Daily Times

A change in social consciousness and that of ideologies emerged during the end of the Middle Ages that gave way for the renaissance era to play a part in spreading arts and literature in Europe.

Perhaps, it was the rediscovery of the classical Greek and Roman culture and literature that added value to this period.

While historians are divided over the exact era when the renaissance came into existence, it is somewhere in the late 1300s when the Roman Catholic Christian principle began losing its grasp over the society and was gradually replaced by the ideologies and philosophies of Cicero, Aristotle and Seneca – who publicised Greek and Latin ideas. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 compelled scholars of this area to come to Italy. This helped in the transfer of manuscripts to Europe. As man during this time became more attuned towards nature, artists and painters such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael and Michelangelo began integrating natural scenes, sceneries and humans in their arts that brought into the limelight a new dimension to how arts was conceived.

Coincidentally, the printing press invited by Johann Gutenberg in 1440 accentuated the promotion of literature as the manuscripts were published in large quantities and distributed across Europe. The renaissance thinking spread in and around Europe because of trade activity pursued by the local traders and merchants. The renaissance literature was also greatly affected by the humanism. Francesco Petrarca is regarded as the father of humanism for his devotion to Greek and Roman scrolls. Italian humanism, however, reached across Europe and promoted the Reformation in religious and political thought in Europe.

The renaissance thinking spread in and around Europe because of trade activity pursued by the local traders and merchants. The renaissance literature was also greatly affected by humanism. Francesco Petrarca is regarded as the father of humanism for his devotion to Greek and Roman scrolls

Interestingly, humanism in Britain was characterized by the establishment of “grammar” schools that imparted Latin education. This humanist education produced literary giants with the likes of Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Ben Jonson, who later evolved literature in their own ways. The renaissance painters drew their sketches and drawings as they perceived them naturally, again a fact that humanism was a great influence. This added the concept of realism in arts compelling painters to understand how light and shadow affected their drawings and how human anatomy could be used in paintings. The genre of studying humanities – human society and culture – dominated the study of nature and philosophy because scholars wanted to know more about humans, their traits and how their behaviour changed society and culture. It is interesting to note that while the West, especially Europe was going through the dark ages or medieval times that preceded the renaissance, Islamic kingdoms in the east were spreading with great force and Muslim scientists were creating inventions and making discoveries in the fields of medicine, geography, arts, astronomy and science.

As the study of arts, literary and humanism expanded the minds of the European scholars, they began thinking beyond their geographical boundaries as the fear of the unknown was replaced by the curiosity to know. A case in point is the journey of Christopher Columbus to the East in search of a new world and disseminating the European thought. The literate during the renaissance flourished when authors in Italy began to write in English rather than in Latin or Greek. Shakespeare, however, played an influential role to promote literature in England that spread across the western hemisphere. He was the first to write plays having two themes – tragedy and comedy.

Shakespeare’s tragedy plays, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and his comedy play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, are still a classic. Reissuance authors including William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Nicholas Machiavelli, Miguel de Cervantes, Dante Alighieri, John Milton and Jean-Baptiste Poquelin among others used their ingenuity and literary sense to develop the literature during their time. Thomas More’s book Utopia, depicts a perfect society emerged as one of greatest works during this era. His depiction of a land where sorrow is non-existent and happiness reigns supreme is still a human fantasy.

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist. He can be reached at omariftikhar@hotmail.com