The Renaissance period 1450-1650

• Invention by Johannes Gutenburg - The printing press. Meant that books could be mass produced and spread knowledge. They were no longer just hand written.
• The reformation of the Catholic church occured in 1517, where the renaissance period started the beginning of Protestantism. People started to speak, read and write about religion in their own native languages eg the latin bible was translated into English.
• Renaissance means rebirth - So the rebirth of the classical period.
• Classical myths and heroes return.
• Finding place for humans in a changing world
• free expression in writing
• Also the birth of the novel, with Spain's "Don Quixote" 1605 being considered the first modern novel.
• In England, William Shakespeare is one of the most famous writers from this time.
• Themes include love, power, revenge, ambition, jealousy, betrayal, and tragedy.
• Arose in 14th-century Italy, it continued until the mid-17th century in England while being diffused into the rest of the western world.
• It is characterized by the adoption of a humanist philosophy and the recovery of the classical Antiquity. It benefited from the spread of printing in the latter part of the 15th century.
• During the Renaissance, there was an emphasis on individualism and human experience as opposed to religious themes that dominated medieval literature.
• Literary works produced during the Renaissance included plays, sonnets, epic poems, satires, and novels.
• Renaissance literature also saw the emergence of new genres such as the sonnet, which became popular during this era.
• The most popular writers from this period include: Petrach, William Shakespeare, Michelangelo and Thomas Wyatt.