English Language and Literature: English Renaissance

The word renaissance itself says it all, it is a time of rebirth or a new growth in society. During the period between the late 15th century and early 17th century of England is called as English renaissance period. In this particular time period the country faced many changes and developments in almost all the fields like religion, culture, arts, science, literature and so on. It is a remarkable period of changes and here listed the important happenings in literature during this period.

Gutenberg Bible hits the first presses in 1454-1455

William Caxton establishes first printing in 1476

Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince in 1513

Thomas More's Utopia in 1516

Martin Luther publishes his thesis against the Catholic Church in 1517

Nicolaus Copernicus's Revolutions of the Celestial Orbits in 1543

Queen Elizabeth on throne in 1558

William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe are born in 1564

The London Stock Exchange is created, and the Battle of Lepanto makes for choppy waters in 1571

The Theatre is built and first professional play house built in 1576

Francis Drake circumnavigates the world during 1577-1580

Shakespeare begins acting in and writing plays in 1585

The English fleet defeats the Spanish Armada in 1588

Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen in 1590

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is built in 1599

Shakespeare dies in 1616

These are some notable events occurred in the renaissance period, the contribution to English drama and poetry is very high in this period because of the works of great poets of all time. There are major effects in literature and also it is called as golden period of literature particularly during Elizabethan age (1558 - 1603). Here is a list of great poets who contributed to English literature during the renaissance period.

The major literary figures in the English Renaissance include: