The impact of renaissance period/Elizabethan period/age of Shakespeare on English literature in general.

                  The Renaissance Period (1500-1600)

 The Renaissance Period  in English literature is also known as Elizabethan Age or the Age of Shakespeare.The middle ages in Europe were followed by Renaissance.Renaissance means rebirth. From about 1500 to 1600 the world was reborn in many ways. The Renaissance began in Italy, especially in art and architecture, in the fifteen century.Renaissance means the revival of learning.In that period many changes occur in English literature. When Turks invaded the Greeks,the Greek scholars residing there spread all over the Europe and brought them with invaluable Greek manuscripts(knowledge).The discovery of these classical model resulted in the Revival of Learning in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

      The essence of this movement was that:

               ''Man discovered himself and the universe''

                                 and that

        ''Man so long blinded had suddenly opened his eyes and seen''

When the Greek Philosophers came there the art of printing was came to introduce at that time,which help Greek Philosophers in providing their literature to the European people easily.Along the revival of learning new discoveries took place in several other fields . Vascoda Gamma circumnavigated the earth;Columbus discovered America;Copernicus discovered Solar system and prepared the way for Galileo.Books were printed and philosophy,science and art were systematised. The middle ages were past,and the old world had become new.Scholars flocked to the universities. The old authority received a death blow.Truth only was the authority;to search for truth everywhere,as men sought for new lands and the gold ,and the fountain of the youth-that was the new spirit,which awoke in Europe with the revival of  learning.
           Chief Characteristic:
        The Chief Characteristic of  Renaissance was its emphasis on Humanism,which means man's concern with himself as an object of contemplation.This movement was started in Italy by Dante, Petrach and Boccaccio  in the 14th century, and from there it spread to the other countries of the Europe.In England it became popular during the Elizabethan Period.This movement ''The Proper Study of Mankind'' had a number of subordinate trends. The first was the discovery of classical antiquity and particularly of ancient Greece.The first Englishman wrote under the influence of Greek studies was Sir Thomas More his Utopia written in Latin ,was suggested by Plato's Republic.
    The second important aspect of humanism was discovery of the external universe,and its significance for the man. In the medieval  morality plays ,the characters are mostly personification,   Friendship,Sloth,Wickedness and the like.But under the influence of Humanism the emphasis was laid on the qualities which distinguish one human being from another and give and individuality and uniqueness.This tendency led to rise of a new literary form ESSAY by BACON, DRAMA by MARLOWE, and Shakespeare carried Humanism to perfection.