Renaissance Literature

Italian Renaissance

• Writers begin to use Vernacular (common language) as well as Latin

• Self-expression

• Portray individuality

• Revival of the classics– Greece and Rome

Francesco Petrarch

• Date: 1304-1374

• Work: Poet

• Description: Father of Renaissance Humanism– Wrote sonnets in Italian and

Latin

Giovanni Boccaccio

• Date: 1348

• Work: Decameron

• Description: Realistic off-color stories about people avoiding the plague– Presents both tragic and comic

views (drama)

Baldassare Castiglione

• Date: 1528

• Work: The Courtier

• Description: True Renaissance Man– Taught how a young

man should behave– “How to book” for

being a ladies man

Vittoria Colonna

• Date: 1492-1547

• Work: Poetry/ Helped write The Courtier

• Description: Female poet married to a noble at war– Wrote poetry and sonnets– Expressed emotions

Northern Renaissance

• Examined traditional teachings of the Church

• Critical of the Christian Church

• Wanted to reform society

• Promoted education (including women)

Desiderius Erasmus

• Date: 1509• Work: The Praise and Folly• Description: Christian

Humanist (Holland)– Poked fun at greedy

merchants, heartsick lovers, etc.

– Believed, to improve society people should read the Bible

Thomas More

• Date: 1516

• Work: Utopia

• Description: Book about an imaginary land where greed, corruption, and war have been eliminated– Wrote in Latin and translated into vernacular

languages

Christine de Pizan

• Date: 1364-1430

• Work: The Book of the City of Ladies

• Description: Female author, educated in French– Questioned different treatment

of boys and girls– Goal to educate both sexes

William Shakespeare

• Date: 1592

• Works: Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and many more

• Description: London, Globe Theatre– Revived the classics– Revealed souls of men and women through

dramatic conflict– Examined human character flaws

Comedies

All's Well That Ends Well

As You Like It

Merchant of Venice

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Much Ado about Nothing

The Taming of the Shrew

The Tempest

Tragedies

Antony and Cleopatra

Hamlet

Julius Caesar

King Lear

Macbeth

Othello

Romeo and Juliet

Histories

Henry V

Henry VIII