The English Renaissance

During the English Renaissance political climate was surrounded by conflict with other counties, religious confusion, and problems with wealth and economy. These are the people who ruled Great Britain during the era of the English Renaissance was King HenryVIII, Elizabeth I, and Richard Cornwell. Although these are not all the queens and kings of Great Britain, they had a great impact to the political climate during the era of the Renaissance of Great Britain.

The Renaissance started in Italy during the 1300’s before spreading throughout Europe in the 1500 and 1600’s. It came about because of a change in the way of thinking. In an effort to learn, people began to want to understand the world around them. This study of the world and how it works was the start of a new age of science. “The people were curious and questioned the known wisdom of the church. They began to use experimentation and observation to solve worldly problems”. (Johnson). Many Renaissance intellects focused on trying to define and understand the laws of nature and the physical world. During the Renaissance, great advances occurred in science and technology as well as others areas.

The Renaissance period was between 1400-1600 century. It began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe. The Renaissance time is were self paintings mostly came from. In most of the painting the people were nude. They started making the painting 3D. There are many things about the Renaissance. Renaissance means born a new. The concept enshrined in the world of Renaissance is actually one of rebirth. It was considered the beginning of modern history. The High Renaissance was from about 1495-1527. The Late Renaissance was from about 1527-1600.

Italy can be looked at as the home of the renaissance and consequently the immergence of great art. Artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, Da Vinci, and Raphael are some of the greats and are looked at for standards. But what about the artists whose lives are mysteries, and their works that were influenced by the greats? These artists hold just as much importance in the history of art as do the artist’s whose names can be recalled off the top of an average person’s head. During the sixteenth century things began to change in the art world, and that change was the Baroque. This new style of art brought a revolution to how subject matter was painted, it brought upon “… a radical reconsideration of art and its purposes…” (249) and how artists of all ranks could learn to paint the up and coming style of Baroque.

The Middle Ages and Renaissance were two very different periods of time. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was believed that God was the ruler, and almost everything in life was based around religion. Illiteracy was also very widespread, unless one was a religious figure. For example, priests and monks were basically the only literate people during the Middle Ages, and they were the ones that would do all the reading, and writing from the Bible. One of the main reasons for illiteracy was the lack of technology. The only way for copies of books to be made was with handwritten books, which made it hard to get hands on a book, because the quantity was so scarce. Another reason for the illiteracy was that many people were called serfs, which are

The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy around the 1500’s to about the 1700’s. Florence, Italy was the mecca of this rebirth because at the time Florence was extremely wealthy and the people of the city had political freedom and those new ideals of the Renaissance were not being condemned in Florence as they were other cities. This was a time where the arts and the logic of one’s own mind was valued rather than criticized, the antiquated medieval ideals no longer matched the needs of those who were living during the early Renaissance. Eventually, a term for this way of thinking arose and was called Humanism, and what humanism is, is an ideology where humans can lead themselves to create a prosperous life and instead of leaning on supernatural forces for answers. Humanists believe that humans have enough logic to create conclusions themselves. This brand-new way of thinking caused a lot of controversy because it did question God’s ability and the church’s power, but the ideas behind it are still heavily used today, even in the 21st century. Humanism in the early Renaissance is important because it called for thinking with reason, it allowed an appreciation for human body and mind, inspired authors and caused a shift in power.

In the time between the 1300's and the 1500's, a great transformation took place in Europe. Prior to the 1300's, Europe had experienced what has been called the Middle Ages, but after 1500, the continent was fully into the period known as the Renaissance. The impetus for the transformation that took place was the onslaught of the Black Death, or a two hundred year nightmare in which the Bubonic Plague devastated European society. The changes that took place as a result of the Plague altered the economic, social, artistic, political, and intellectual foundations of Europe forever.

The Middle Ages were regarded as a dark and desolate time period in history. Society during this time had no social progress, incessant wars, extreme violence, and no improvement to intellect or education. The Renaissance marked the end of the Middle Ages lasting roughly from the early 1400s to the 17th century. The Renaissance was exceptionally different from the Dark Ages because the human intellect, social climate, and the beliefs of Renaissance men was the opposite of the Middle Ages. Acting as a bridge between the Middle Ages and present times, the Renaissance innovated art, architecture, philosophy, science, and literature. Also, there was a shift from heavily relying on the Church to a focus on humanism. William Manchester author of

The Middle Ages is thought to be a time period of obliviousness by many historians, where diminutive or no developments took place. The church was the focus of attention, and rather than a logical outlook of the world, beliefs were concentrated around fallacies; on the other hand, the resurgence of education and innovations that followed the Middle Ages and was branded as the Renaissance. There have been disagreements as to whether the Renaissance is actually a isolated time period, or instead, just a great point of the Middle Ages. The Renaissance was unquestionably a distinct time period. With the ancient Greek and Roman people as their muse, it led to humanism views and stimulated man to become talented in multiple areas of life. Therefore, the Renaissance man, a man who surpassed in many areas, became protuberant. Also, the ideals of the people altered, and their religious beliefs no longer governed their lives. Developments in all facets of life effectively enhanced. Thus, numerous aspects led to the modification from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, a time period that was indisputably dissimilar from the Middle Ages; and Civic Humanism became the forefront of this time.

