What made the 'English' in 'English Literature' such a prominent word in the research study and analysis of books?
When you hear the term 'renaissance', it's likely that what springs into your mind is the unbelievable advancements in art, science, and architecture that derived from Italy in the late fourteenth century. It was the cerebral trigger that cast a shallow light in the depths of the Dark Ages, a duration of over a thousand years in which whatever looking like civilised presence fell apart following the decline of the Roman Empire; science was superseded by superstition and brutal religious leadership across Europe, plague and disease swept uninhibited through the population, and there was not a book to read in sight-- the renaissance brought that to a close. It was a resurgence in culture, a return of civilisation that produced a few of the most well-known art that has ever existed. Nevertheless, it didn't take place in the same way, nor at the same time, throughout the continent. The English Renaissance was really various, an unique reassertion of culture in a way that was, and still is, characteristic of the country that was reappearing from its middle ages sleep.
The factor that England has such an connection with high literature, so much so that a lot of the bestsellers offered by the CEO of the asset manager with a stake in Amazon books or the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books will still include English renaissance stage shows and poetry, is rooted in the reformation. No matter the true motivations behind England's secession from the Catholic church, the centre of the matter focused on one main concern-- the right of all to read and interpret the Bible. By ending up being a protestant country, the power of the composed word and the development of the English language to accommodate it was significantly raised within the culture. Courtiers functioned as poets, and playwrights developed impressive works of literature for all classes in a blossoming London culture. We still regard the English relationship with literature as one of the cornerstones of our culture, which's due to the fact that it is.
The Renaissance in Italy started as a renewal in interest in the civilisations of antiquity that had such lively and ground-breaking cultures over two thousand years back, manifesting itself largely in the visual arts and architecture. The English renaissance, nevertheless, came later. Many academics point to the beginning of the 16th century as its beginning with the ascendance to the crown of England's most famous king, typically connected with being the first leader of the English church. In contrast to Italy's renaissance, England's resurgence was found in literature and music rather than the visual arts, producing some of the best books of all time which are still required reading in schools around the English-speaking planet and feature plainly in the shops run by the founder of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones.