The Renaissance Essay, Research Paper

The Renaissance

Renaissance, French for “rebirth,” perfectly describes the intellectual and economic

changes that occurred in Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. During the

era known by this name, Europe emerged from the economic stagnation of the Middle Ages and

experienced a time of financial growth. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the Renaissance was

an age in which artistic, social, scientific, and political thought turned in new directions.

The renaissance could be described as a time of the awakening when great minds

influenced and changed the perspectives of people towards the arts, architecture, literature and

even science. It was in this age that artists such as William Shakespeare, EE Cummings,

Leonardo Da Vinci etc emerged. It was the dawn of a new era. The demise and reformation of

the church now enabled Artists, the audacity to express themselves in a way never they had

never done before.

Spenser s One Day I wrote upon the Strand , is a good example of the renaissance age

poetry. He portrays a humanist in the poem, writing in the sand and declaring his love for his

lady. He writes, that despite of nature their love shall live for eternity, which he would do by

writing her name across the sky. This poem reflects a lot about the renaissance. In the Medieval

ages, he would have been deemed an heretic, and would probably have been punished by the

church. He went on to show the likely rebuke he would have gotten for attributing human nature

, immortal characteristics. Lyrics such as let baser things die , would have been called

blasphemy not out of ignorance but at the limitation of individual thoughts during the time. But

in Spenser s time, he s kind of poetry was condoned and perhaps even encouraged.

This was the kind of artistic expression that separated the time of the awakening from

others. It was their ability to put all their thoughts to paper, even those violating folkways, mores

and values. This was the time of the awakening, the renaissance age.