Renaissance literature
Early modern canon
Renaissance literature refers to European writing from roughly the 14th through 17th centuries, when classical Greek and Roman works were rediscovered and imitated.
The period produced enduring figures—Dante, Petrarch, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Milton—and saw vernacular languages gain literary prestige alongside Latin.
She specialized in Renaissance literature, focusing on English sonnets.
The term implies humanism, classical allusion, and formal experimentation.
- sonnetFourteen-line metered poem
- courtly loveChivalric romantic ideal
- satireMockery exposing vice
- humanismPhilosophy prioritizing earthly reason
- FlorenceTuscan capital city
William Shakespeare · patronage systems · Thomas More · printing press · Boccaccio · iambic pentameter · Orlando Furioso · epic poem · classical revival · Christopher Marlowe · Miguel de Cervantes · golden age · Medici family · Elizabethan England · tragedy · morality play · Petrarch · John Milton
Renaissance literaturemedieval literature
Texts from feudal Europe
contemporary literature · postmodern literature · Victorian literature · patristic literature · modern literature
Renaissance literaturemorality plays
Didactic medieval dramas
hagiography · mystery plays · saints' lives · religious allegory · liturgical drama
Renaissance literaturemodernist literature
Experimental early-twentieth-century writing
oral tradition · folk literature · pulp fiction · genre fiction