Contribution of Greek Writtings to the English literature during the Renaissance

Unlike the immortals they described in their masterpiece, the Greek writers, philosophers and story tellers could not live long enough to see how their spirit reinvigorated Europe centuries after.

Catholic church in Europe had never had the idea that it was the wisdom centuries ago put such a mighty challenge to its dictatorship. Ancient Greek and Roman culture suddenly became name of the game.

This can partly attribute to the fact that the newly rised aristocrats did not form a new ideology to against the church, then they brought the old idea to the surface. Another reason that makes more sense is that the humanism reflected by the ancient Greek literature survived the wear and tear of time.

Each word of the ancient Greek and Roman legends emits the smell of their worship toward god, heroes, ancestors and more importantly Humanism. When we hear the echo of time carefully, we can find the voice of philosopher such as Aristotle and Plato debateing over man’s place in the universe, the immortality of the soul, and the ability of man to improve himself through virtue. Then the migration waves of Byzantine scholars and émigrés introduced Greek and Roman literature to other parts of Europe.

Thereby, we can easily find the impact of Greek philosophy and science on the Renaissance left on the flourishing of writings in the 14th to 17th century's England.

We cannot expunge Shakespeare from the topic of Renaissance. He was one of the greatest contributer to England literature. He was so important that we can even remove the term "one of " from the former sentence. Humanism was highlightened in his Romeo and Julie. Just like the Greek philosophers, he praised the hero's romatic deeds of pursuing the happiness of their own. It is consistent with the core of Humanism which give people full freedom of enriching their emotion life.

He also discussed justice in his Measure for Measure. It is like a miracle that the theme he alluded in this masterpiece is the same with what Plato did in his Republic. He said "some raise by sin, while some fall by justice" but in the end he put a happy ending to the story to tell people that justice always overwhelms injustice.

Speaking of the Republic, we all know that Plato pictured a country within which people serves the purpose of their own. Then in Utopia, which Thomas More written in 1516, he again described a country that everything in it is in order and everyone has his own work to do. " These husbanman till the ground, breed cattle, hew wood, and convey it to the towns, either by land or water. " Is it familiar? The ideal held both by Plato, the Greek  writer as well as a Renaissance writer in England can even be regarded as the same.

There are more. "Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. " The classic sentence written by Francais Bacon can be recited even by all Chinese students. Let alone its importance in Europe. In his essay he said Everything should be employed appropriatly and flexibly because " to make judgement wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar." The philosophy hidden behind this sentence is a copy of what Plato established by using the example of eyes. Plato said that "do not suppose that we ought not to make the eyes so beautiful as not to look like eyes, nor the other parts in like manner, but observe wether, by giving to every part what properly belongs to it, we make the whole beautiful". Everything should be arranged in its most appropriate way. The great minds thought alike no matter how long the spacing interval is.

Bacon said "Studies perfect nature" in emphasizing the importance of education, which was also done by Plato. "A good body will by its own excellence make the soul good, but on the countrary, that a good soul will by its excellence render the body as perfect as it can be." We can see that centuries before Bacon, there was a great thinker stressed the importance of education.

It is fair to say that it was the ideal of these philosophers lightened the golden age of ancient Greek and Roman literature as well as its counterpart in England during the Renaissance.