THE VIATORIAN ===================================================JANUARY, 1914 V o lume 31
NEW YEAR S NUMBER .Number 4
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A. RE B EDEAU '14
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The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries fonn a period of transition in European Literature which has never been equaled. The long period of the Middle Ages was fast fading away, and was gradually being replaced by a new life, of new ideals and new thoughts. This period known as the Renaissance, which had its birth in Italy and spread rapidly over the greater part of Western Europe, was a revival of classical art, learning, life, laws and politics. The most important feature of the Renaissance is the revival of learning, commonly called Humanism. It consisted in resuscitating the study of Greek and Roman Classics, with attention paid chiefly to their form. Its chief votaries were called Humanists in contradistinction to the Scholastics or schooln1en, who busied themselves with philosophical and theological subjects. The new movement dealt more with the hu1nan and natural elements and thus contributed to the transition from mediaeval to 1nodern n1odes ·of thought. The predominant characteristics of the writings during the 111iddle ages were those concerned mostly with things spiritual and transcendental. With the revival of learning, things began to take on a new literary aspect. The passions and wGrldly pleasures were given freer play. The unworldly concept of life was supplanted by a mundane, human and naturalistic view, which centered on nature and man. The source of these new ideas can be easily traced back to antiquity, for the writers de.picted the enjo'yrherits ·of life, the claims of individuality, literary, art and fame. Greek as well
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