Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
2. Dominance of Reason
In the Renaissance age, it was the reason instead of the religion that
governed the human behavior. The man was free to make the use of his
power. Now reason dominated all the spheres of life that decreased the
influence of religion on the people. Most of the blind faiths and practices
were given up.
3. Man-Centred Society
Earlier religion was the center of interest. Hence the main concern of literature was to deal with
the religion directly or indirectly. In the Renaissance age, the focus shifted from religion to man
and man became the center of interest.
4. Development of Science
The age was accompanied by the birth of modern science, mathematics,
astronomy etc. In the 4th decade of 16th century, Copernicus replaced
Aristotle’s system with the sun, instead of earth at the center of the
universe. In astronomy, Harvey discovered circulation of blood in 1628.
In addition to this, there was the use of clocks, telescopes, thermometers,
compasses, microscopes etc. Hence there was a considerable
development in the scientific field.
5. The era of Renowned Names
The literature of the English Renaissance contains some of the greatest
names in all world literature:
The Restoration Period begins in 1660 A.D., the year in which King
Charles-II was restored to the English Throne.
England, Scotland and Whales were united as Great Britain.
Commercial prosperity and global trade increased for Britain.
Literacy expanded to include the middle classes and even some of the
poor.
The monarchical restoration was accompanied by the re-opening of
English theatres (that were closed during Cromwell’s Puritan regime)
and the restoration of the Church of England as the National Church.
Now sacraments by all civil and military offices were taken in the
Anglicans Church and those who refused (Protestants and Roman
Catholics) were not allowed to hold the public offices.
Charles had no legitimate heir. His brother James (a Catholic) was to ascend the throne after
Charles. The Parliament tried to force Charles to exclude his brother from the line of succession.
Charles ended his “exclusion crisis” by dissolving the Parliament. Once crowned, James-II
quickly suspended the Test Act(sacrament taken in Anglican Church) for he was
a Catholic.
In 1688 A.D., James’ son was born that alarmed the county because they
did not want another Catholic ruler. Secret plans were made to bring a
Protestant Ruler. In 1688 A.D. (same year), William of Orange and his
wife landed in England with a small army and seized power-an event
known as the “Glorious/Bloodless Revolution”. James-II fled to
France. There were two main parties in England at that time-
Tories- “Tory” is an Irish word meaning “Irish Rebel”. The Tory
party included those who favoured monarchy and supported king
(Charles-II).
Whigs- “Whig” is a Scottish word meaning “cattle driver”. Whig
party included those who opposed Charles-II and favoured
Aristocratic succession for Monarchy.
Concept of Nature
The concept of nature was also an important characteristic of the Neo-
classical age. By nature, they never meant the forest nature, but for
them, nature meant the general human nature. The general human nature
was not what the ordinary men and women felt and thought, but the
standard view of human nature as held by Homer and Horace.
Like their static view of the world, the Neo-classical writers thought of
human nature also was something static and standard, which is the same
in all men and remains the same at all the times. Thus their view of
nature as well as of man, world, and genre was static and standard.
The Romantic Age in England was not only an age of glorious poetry
but also of glorious literary criticism. In fact, most of the eminent men of
letters of the age were critics as well as creative writers. Wordsworth,
Coleridge, Byron, Hazlitt, Lamb, Leigh Hunt, and De Quincey all
contributed to critical literature. But the main critics who gave a
direction to the current of literary criticism were Coleridge, Lamb,
Hazlitt and De Quincey. All of them have often been categorized
as “Romantic Critics.”