Outline of the Literature of the Renaissance
By Roger Blackwell Bailey, Ph. D.
The outline of English Renaissance literature will supplement this one. English authors will not usually be found on this page although Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne and Milton are certainly appropriate English authors in a course of world literature. Click Here for general Renaissance literature references.
Contributors to Renaissance Thought
- Marsilio Ficino ( 1433-1499 ), Platonic Theology of the Immortality of Souls .
- Desiderius Erasmus ( 1466-1536 ).
- Copernicus ( 1473-1543 ), On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies.
- St. Thomas More ( 1478-1535 ),
- Martin Luther ( 1483-1546 ).
- John Calvin ( 1509-1564 ).
- Pico della Mirandola ( 1454-1494 ), On the Dignity of Man.
- Giovanni Botero ( 1540-1617 ), The Greatness of Cities.
- Giordano Bruno ( 1548-1600 ), On Cause, Principle, and Unity.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626). Essays and philosophical works.
- Galileo ( 1564-1642 ), The New Science. Galileo Project at Rice !
- Tommaso Campanella ( 1568-1639 ), The City of the Sun. Utopian society.
Italian Renaissance Literature . Note: In Italy the Middle Ages and the Renaissance may be said to overlap and thus, during the fourteenth century, to exist side by side.
Niccolò Machiavelli ( 1469-1527 )
Luigi Pulci ( 1432-1484 ), The Greater Morgante.
Pietro Bembo ( 1470-1547 ), The Asolani. Dialogues on love.
Matteo Boiardo ( 1434-1494 ), Orlando Innamorato.
Jacopo Sannazaro ( 1458-1530 ), Eclogues and The Arcadia.
Ludovico Ariosto ( 1474-1533 ).
Michelangelo ( 1475-1564 ).
Baldassare Castiglione ( 1478-1529 ), The Book of the Courtier.
Francesco Guicciardini ( 1483-1540).
Matteo Bandello ( 1485 -1561 ), Novelle
Pietro Aretino ( 1492-1556 ).
Benvenuto Cellini ( 1500-1571 ) (from Bartleby).
Giorgio Vasari ( 1511-1574 )(from Fordham U.).
Giambattista Guarini ( 1538-1612 ), The Faithful Shepherd. A comedy.
Torquato Tasso ( 1544-1595 ) .
Giambattista Basile ( 1575-1632 ), The Pentameron
German Renaissance Literature
Sebastian Brant ( 1458-1521 ), The Ship of Fools.
Hans Sachs ( 1494-1576 ), Plays and numerous other works.
Till Eulenspiegel ( 1515 ).
French Renaissance Literature
Marguerite of Navarre ( 1492-1549 ), The Heptaméron. Collection of tales in the tradition of Boccaccio's Decameron. Translated with an introduction by P. A. Chilton. Penguin, 1984.
François Rabelais ( 1495-1553 ).
The Pléiade Poets
- Joachim du Bellay ( 1522-1560 ), Defense and Illustration of the French Language.
- Pierre de Ronsard ( 1524-1585 )
Étienne Jodelle ( 1532-1573 ), Cleopatra. Tragic drama.
Michel de Montaigne ( 1533-1592 ).
Guillaume du Bartas ( 1544-1590 ),The Week ( La Semaine ).
Agrippa D'Aubigné ( 1551-1630 ), Les Tragiques ( ).
Spanish and Portuguese Renaissance Literature
St. Teresa of Avila ( 1515-1582 ).
Luis de Camões ( 1524-1580 ), The Lusiads. The Portuguese national epic.
San Juan de la Cruz ( 1542-1591 ).
Miguel de Cervantes ( 1547-1616 ).
Drama
Gil Vicente ( c. 1465-c. 1536 )
Lope de Vega ( 1562-1635 ).
Alarcón ( c. 1580-1639 ). Alarcón was born in Mexico.
Tirso de Molina ( 1584-1648 ).
Calderón ( 1600-1681 ).
Pastoral and Picaresque Novel
Fernando de Rojas ( c. 1465-1541 ), La Celestina. Novel in dialogue form ( 21 acts ).
Jorge de Montemayor ( 1515-1561 ), Diana.
Lazarillo de Tormes (1564). English Translation . Spanish Text.
Mateo Alemán ( 1547-1610 ), Guzman de Alfarache.
Spanish Explorations of the New World
Back to World Literature Index
Back to Literature Index
