The Restoration period is also known as the Age of Dryden, because Dryden was the dominating and most representative literary figure of the Age. During the restoration, King Charles II was restored to the throne, which marked the beginning of a new epoch in English literature.
The Restoration of King Charles II brought about a revolutionary change in life and literature. During this period gravity, moral earnestness and decorum in all things, which distinguished the Puritan period, were forgotten; cheerfulness and gaiety were the new moods and morality was waning (Chavan). Charles II and his nobles, who had enjoyed a gay life in France during their exile, tried their best to introduce that type of lifestyle in England. Instead of having Shakespeare and the Elizabethans as their models, the poets and dramatists of the Restoration period began to imitate French writers and especially their vices (Naeem). The Plague was regarded to be a suitable punishment for the sins of the Kine and his nobles.
There was an increase of science during this era that spurred the “rational inquiry and scientific and objective outlook.” The literature of the Restoration era pronounced the ending of the Renaissance literature. Realism in literature began to arise during the Restoration period. In the beginning, the realism of the new era took on an ugly picture. The picture of corruption and moral laxity, which were predominant in the social life of the restoration, were reflected in its literature (Chavan). Much of its literature involved life in London, fashion, manners, etc. and aimed to show the realisticism of their corrupt courts and societies. This produced low plays without interest or moral significance. Only once writers tried to portray hu...
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...lism the began to clarify and simplify the language of antique writings. De-latinisation. Before the reformation the English prose were high in Latin word choice and sentence structure, but during the Reformation prose seeked to bring the written language nearer to the spoken language (Naeem).
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In 1348, religious authorities determined that the immodest behavior of certain groups led to outbreaks of ubiquitous plague. The tendency to regard indecency as the cause of plague is displayed in records of the day. Henry Knighton’s description of a guilty crowd attending the tournaments is a telling example. He laments that, “they spent and wasted their goods, and (according to the common report) abused their bodies in wantonness and scurrilous licentiousness. They neither feared God nor blushed at the criticism of the people, but took the marriage bond lightly and were deaf to the demands of modesty” (130). As one can gather from this passage, the 1348 religi...
“Leslie Stephen described it (the eighteenth century) as ‘the century of cold common sense and growing toleration and of steady social and industrial improvement.’” Before the Enlightenment, the belief of the Divine Right of Kings was central to every nation. Kings were believed to be chosen by God and answerable to the divine alone, citizens could not question their King because in theory they would be questioning God. During the eighteenth century there was a shift in the public opinion of nobles and lords. Philosophes, or critics, began to openly object the way the government ran the people, even poking fun at the choices made. Kings were no longer feared. As people turned away from the restraints of government, a rise in individualism formed. ...
During the Black Death and the years after it, England had a strong king, Edward I...
Ruskin, John. “Grotesque Renaissance.” The Stones of Venice: The Fall. 1853. New York: Garland Publishing, 1979. 112-65. Rpt. in Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1989. 21-2.
The period of the Renaissance was an important era of development in the world religiously, artistically, and scientifically. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, important technologies such as the printing press contributed greatly in helping advance the intelligence of all humans. A broad humanistic sense began to expand throughout Europe, giving a new vision of the human being as the center of the universe and not as something mystical or divine. With a combination of the technological and social changes taking place at the same time, the Renaissance’s advancements placed the driving force for the protestant reformation to occur. The Protestant reformation was a new era of religious revolution that brought radical changes in the vision that society had of the Catholic Church. During this period, not only did the religion change, other areas such as the economy and the development of social interactions were reformed and
The Renaissance (A Very Short Introduction) written by Jerry Brotton has been illustrated into six illustrations: A global Renaissance, The humanist script, Church and state, Brave new worlds, Science and philosophy and Rewriting the Renaissance. Since this book is a history book, it is quite tough to read. This book is all about the past history which is related to the Renaissance. Honestly, I do not even have clear understanding on what is called “Renaissance” until I read this book. On page 9, under the subtitle of “Where and when was the Renaissance?” I finally found the meaning of Renaissance: the revival of classical culture. This word is come from Italian word which is rinascita. Then, French historian, Jules Michelet had come out with the definition of Renaissance. He define Renaissance as decisive historical period in European culture that represented a crucial break with the Middle Ages, and which created a modern understanding of humanity and its place in the world. He also promoted the Renaissance as representing a certain spirit or attitude, as much as referring to a specific historical period. But then, his Renaissance only took place on 16th century even though he had defined it from the previous century. There was also Jacob Burckhart, Swiss academic defined it as an Italian 15th-century phenomenon. By read it further, I found that these two persons read the vision of the Renaissance like a version of their own personal circumstances. Then again, there was also an Oxford-educated don, Walter Pater defined on this word. Similarly, in further reading, all these three thinkers had created 19th –century idea of the Renaissance as more of a spirit than a historical period.
