Math, Science, and Technology in English Renaissance Literature
The university was the place to be during the Renaissance. While most people who went to school were studying law or were members of the clergy, this was also a super-awesome time for math, science, engineers, and medicine. Well, maybe not medicine.
See, Renaissance docs were def conducting surgery. But whether or not you really wanted to be operated on during this era is a whole 'nother barrel of limbs. On the upside, you could totally avail yourself of some cutting-edge geometry, physics, astronomy, and alchemy.
Renaissance writers had a field day applying new scientific discoveries to their work in order to show off how learned they were. But math, in particular, opened up new opportunities for writers. Poets used mathematical concepts to create new poetic forms of rhyme and rhythm.
And visual artists who wanted to start portraying the real applied evolving geometric principles to represent the world as they saw it—not like those old, flattened, symbolic images you see in Medieval art.
But before we get too ahead of ourselves, we do have to mention the single most important invention influencing literacy, religion, literature, and even politics during the Renaissance: the printing press. You had to know that was coming, right?
Gutenberg printed his first book, a copy of the Bible, in 1484 or 85. And it pretty much rocked everyone's socks. Now that books could be quickly reproduced—relatively speaking, anyway—the whole world became the writer's oyster.
Chew on This
While modern science may not want to touch astrology with a ten-foot pole, this wasn't always the case. Looking at the stars to interpret the course of future events drew a lot of attention during the Renaissance. Just think of all the star language in Romeo and Juliet; there's more to the whole astronomy and astrology of this play than just its star-crossed lovers.
Medicine, surgery, and doctoring in general were big deals during the Renaissance. Especially since this era came right after the Plague years. What do you make of the fact that, in order to win her one-and-only love, the first of Helen's trials in All's Well That Ends Well is a little healing of her own? Go ahead and scratch your chins, Shmoopers. We'll allow it.