The English Renaissance and the English Reformation

Dating from the late 15^th century to the early 17^th century, the English Renaissance was an artistic and cultural movement with a uniquely (for that period) cosmopolitan character. The Renaissance reached England rather late, in comparison to continental Europe, particularly Italy and France. Because the Renaissance originated in the cultural heart of continental Europe, the trend du jour for English nobility (both young and old) looking for a well-rounded education was to take a so-called “grand tour” of Italy and France to soak in the Renaissance.

The scholars of the English Renaissance, in addition to writing in classical languages, also wrote in English with the intention of elevating the status of the English to be on par with Europe’s classical languages. The Renaissance period also saw the expansion of the English language’s vocabulary – there was a large influx of words from classical languages into the English lexicon.

The Renaissance rescued English literature from the mediocrity that it had fallen into for a while. It provided English literature with the impetus for new and path-breaking literary pursuits. The Renaissance also witnessed a surge in quantity of English literary output. Additionally, commentaries were authored for classical texts; oftentimes, classical texts were also translated and even imitated.

In addition to prose (both fiction and non-fiction), the Renaissance also witnessed an upheaval in how poetry was written and delivered. Renaissance poetry was very ornate and intricate. There was a great emphasis on decorum, vocabulary, and style. English Renaissance poets didn’t just reuse “templatized” poetic forms such as odes, elegies, epigrams, sonnets, and so on; they also improvised on them, especially with regard to meter, stanza, and rhyme.

Some of the most significant literary personages from the English Renaissance were Sir Thomas More and Sir Francis Bacon, who authored works such as Utopia and Novum Organum (“new instrument”), respectively. There was also Sir Walter Raleigh, who authored his magnum opus, History of the World, in 1628. From the world of poetry, towering figures such as Philip Sidney and Richard Tottel penned treatises and anthologies such as An Apologie for Poetrie and Tottel’s Miscellany, respectively.

The English Reformation, on the other hand, was a series of events in the 16^th century that culminated in the English church defying the spiritual authority of Rome and breaking free. While the Reformation in continental Europe was explicitly concerned with theological issues and papal excesses, the English Reformation’s goals were more temporal – they centered on the English monarch King Henry VIII’s desire to divorce his wife and marry another woman. When the Pope would not grant him the divorce, Henry encouraged protestant preachers and rally the masses against Rome. After some high drama, the English church formally broke away from Roman authority, and Henry VIII became the head of the new church by the Act of Supremacy in 1534. Those who disagreed with the English monarch on this doctrinal matter were either imprisoned or executed, and sometimes, both. A case in point was the towering figure of Thomas More, literary genius and author of Utopia, who was found guilty of high treason and beheaded in 1535.

Probably the most significant literary figure of the English Reformation was William Tyndale, who in 1525, translated the New Testament into English. In 1585, Miles Coverdale, a priest, published the first complete English language Bible based on Tyndale’s work. Finally, an authorized version, popularly known as the King James Bible, was released in 1611. This version of the Bible was a watershed moment in the history of the development of the English language. Deep and abiding turns of phrases from this edition, such as “a fly in the ointment,” “root of all evil,” “a nest of vipers,” and “a man after his own heart” endure till this day.

The other important literary work associated with the English Reformation is the Book of Common Prayer, first published in 1549 under the editorial stewardship of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Like the King James Bible, the Book of Common Prayer has deeply influenced the English language. Common phrases today, such as “tower of strength,” “till death do us apart,” and “to love, to cherish, and to obey” owe their provenance to the Book of Common Prayer.