RENAISSANCE LITERATURE: AUTHORS, WORKS AND CHARACTERISTICS - LITERATURE - 2025

The literature of the Renaissance was born between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries after the decline of the Middle Ages and its canons, and following the change of mentality that led to the discovery of America.

The literature that began to develop at that time could be considered as a prelude to the novel. While in Italy this trend began in the 14th century, the English Renaissance and the Renaissance in Scotland began in the late 15th century.

Renaissance writers strive to express beauty in new and different ways. To this end, they find novel formats, such as sonnets, lyrical poetry, the Spenserian stanza, prose and essays.

These authors wanted to change reality with their art. Love, nature, sexuality, and mythology become recurring themes in Renaissance literature.

The literature and poetry of the Renaissance were strongly influenced by the progressive airs that blew in the fields of science and philosophy. The intellectual contest between the new doubts and certainties that arose, gave an intensity without equal to the literature of that time.

Historical context of Renaissance literature

Talking about Renaissance literature requires clarifying what the Renaissance itself is. It was a movement that emerged in Italy, which later spread to England and the rest of Europe.

It was characterized by a strong presence of humanistic ideas and those related to the right that the gods granted to the kings to govern the peoples.

The mentality of the people of that time tended to curiosity. People became interested in research and science.

It was not in vain in this period that the printing press, the telescope, the compass, and the Protestant Reformation emerged within the Catholic Church.

Similarly, there were advances in mathematics and geometry. The Sun is found to be the center of the planetary system (heliocentric theory).

In the ideological panorama of that time, the search for the pleasures of the senses and a critical and rational sense of reality prevailed.

At the time, many writers only reflected the curious spirit that prevailed throughout the world.

In addition, the advent of the printing press increased the literacy levels of the people, which translated into more readers and greater demand for literature.

At this time it was the English writers who took over the scene with their poetry and drama.

A word that can summarize in a way what the Renaissance meant to the world can be anthropocentrism.

The human being was the measure and center of all things. Thus the dominant theocentrism during the Middle Ages was overcome.

Regarding the political environment, the figure of city-states emerges as the central axis of powers.

It was then a movement that affected the arts, science and politics.

However, the Renaissance was experienced in predominantly Catholic societies in a different way than it was experienced in predominantly Protestant societies.

Characteristics of Renaissance literature

Some of the general characteristics of the literature developed during the Renaissance are:

• Anthropocentric and universal vision.
• Appearance of foreign themes.
• Expressive simplicity, clarity and naturalness.
• Inclusion of hendecasyllable and Alexandrian verses.
• Resurgence of Greco-Latin myths and the virtuosity of their heroes.
• Idealization of love (platonic and / or melancholic love).
• The moralizing function of the drama is reduced.
• Idealization of women.
• Description of nature as a symbol of divine perfection.
• Aesthetic use of Greco-Latin myths and legends.
• Prose becomes a way of expressing opinions.
• Carpe diem (seize the moment) is another of the most popular literary topics.
• Locus amoenus (pleasant place) is another Latin term that becomes important in the literature.
• Introduction of the figure of the enunciator, who represents the poetic voice.

Featured Authors

• Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321)
• Ludovico Ariosto (1474 - 1533)
• Torquato Tasso (1544 - 1595)
• Edmund Spencer (1552-1599)
• Baltasar Castiglione (1478 - 1529)
• Lorenzo Valla (1407 - 1457)
• Angelo Poliziano (1454 - 1494)
• Lorenzo de 'Medici (1449 - 1492)
• Jacopo Sannazzaro (1456 - 1530)
• Nicholas Machiavelli (1469 - 1527)
• François Rabelais (1494 - 1553)
• Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
• Joachim du Bellay (1522 - 1560)
• Theodore d'Aubigné (1552 - 1630)
• Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)
• Francisco Sá de Miranda (1481 - 1558)
• Luis de Camõens (1524 - 1580)
• Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)
• Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
• Henry Howard (1517-1547)
• Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547 - 1616)
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière (1622 - 1673)
• Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
• Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
• Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466 - 1536)
• Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)
• John Milton (1608-1674)
• Cristine de Pizan (1362 - 1430)
• Leonardo Bruni (1370 - 1444)

Outstanding works

• The Misanthrope and other plays (Moliére)
• The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra -1615)
• Utopia (Thomas More - 1516)
• Vita Nuova (Dante Alighieri - 1293)
• Canzoniere (Francesco Petrarca - 1336)
• Decamerón (Giovanni Bocaccio - between 1351 and 1353)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (William Shakespeare - 1595)
• The Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri - between 1306 and 1321)
• Orlando Furioso (Ludovico Ariosto - 1532)
• Liberated Jerusalem (Torquato Tasso - 1581)
• The courtier (Baltasar Castiglione - 1528)
• Gargantua and Pantagruel (François Rabelais - 1534)
• The Prince (Nicholas Machiavelli - 1532)
• Orlando in love (Matteo Boiardo - 1495)
• In Praise of Madness (Erasmus of Rotterdam - 1511)
• Christian Knight's Manual (Erasmus of Rotterdam - 1502)

In short, the literature developed during the Renaissance was as prolix as the production in other fields of life in society during that time.

He highlighted in this an idealization of love and nature, compared to a critical realism of society and its rules.

References

1. Encyclopedia Britannica (s / f). The Renaissance Period: 1550–1660. Recovered from: britannica.com
2. Escuelapedia (s / f). The main characteristics of the Renaissance. Recovered from: schoolpedia.com
3. Carlos (2009). Renaissance literature. Recovered from: literature-itesm.blogspot.com
4. Lumen learning (s / f). Literature in the Renaissance. The Rise of the Vernacular. Recovered from: courses.lumenlearning.com
5. Quintana Luís (2016) The tragedy. Recovered from: tragedia2016.blogspot.com
6. Study (s / f). Renaissance literature: characteristics and writers. Recovered from: study.com