The invention of the printing press allowed popular authors to cheaply produce multiple secular works, which could be written in the vernacular language, rather than in Latin.
Most common people of the time couldn't read Latin, and so books in Latin were usually reserved for members of the Catholic clergy, and for the very wealthy, who could read them. The printing press allowed authors to produce books that common people could read and understand, making literature more accessible for the masses. The Protestant Reformation , sparked by Martin Luther in early s, called the power and doctrines of the Catholic Church into question, and led to the production of vernacular-language religious texts as well as more secular publications.
Marjorie McAtee. Please enter the following code:. We may never know many great works of oral poetry, however, it played a large role in impacting later written works. Early Middle English Period Germanic Heroic Poetry : It started out being performed orally in alliterative verse but was later written down by scholars or clergymen. Oftentimes it was used to describe current events, and touched on themes, which invoke the ancient code of honor that obliges a warrior to avenge his slain lord or die beside him.
They show the aristocratic heroic and kinship values of Germanic society that continued to inspire both clergy and laity.
Anglo Saxon Literature: Elegy : It is typically mournful or sad. It can be in the form of a funeral song o a lament for the dead. Middle English Literature: Romance, Courtly Romance : This was the most popular genre in the Middle English period; it had a particular story structure that depicted the integration, disintegration, and reintegration of a central hero.
Usually the hero underwent a test or challenge that alienated them from society. It was the principal narrative genre for late medieval readers and centrally concerned with love but it developed ways of representing psychological interiority with great subtlety.
Though they began in France, their transition into English literature came about from simplified and translated versions of the original French works. Often, Romances, whether written for aristocratic audiences or lower class audiences, had to do with a knight attempting to win the love of a woman of much higher class, by showing the depth of his character through acts of morality, nobility, and bravery. Allegory : An extended metaphor—where something is standing for something else.
It is a depiction of a common theme. An allegory tells a story that has characters, setting, and other symbols that serve both a literal and figurative purpose and point out a theme about human life. For Example, Piers Plowman or Everyman.
Estates Satire : Represents the 3 estates, the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else. It satirizes society with the purpose of presenting the flaws of something in an exaggerated way with the intent of drawing attention to create a solution for it. It examines society by groups based on class, occupation, function, status and other designations. For Example: The Canterbury Tales. Middle English lyrics : A type of secular poetry.
They were generally love poems although some were about social satire or the celebration of earth and humanity; they were very passionate and not about God. The lyrics do not tell a long story not an epic, odyssey, ballad but rather about a single thought or image.
They have a very contemporary rhyme scheme and subject matter. The first autobiography was The Book of Margery Kempe. Drama : For the most part, drama rose to popularity in the later medieval period Early dramas were typically very religious in theme, staging and tradition.
Performance of plays outside of the church became popular around the 12th century when they became more widely accessible to the general population. Plays were usually performed by a professional acting company that traveled from town to town on wagons and moving stages. Most theater companies were exclusively male. Morality Play : A type of drama that emerged around and became increasingly popular through out the century. They taught lessons about morality and human nature and used allegorical characters to portray the struggle that a person goes through to achieve salvation and the forces of good and evil.
A morality tale could have had either a serious or a comic plot. Depiction of a mystery play performance. Religious Prose: Sought to explain the great truths of god, humanity, and the universe through an analysis of Christian beliefs, focuses on sin, penance, and love.
There are few examples of secular work during the Medieval period as a result of the influence of religion within society. Secular Poetry was one of the main works of literature at this time. It was full of satire and irony concerning everyday life.
The incline of popularity of these secular works led into the Renaissance. Secular Medieval literature helped create a pathway for future authors in the Renaissance. The Canterbury Tales is one of the most well known secular works from the Medieval period. Rather than focus on the Church and religion, The Canterbury Tales looks instead at other common ideas of the time, such as courtliness and company.
This courtliness, or courtly love, could be found in many poems and other pieces of literature during this time period. Courtly love is when a woman is treated with utmost respect, care, and love from a knight. He will do anything to make her happy, and her happiness and love in turn makes the knight stronger and more respected.
The theme of company is also present throughout the entire poem. Other themes common in Medieval secular poetry are spring, love, and politics. Many other satirized the community. As the Renaissance began to rise throughout Europe, secularism and humanism became increasingly popular. Instead of focusing on the afterlife, people began focus on their current place in life. They looked towards themselves and who they were as individual people instead of solely people of God. This time in history can be seen as the beginning of the turn to reason and the loss of faith.
Similar to secular literature of the Medieval period, secular literature of the Renaissance focused on worldly things, such as spring and love. The reason part of this literary period inspired essays on human characteristics and politics, with Francis Bacon being one of the most writers of these types of essays.
Throughout the Medieval period, women were viewed as second class citizens, and their needs always were an afterthought. Another important characteristic of English Renaissance literature is humanism, or an optimistic outlook on humanity. Generally described as taking place from the 14th century to the 17th century, the Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature and art.
The effects of the Renaissance on English literature were an increased emphasis on humanism and individuality, as well as an increased willingness of writers to satirize existing institutions such as the church and state and to write secular rather than religious works. Shakespeare, the Renaissance Man Shakespeare was born toward the end of the broader Europe-wide Renaissance period, just as it was peaking in England.
In the simplest terms, a Renaissance man is a person with genuine competence in and understanding of multiple different fields, all of which complement one another to make him a more talented and productive person. Although we think of Shakespeare as quintessentially belonging to the English Renaissance, his world was still largely a medieval one. Romeo and Juliet is one of seven plays Shakespeare set in Renaissance Italy, a setting he used to present a freer society than Elizabethan England.
Shakespeare influenced the Renaissance by standardizing the English language and expanding its vocabulary, deepening the humanity of the characters in his plays through emotional complexity and using elaborate references to Greek and Roman mythology in his writing. Influence on writing style Shakespeare created the most inspired plays in western literature.
He wrote different plays, including characters that had a touch of both humour and seriousness especially in The Tragedy of Othello. Shakespeare linked poetry, drama and verse with each other, which had never been done before.
When scholars are speaking more specifically, however, the term classic is usually applied to the literature of the ancient world Greek and Rome , especially between BCE and CE. When you think of Shakespeare, you probably have a particular image of the Bard in mind: a receding hairline, heavy-lidded eyes, a thin mustache, and long, wavy hair.
Since the midth century, scholars have thought that the figure in the below Chandos Portrait, painted in , was Shakespeare.
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