In this paper I'm focusing mainly on Renaissance art work, since that was the assignment, but I feel it's important to also mention the other important parts of the Renaissance, architecture, science, politics and religion.
The Middle Ages and the Renaissance were different in their own unique ways. The Middle Ages, time was simpler. They relied more on the churches and their religious means. The Renaissance was during the year 1350 and didn’t last until 1700. The Renaissance means “rebirth” or “revival” (Background Essay). This was a time when art and science were popular and important. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the change of man’s point of view from the Middle Ages due to the Renaissance.
The reformation is generally associated with the publication of Martin Luther ninety five theses. It was his way to show the protest against the “business” made on religious people: the Holy Roman Empire was earning money on selling people indulgences. Martin Luther got the support of German princes, who were on the same side, but with different motives (they wanted to get autonomy). Luther was the great part of reformation, his influence was immediate, and people listened to him. One of the immediate effects of reformation can be observed in the development of that times writers. For example, Francois Rabelais satirized church, writing about their “business” in humorous way. The other writers, like Erasmus wrote more specifically about the pappy and their role in the lives of ordinary Christians. The major short term of reformation was about the informational acknowledgement, Luther told people the truth about the papacy and their actions, and the reaction of people was immediate: the loss of respect to church, papacy. These results were really strong, because people felt that, all the dogmas...
Arcadia Lost: Politics and Revision in the Restoration Tempest." Renaissance Drama 13 (1982): 189-209. Wolf, A. A History of Science, Technology and Philosophy in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Vol.
The renaissance and the reformation were two of the most significant changes in history that has shaped our world today. Both of these great time periods are strikingly similar in some ways and totally different in others. This is because the renaissance was a change from religion to humanism whether it is in art or literature; it is where the individual began to matter. However, the reformation was,” in a nutshell,” a way to reform the church and even more so to form the way our society is today. The first half of this paper will view the drop in faith, the economic powers, and the artistic and literary changes during the renaissance, while the second half will view the progresses and changes the church makes during the reformation.
"The Renaissance." The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. Ed. Sarah N. Lawall. Eighth Edition. Volume 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 1894-1918. Print.
The social conditions that contributed to the style of the Baroque are of particular importance, as well. During these years, it was very common for the rulers of that time to hold absolute power over their people. Some will call it the “age of absolutism”. Because of this, many common people never really experienced the benefits of this era. This was reserved for the wealthy and well-connected in that society. The politics of the day were driven b...
Following the fall of the Roman Empire in the year 476, England proceeded to go through a series of 4 historical periods. Known as the Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, Medieval, and the Renaissance periods, they are long spans of time that are clearly divided by major historical events. The Anglo-Saxon period begins with the fall of the Roman Empire. England is then invaded by people from the northern region of Europe. The Anglo-Norman period begins with the French invasion of England, which lasts until the Hundred Years War in about 1300. The Medieval period follows and lasts until the combination of the invention of the printing press and the onset of the Protestant Reformation. The period that follows the medieval is the Renaissance, but is also known as Early Modern.
Literature between the Restoration and the Romantic period alters primarily because of changes in society, culture, and government in England. In the Restoration period, approximately between 1660-1700 A.D., after the previously unseated Stuart family returned from exile in France to rule Britain, new leaders struggled to establish a stable social and political norm. The general feeling of the people was dislike of this change, and thus this conservatism was a recurring theme in the writing of this time, as well as the decomposition of the old cultural order and people’s personal opinions towards a new idea of order and understanding of the world. The late 18th and early 19th century was known as the Romantic age, and was influenced by both the American and French revolutions, which instilled a new revolutionary mindset, and then further by the Industrial Revolution, about which authors spoke of liberal and radical reforms. Romanticism writers sought to liberate themselves from the restrictions and standards of the 18th century through expressing freedom to further explore imagination. The historical events influencing European authors differed, but the changes helped the authors change mindsets and allowed them to slowly become more free in their thinking and writing. Although the Restoration and Romantic periods were historically not very far apart, the changes in the writing style, form, and theme were greatly influenced by the time’s social status quo, culture, and authoritative style of the government.