Renaissance

The Renaissance was a time of great intellectual and political change; literature was similarly affected, particularly in Britain.

The Renaissance began when the Crusades resulted in many Greco-Roman texts returning to Europe. The predominant trend was that of "humanism" which asserted that man was an incredible creation with limitless potential. Visual arts flourished as perspective was mastered, allowing artists to simulate 3D. They were also able to simulate light, and after studying the human anatomy, incredibly detailed and realistic paintings and sculptures were created by masters like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Donatello (the fact that they're all Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is entirely coincidental).

The most important British writers of the time were Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the all-too-familiar William Shakespeare. Poets of this age were more focused on lyric poetry than their predecessors. The sonnet soared in popularity thanks to Shakespeare's innovations. Many poets used the "sonnet cycle," or a series of sonnets that formed a story. Subject matter was less religious in nature than in previous eras. Poets like Marlowe and Shakespeare frequently wrote about love, the British monarchy, life in the countryside (these poems were called "pastorals") and Greco-Roman mythology.

Important Events:

1521--Martin Luther excommunicated from Catholic Church; Protestant Reformation begins. 1534--Church of England formed; England breaks with the Catholic Church so Henry VIII can divorce whenever he wants. 1605--The Gunpowder Plot fails in England, ensuring that Protestantism survives. 1611--The King James Bible is published. 1618--Kepler proposes the laws of planetary motion. In general: Europeans explore the world, discover new cultures, read old Greco-Roman texts.