ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Introduction. Humanism was the major intellectual movement of the Renaissance. In the opinion of the majority of scholars, it began in late-14th-century Italy, came to maturity in the 15th century, and spread to the rest of Europe after the middle of that century.

Detailed explanation-2: -Definition. Renaissance Humanism was an intellectual movement typified by a revived interest in the classical world and studies which focussed not on religion but on what it is to be human. Its origins went back to 14th-century Italy and such authors as Petrarch (1304-1374) who searched out ‘lost’ ancient manuscripts.

Detailed explanation-3: -Renaissance humanists understood by studia humanitatis a cycle of five subjects: grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history and moral philosophy, all based on the Greek and Latin classics. A humanist was an expert in the studia humanitatis. The dominant discipline was rhetoric.

Detailed explanation-4: -Humanism was the educational and intellectual program of the Renaissance. Grounded in Latin and Greek literature, it developed first in Italy in the middle of the fourteenth century and then spread to the rest of Europe by the late fifteenth century.