renaissance literature. the printed word c. 1455 printing press invented by johann gutenberg in...
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Renaissance Literature
The Printed Word
C. 1455 printing press invented by Johann Gutenberg in Germany
Decreased costs and time of printing
Made material available and affordable for many
Encouraged writers and literacy
Spread ideas more quickly
Italian Renaissance Writers Change Literature
Use of vernacularDante (Divine Comedy)Petrarch (Sonnets to Laura)Boccaccio (Decameron)
StylePetrarch – Italian sonnet
Boccaccio – Humor used to illustrate “the human condition”
ContentHumanismEmphasis on here and now
“How to Books”
Humanism
Literary movement of the Renaissance
Concerned primarily with individuals and the human condition rather than with the soul and life everlasting
Drew inspiration from classical civilizations
Important Italian Writers
Petrarch – “Father of Humanism” Wrote in both Latin and Italian
Developed Italian SonnetInspired others to study classics
Boccaccio – DecameronCollection of 100 stories told by 10 young people seeking
refuge from the plagueUses both tragic and comic views of situationsPresents characters as individuals
Castiglione
The Book of the Courtier
Describes the perfect courtier
Well-educated
Well-rounded
Well-mannered
Master of many fields
Machiavelli - The Prince
Guide to rulers on how to gain and maintain power
Realistic rather than idealistic
“The end justifies the means.”
“ It is better to be feared than loved.”
Strong influence on world politics
The Northern Renaissance
Flanders
today Northern Belgium
Prime location – North Sea (English Channel)
Northern HumanismLike Italian Humanism
stressed education and classical learning
Unlike Italian Humanism- emphasized religion as well
- looked to early Christian church for models - believed that the revival of ancient
learning should be used to bring about religious and moral reform
- more emphasis on community than on the individual
Erasmus
Dutch priest and humanist
“Father of the Northern Renaissance”
The Praise of Folly used humor to expose ignorance,
immoral behavior, and corruption including in the Church
Sir Thomas More
English Renaissance
Utopia Describes ideal society in which men and women live in peace and harmony
Today, “utopia” means “an ideal society”
How did the Renaissance spread to the “North”?
Through religious, military, and commercial contacts
Through artists who traveled and studied in Italy
Printing Press (Johann Gutenburg 1450)
O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
My kingdom for a horse!
Something is rotten in Denmark.
To be or not to be – that is the question.
All the world’s a stage…
William Shakespeare
“greatest poet and playwright of all time”
Peak of English Renaissance
Comedies, Histories, Tragedies
Characterizations
Rabelais
Gargantua and Pantagruel
on surface: adventures
of 2 gentle giants
also, satire on behaviors
Cervantes
Spanish Renaissance
Don Quixote
uses satire to mock feudal society and chivalry
about a mad, old knight and his trusty servant, Sancho Panza
Art of the Northern Renaissance
Albrecht Dürer
German Studied in ItalyFamous for woodcuts
and engravingsMajor influence in
the spread of the Renaissance to
the North
The Hare
The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse
Hans Holbein the Younger
Specialized in
portraits that
are almost
photogenic in
detail
Henry VIII
Bruegel – The Peasant Wedding
Hunters in the Snow
Spain’s El Greco: A View of Toledo
Flemish Painter – Peter Paul Rubens
Rembrandt
Dutch
Known for use
of color and
light
Nightwatch