 In this session, we shall be talking about Renessa Humanism. As you know, in the first semester of MA English program, we have a paper. We are already introduced to the first three units of the first paper, which is about social and intellectual history of England. In the very first paper, Unit 4, we deal with Renessa Humanism. And in this session, we shall be talking about some of the very important aspects of Renessa Humanism. And while dealing with this Renessa Humanism, we shall be talking about what is Renessa and what is Humanism and how literature emerged out of Renessa and Humanism. So before going into the details, let us have a look at what the term Renessa means. The famous 19th century historian Jacob Buchhardt describes the essential spirit of the movement in the discovery of the world and of man. This is the name of the book, and where Buchhardt talks about the very spirit of Renessa. So he says, to the discovery of the outward world, the Renessa added a still greater achievement by first discerning and bringing to life the full whole nature of man. At this period, as we have seen, first gave the highest development to individuality and then led the individual to the most jealous and thorough study of himself in all forms and under all conditions. Indeed, the development of personality is essentially involved in the recognition of it in oneself and in others. Between these two great predecessors, our narrative has placed the influence of ancient literature because the mode of conceiving and representing both the individual and human nature in general was defined and colored by the influence. But the power of conception and representation lay in the age and in the people. So in this quotation, Jacob Buchhardt beautifully describes the very spirit of the Renessa. Now, let us try to have a look at what Renessa means. Renessa represents a turning point in the history of European society. However, we must also note that our influence here has to be quantified or modified by the views of the recent scholars who prefer to call the Renessa as the early modern period. While the medieval scholasticism put the stress on metaphysical speculation and abstract logical reasoning, the 15th century humanistic learning was concerned with the elevation of the position of man in the universe, his dignity and his creative powers. So these are some of the very ideas of Renessa we can have. Then if we try to understand the very idea of Renessa, we can understand the term or understand the very idea of Renessa through the concept of medieval scholasticism. So what does it mean? Medieval scholasticism can be looked at through the very idea of humanism. So this necessitates us to understand what humanism means. So what is humanism? Humanism refers back to the culture of the 14th century extending beyond the 16th century Europe, which was based on Greek and Roman learning. Ethmologically, the word comes from the Latin word humanus, which signifies centered on human beings. So in the context of the 15th and 16th century post-medieval Europe, humanism means the rise of a new learning in which the central area of interest is man and his relationship with the universe. Humanism is used in a broad sense, which implies a world view with a set of values revolving around the human rather than the divine. So this means defining the human without any reference to God and focusing on human potential and human achievements instead of theological doctrines. So humanism mostly talks about the position of man in the scheme of things. Humanism or humanistic education of the 15th and 16th century Europe with its central focus on human passion, ambition, and action exerted a tremendous transforming influence on the contemporary arts, history, and politics. This intellectual movement is known as the Reneza in the cultural history of Europe. That's why my friends, whenever we look at the very concept of Reneza, we cannot do away with the concept of humanism. So as the title of the unit four in the MA English course, and the first course of the MA English program, the first semester, where we have kept a unit called Reneza Humanism, unit number four. So when you read through this unit, you must be reading about Reneza and humanism in parallel terms. When we talk about the changes that we brought up, brought in the context of Reneza thought, how humanism and Reneza thought came to influence the society of the people of the medieval age, we must look at this following authors. But behind the bud of humanism in Europe lies the intellectual contribution of a number of thinkers who adopted a humanistic approach to the acquisition of knowledge. And for them, the cultivation of knowledge signified the development of the potentialities of men in the universe. So it's an every time we are referring to the position of men in the scheme of things, in the society, against theological beliefs. So some of these very important humanists were, I hope you will remember these very important names. They are Petrarch, Dante Elegieri, Picodella Mirandola, then Lorenzo Valla, Frasua Ravella, John Colette, Thomas Moore, and Desiderius Erasmus. These are some of the very important personalities who changed the human history during the time of the Renaissance. Humanism and Renaissance thought. Now let's have a look at how humanism and Renaissance thought influenced the 15th century society. Among the English humanists of the 15th century, John Colette played a very significant role in bringing the glorious world of classical literature out to the English people or introducing the old classical literature to the people in England. He was primarily concerned with the religious literature of the classical antiquity. One of the best known figures of English renaissance was Sir Philip Sidney. He is often called the archetypal renaissance because he was greatly talented and had many accomplishments to his credit. Not only was he a poet and scholar, but he was a stitchman, a courtier, and a fine soldier. Among his friends was the poet Edmund Spencer, who wrote The Fairy Queen, the very famous fairy queen. Sir Philip Sidney also wrote a pastoral romance. The name of that was The Countess of Pembrokes, Arcadia, and the most famous sonnet sequence, Astrophil and Stella. Sidney's epilogy for poetry is recognized as a subordinate text of literary criticism even now. It is said to represent the first English synthesis of the different stems of renaissance thought, particularly in the field of literature. As you know, you should be considering, you should look at Sir Philip Sidney as a representative of the renaissance man and you should situate his very famous sonnet sequence, you know, Astrophil and Stella in the context of renaissance literature. Now, let us quickly ponder over the very idea of the history of renaissance in Italy. During the period, between 1490 and 1520, the renaissance emerged as an intellectual movement, which was Italian in origin, but it was very much European in scope. Now, the question is, why in Italy and not elsewhere? In