The Renaissance and English Humanism

by Douglas Bush

Overview

The appearance of a fourth printing of The Renaissance and English Humanism indicated the scholarly success this book has enjoyed for more than a decade. As a brief yet thoughtful and eloquent evaluation of the influence of the Christian humanistic tradition upon our culture it has not been surpassed. The study is divided into four parts: in the first, Professor Bush discusses modern theories of the Renaissance; in the second and third, the character of classical humanism on the Continent and in England; and in the fourth, the place of Milton in the humanistic tradition.

"Douglas Bush has shown an unusual awareness," wrote Wallace K. Ferguson, "of the historiographical evolution of the Renaissance, and has taken his stand with rare explicitness on the side of those who find the Renaissance filled with mediaeval traditions." Professor Bush sees the dominant ideal of the English Renaissance as rational and religious order, rather than rebellious individualism, and his view has provided an important clue to the English literature and thought of the 16th and the earlier 17th century. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442651135
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	12/15/1962
Series:	Alexander Lectures
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	140
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Douglas Bush (1896-1983) taught at the University of Minnesota for several years, and in 1963 onward he was a professor of English at Harvard. Professor Bush held honorary degrees from several institutions, including Princeton University, Harvard University, Oberlin College, and the University of Toronto. Among his major publications are Mythology and the Renaissance Tradition in English Poetry, Classical Influences in Renaissance Literature, and English Literature in the Earlier Seventeenth Century, 1600-1660. The Renaissance and English Humanism was delivered as the Alexander Lectures for 1939.