Oscar Wilde prefaces his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, with a reflection on art, the artist, and the utility of both. After careful scrutiny, he concludes: “All art is quite useless” (Wilde 4). In this one sentence, Wilde encapsulates the complete principles of the Aesthetic Movement popular in Victorian England. That is to say, real art takes no part in molding the social or moral identities of society, nor should it. Art should be beautiful and pleasure its observer, but to imply further-reaching influence would be a mistake. The explosion of aesthetic philosophy in fin-de-siècle English society, as exemplified by Oscar Wilde, was not confined to merely art, however. Rather, the proponents of this philosophy extended it to life itself. Here, aestheticism advocated whatever behavior was likely to maximize the beauty and happiness in one’s life, in the tradition of hedonism. To the aesthete, the ideal life mimics art; it is beautiful, but quite useless beyond its beauty, concerned only with the individual living it. Influences on others, if existent, are trivial at best. Many have read The Picture of Dorian Gray as a novelized sponsor for just this sort of aesthetic lifestyle. However, this story of the rise and fall of Dorian Gray might instead represent an allegory about morality meant to critique, rather than endorse, the obeying of one’s impulses as thoughtlessly and dutifully as aestheticism dictates.

Rather than comply with the Victorian and perhaps bourgeois penchant for moralizing, Wilde chose to “[elevate] style, beauty, and uselessness over truth, authenticity, or utility” (Lesjak 190) as his mode of writing. He was one of the most visible advocates for aestheticism in Victorian England, and is now inextricably linked to aesthetic thought. Thus, aestheticism in The Importance of Being Earnest takes the form that Wilde must have seen most often in his daily life and indeed, pursued himself. This is most clear when Algernon states “I don’t play accurately—any one can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression” (45), a single epigram that can neatly sum up Wilde’s intention in writing The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde was not writing to create a mimesis of the inner workings of the aristocracy, but rather to convey a sense of it that aligns with his true goal: creating a work that embodies the aesthetic

This semester I have had the pleasure of reading many poems and stories that have come from distinct Eras such as "Beowulf", "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", "Macbeth" "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" and "Elegy Written in the County Churchyard”. There were many other fantastic poems and stories that were read this semester, but these captivated me the most. These pieces of literature come from the Anglo-Saxon, Middle Ages, Macbeth, Renaissance, and Restoration and Enlightenment Eras. In this essay I will detailing information about these Eras, and examing the ideas I learned from each story of the given Era.

During the 1400s and 1500s in mainly Italy there was a major change that took place in all aspects of life. This was called the Renaissance and was a movement that helped give rebirth to culture and the arts. This movement went away from the medieval times that had forced a feudalist system on its people. The Medieval times were a dark period in European history that saw a major decline in arts and government. This declining can be attributed to a number of different reasons. One of which was the Bubonic Plague that spread throughout Europe and Asia and killed millions of its inhabitants. This was the final nail in the medieval coffin. Throughout these times the major focus for government and the arts were all religion oriented. The Black

Living a life without guilt or shame can be astonishingly enticing. Many people, especially in Victorian England, agreed with this notion. Many distinguished authors, poets, and other influential members of society affirmed this belief. Among them was notorious author and playwright, Oscar Wilde. Wilde was a known supporter of Aestheticism, a movement in which there are no morals to be found in art and where life is meant to be lived in pursuit of passion with no room or regard for moral uprightness. Wilde lived a very flamboyant life, and most critics would agree that his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, highlights this lifestyle which focuses on surrendering to one’s temptations. A closer look at the work, however, instead brings the reader to a different conclusion. The harrowing tale of Dorian Gray’s rise and fall clearly criticizes the Aesthetic Movement, which gives way to the idea of surrendering to one’s whims as thoughtlessly as one would like, and instead draws attention to the direct relationship between art and morality.

Every page, every line of dialogue, every character, each symbol, and every stage direction in his plays is bent on supporting Wilde's contention that social change happens as a matter of thoughtfulness. Art can bring about such thoughtfulness. If the eccentric or unusual is to be replaced with correct behavior and thought, human sympathy and compassion suffer. If strict moral values leave no room for question, a society loses much of what is known as