fact, the 15th century social and intellectual atmosphere of Italy was conducive for such a movement or such a change. At the material level, Italy had ample resources to patronize the study of art, literature, and moral philosophy. The curriculum in the universities of Italy was not predominantly theological, unlike the universities in France and England. Italy experienced the growth of an urban culture when in the other part of Europe, the feudal setup was still retaining its stronghold. The Italian cities like Florence, Venice, and Padua flourished both economically and intellectually. The Italian Martian class actively patronized the study of classical art and literature. So, gradually, a scholasticism was evolving. So, we can quickly have a look at a kind of a map where a very spirit of renaissance roamed around, in fact. And this is the map of 15th century Italy, which experienced considerable development of libraries at places like Florence, Neples, Cassina, Venice, and elsewhere. Just have a look at this map and see the important places which were becoming the center of learning. The mass production of manuscript texts followed by the printing of various editions of ancient classics brought about the revolution in the field of renaissance studies. The Italian academics also played a major role in the curriculum of the humanist ideas because these academies provided the humanists and with the opportunities for exchange of ideas with their fellow scholars. The members of the Platonic Academy made a conscious attempt to receive ancient forms of cultural exchanges as manifested in Plato's dialogues and leaders. They attended the informal meetings of scholars for philosophical discussions and the exchange of ideas on classical scholarship. Then, of course, Mnistar is also associated with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 due to the invasion of the Turks, which led to the entry of a number of displaced Byzantine scholars into Italy. It resulted in the intellectual cross-partalization between the East and the West of Europe, creating a conducive atmosphere for the present humanistic studies. So, fall of Constantinople in 1453 is a very important incident. Influence of the renaissance, the cultivation of humanistic ideals through the regeneration of classical studies reached the height of momentum in the 16th century Europe. But in England, the movement continued after the 17th century. And ultimately, it set the stage for scientific revolution and enlightenment of the 18th century, about which we shall be studying in the next two units of this MA English program. The in England, the enthusiasm for ancient classical art and literature was combined with a renewed focus on religious studies resulting in an endeavor to reconcile classical learning with the Christian tradition. English humanism succeeded in achieving a successful compromise between the excessively rhetorical preoccupation of the Italians and the narrow framework of theological studies thus becoming Christian humanism, which will be dealing elaborately on the very idea of enlightenment in the next two videos, probably. But we also need to understand how renaissance and the exploration of the new world took place while also discussing the emergence of literature during the time of the renaissance. The exploration of the new world by the navigators and professional explorers received the new impetus during the renaissance in England. The spirit of imperialism fuelled many time adventures and besides the extensions of its imperial frontiers, it also gave birth to numerous tales of distant explorations and success. Richard Hackleuth's work published in 1589 and the name of the book was The Principal Investigations, Voices and Discoveries of the English Nation, a notable example in this regard. It's a kind of the many-time adventure. This is the picture of the many-time adventure that was taking place during the time of the renaissance. Just you can have some ideas of how it took place, what was happening at the time. Then of course, when we talk about renaissance humanism, we cannot but refer to the literature part. So what were the very important works that came up as part of literature at the time? So these are the works. Roser has come schoolmaster. It was published in 1570. Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Gratians and the Romans 1579. Baldiser, Castiglione's Decotierre, Nicolome Chiaverde's The Prince, whose influence can be very well seen in Marlowe's play, The Jew of Malta. So these are some of the very common representative texts. But if we come to some very important and very specific examples, we can see the works of the university wits, the works of Seneca, how it influenced Elizabethan tragedy, or most particularly, the works of Shakespeare. So what we need to do is, while studying this unit, what we need to do is to have a look at the different literary reforms that emerged such as drama, such as non-fictional prose, such as in this regard, let me remember Francis Bacon, who wrote Essays, then of course, in a poets like Philip Sidney, who wrote Solace. So this renaissance was an excellent time for the flourishment of literature and different literary genres like drama, non-fictional prose, and of course poetry flourished during the time of the renaissance. And due to renaissance scholarship and due to hemanistic thinking, which foregrounded the significance of men or the position of men in the scheme of things, and because of that, people were talking more about the affairs of men and their position in the society. So before winding up, I think we can recapitulate some of those issues that we have discussed in this session. Those are the all-round development of the individual was the central issue in the 15th century humanistic studies in Europe. Humanism forced their reaction against the medieval scholastic thinking. The renaissance was a humanistic movement since it aimed at cultivating human concerns through classical scholarship. Although it has its historical roots, so to say, in Italy, the renaissance in England exhibited a distinctive character of its own. Humanism was champion in England, both by the court and by the universities. And let me tell you, this was also the time when emerged some of the very prominent universities of the world. And of course, we have to look at some of the books that we need to study as part of our MA English program. So these are some of the books that we have to study as part of our understanding of renaissance and renaissance of humanism. So please read Asa Briggs' book, A Social History of England, then Boris Ford's Pelican Guide to English Literature, The Cambridge Modern History by Dennis Hayes, and Z.M. Trevelyan's English Social History. These are some of the books that you can find very handy while reading about, while studying renaissance and renaissance of humanism. So friends, we are going to wind up here. See you again in the next video, in which I shall be talking about enlightenment. Thank you so much and all the very best.