MB UNIUD

MErmacora - The Renaissance

The English Renaissance developed throughout England from the end of the 15^th century to the beginning of the 17^th century; historians considerate 1485 the main date from which the ideals of the European Renaissance entered England: in 1485 the War of the Roses finished and the House of Tudor acceded to the throne providing a strong central government and an increase of culture ( as for Henry VIII and Elizabeth I ); besides, Caxton introduced printing into England, that supported the development of culture.

The term "Renaissance" refers to the revival of learning that characterized Europe during the 15^th,16^th  and 17^th centuries: as a matter of fact many scholars decided to study the Classic, that is Greek and Latin texts to draw an idea of better kind of life from them; as a consequence the Classics were re-born, after being considered dead during the Middle Ages.

The culture of the Renaissance based on the classical ones, whose centers were Greece and Rome, two places geographically very far from England: as a result, when the Classics were re-discovered, they spent some time to reach English universities. Besides, England is an insular country: European cultural currents influenced English tradition less than the others belonging to the continent. 

In Renaissance literature women were idealized, unattainable and beautiful ladies, with a specific physical aspect ( fair hair and light eyes); they were carriers of virtues: for example they elevated men to God.

The man was a desperate lover who adored an idealized woman, without  establishing real relationship with her.

While in the sonnet the woman is praised, because she approaches the man to God, that is to salvation, in ballads she is considered dangerous, because she tempts men, through her earthly features, and leads them to sin.

Ballads originated during the Middle Ages (12^th century), while sonnets developed during the English Renaissance; the ballad was a popular form of poetry, handed down orally from generation to generation, instead the sonnet was written at court by poets belonging to aristocracy, that is it was an aristocratic form of poetry.

From the point of view of subject-matter, ballads told tragic love stories, supernatural events and the battles between England and Scotland; sonnets were about poet's love from a woman (or a man, as for Shakespeare).

Ballads' language belonged to the Middle English: it was direct and straightforward and it often appealed to refrains and repetitions to help memorization .

Sonnets were written in a refined way, with ornate and Latinate words, that is words deriving from Latin texts, that English scholars read and studied during the 16^th and 17^th centuries.