found within; and not from the higher authority as we saw in the Middle Ages.
In the works of the Elizabethan Age, as we find some profound moral attitudes.
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