Renaissance literature examples and characteristics info: We explain what Renaissance literature is, its themes, genres and other characteristics. Also, important works and authors.
What is Renaissance literature?
Renaissance literature or Renaissance literature is the set of the vast and varied literary production that is inserted in the period of Western culture known as the Renaissance, which took place between the 15th and 16th centuries.
This period was experienced as an age of splendor, in contrast to the medieval obscurantism of past centuries. Many of the traditional values of Greco-Latin antiquity (and its rich literary tradition) were recovered in it, as human reason displaced faith as the supreme value of humanity. You must read about Proselytism once!
Renaissance literature is among the most important, central and transcendent in the history of the West, and many of its authors are now classics. Its diffusion was made possible by the invention of the printing press around 1450, the appearance of vernacular languages, and the weakening of the Catholic Church, the result of the advent of the bourgeoisie.
On the other hand, Renaissance literature witnessed the birth of new literary genres, such as the essay and the novel. In addition, new models of poetic meter emerged (such as the sonnet, with a predominance of the hendecasyllable).
Dante’s dolce stil novo played a fundamental role in these renewals, as did the work of the Italian scholar and humanist Pietro Bembo (1470-1547), not only imitating the great pre-Renaissance authors, but also as a critic of the Italian literature of his time. Maybe you should definitely read about Seminar once!
Characteristics of Renaissance literature
Renaissance literature was characterized by the following:
- It emerged in the 15th and 16th centuries, but had its first manifestations in Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries, with the figures of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) and Giovanni Bocaccio (1313-1375).
- It witnessed the reappearance of classical Greco-Roman motifs, as well as the conception of imitative art that Aristotle developed in his Poetics. The predominance of religion as a theme gave way significantly.
- New genres, new forms of metrics and new themes emerged, influenced by the philosophy of humanism.
- Great authors appeared who were universally acclaimed and who are now classics of literature.
- The main countries in which Renaissance literature was developed were Italy, Germany, Holland, Spain, Portugal, France and England.
Themes of Renaissance literature
The Renaissance brought with it the revaluation of Greco-Latin antiquity and its vast mythology, so that many of its narrative and poetic motifs began to reappear in Western literature, after having been ignored during the Middle Ages.
Individualism and faith in reason were the philosophical ideas behind many texts of the time, which was partly due to the fact that many of the new authors had been able to have a classical education, rather than a strictly religious one.
These changes were reflected in the frequent existential questioning of literary characters, as is the case of Don Quixote, or in the irony and satire so frequent in Shakespeare’s theatre, or even in the imagination of societies other than the real one.
The weakening of the Catholic Church finally allowed many authors to write anti-clerical criticism and satire, which had a decisive influence (although in some cases involuntary) on the emergence of Luther’s Protestant Reformation.
Genres of Renaissance literature
Various genres were cultivated in Renaissance literature:
Lyric poetry:
The most cultivated genre during the Renaissance was poetry, which experienced an important renewal of forms, based on the influence of Italian authors. In this genre, there also appeared a branch of religious nature, known as mystical poetry or ascetic poetry, which were two currents of the same desire to approach the experience of the sacred poetically.
The modern novel:
The great genre born in the heart of the Renaissance was the modern novel, whose first text was Cervantes’ Don Quixote. This genre gained popularity in the following centuries and gradually became the great modern genre that Europe perfected and exported to all latitudes.
Drama:
Many of the great Renaissance works were written to be performed in a theatre. This was because theatre was the great form of mass communication inherited from earlier times, and one that did not require the ability to read from the mostly illiterate public. That is why the great works of Shakespeare or of the Spanish Golden Age were theatrical pieces.
Essay:
Understood as a prose dissertation on a specific topic, the essay made its appearance in the Renaissance. Various philosophers and thinkers enthusiastically cultivated it, since it allowed them to reflect on the central themes and concerns of the time. This genre, more than any other, reflected the vocation of human reason to account for the universe around us, something only possible thanks to the humanism and rationalism of the time.
Authors and representatives of Renaissance literature
Some of the main authors of Renaissance literature were:
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616):
Novelist, poet, soldier and playwright, he is the famous author of Don Quixote and the Novelas ejemplares, and the greatest figure of Hispanic literature. He was popularly known as the Manco de Lepanto, for having lost the use of one hand during the battle.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616):
The greatest author of Anglo-Saxon literature, he was an English playwright, poet and actor, known as the Bard of Avon. He is perhaps one of the most famous and appreciated authors in the entire world, whose works occupy a central place in contemporary Western culture.
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527):
Italian diplomat, philosopher and writer, he was a relevant intellectual figure in the Renaissance and is considered the father of political science, for his book of reflections on power, The Prince.
Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536):
A great Dutch humanist and philologist, he produced an extensive body of essays, letters and treatises, which had a truly revolutionary influence throughout Europe. Thanks to him, in fact, the New Testament was translated into English and German for the first time.
Garcilaso de la Vega (c. 1498-1536):
Spanish poet and soldier, whose work is part of the Golden Age, acquired a Petrarchan style in his work after visiting Naples on a couple of occasions. He wrote forty sonnets, five songs and another set of poetic texts that are considered the highest expression of the Castilian Renaissance.
François Rebelais (c. 1494-1553):
French writer, humanist and doctor, he wrote part of his work using pseudonyms and inspired by various local and popular traditions. His series called Gargantua and Pantagruel about two gluttonous and kind giants is especially known.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592):
Philosopher, writer, humanist and father of the essay as a literary genre, this Frenchman wrote all his work in the tower of his castle between 1572 and 1592, asking himself a single question: “What do I know?” He is considered one of the most prodigious minds of his time.
Works of Renaissance literature
Likewise, some of the most popular works of the Renaissance were:
- In Praise of Folly (1511) by Erasmus of Rotterdam.
- The Celestina (1514) by Fernando de Rojas (originally published under the name of Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea).
- The Prince (1532) by Niccolò Machiavelli.
- Gargantua and Pantagruel (1534) by François Rebelais.
- Lazarillo de Tormes (1554) by an anonymous author.
- The Lusiads (1572) by Luís de Camões.
- Essays (1580) by Michel de Montaigne.
- Romeo and Juliet (1595) by William Shakespeare.
- The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes.
