The English Renaissance: An Era of Reform and Literature

Origins of the term Renaissance

Renaissance is a French term meaning "rebirth". It derived from "re": "back" and from "naissance" from Latin "birth"
The English Renaissance is a period of rebirth in which the human thoughts and the human being became the focal point. It is also characterized by discoveries in many fields: social, political, geographical, literary and so on.
The English Renaissance flourished in Northern Europe in the 16th century and it was very different from the Italian one, developed a century before.

The Italian Renaissance was a time of political instability that gave the conditions for the rebirth, expressed expecially in the arts and characterized by the centrality of individual expression. In fact this period produced many artistic geniuses.

What was the influence of the Reformation on the English Renaissance?

Instead, the English Renaissance was better integrated into the cultural life of the society in which Church's power was already reduced thanks to the reforms made by Henry VIII. This spirit of reform continued under the reign of Elizabeth I, whose court included some of the principal intellectual figures.
In this period, English literature reached its apogee: it is the age of William Shakespeare, John Milton , John Donne and Katherine Philips and it is also characterized by the expansion of printing, so textbooks were cheaper and more available to students from primary school to college.