Intro. to the Renaissance

In our Norton Anthology, the intro. to 16th century literature makes an interesting comment on the type of literary output that was going on during this time.

"In a society with no freedom of speech as we understand it and with relatively limited means of mass communication, important public issues were often aired indirectly, through what we might now regard as entertainment, while lyrics that to us seem slight and nonchalant could sere as carefully crafted manifestations of rhetorical agility by aspiring courtiers (486)."

The writers and aspiring political commentaries of the renaissance era did not have access to CNN interviews and the opportunity to publish anonymous "letters to the editor" in newspapers. There was no mass media as we know it, and in order to have one's voice heard while also making sure that your head remained on your shoulders, the only option was political satire. For men such as Sir Thomas More, the author of Utopia, it would have literally been suicide to speak up directly against the king. Instead, those who disagreed with royal policy disguised their opinions through literary devices such as metaphors and they hid their opinions under the names of their characters. This is evident in Utopia, as we find that More's own feelings may be exhbited through Raphael more than the Thomas More of the story. During the 16th and 17th centuries, literature was more than a good read, it was the secret voice of the political skeptics of its day.