Namangan davlat universiteti ingliz filologiyasi fakulteti amaliy ingliz tili kafedrasi

The Renaissance In Engand 
During the Renaissance period (particularly 1485-1603) Middle English began to develop 
into Modern English. By the late 1500’s the English people were speaking and writing English in a 
form much like that used today.
The Renaissance in England is usually studied by dividing it into three parts: the rise of the 
Renaissance under the early Tudor monarchs (1500-1558), the height of the Renaissance under 
Elizabeth I (1558-1603), and the decline of the Renaissance under the Stuart monarchs (1603-
1649).
The Rise of the Renaissance 
The invention of printing press and improved methods of manufacturing paper made 
possible the rapid spread of knowledge. In 1476, during the Wars of the Roses, William Caxton set 
up the first printing press in London. Before that time, books and other literary works were slowly 
and laboriously copied by hand. Printing made it possible to produce far more books at lower costs. 
By 1640 Caxton’s and other presses had printed more than 216,000 different works and editions. It 
is estimated that by 1530 more than half the population of England was literate. Learning at that 
time flourished not only at Oxford and Cambridge, but at the lower educational levels too.
At that period new types of literature were imported from the European continent. Chief 
among these were the sonnet, imported by Wyatt and Surrey from Italy, where it had been perfected 
by Francis Petrarch; and the essay, imported by Sir Francis Bacon from France. Other verse forms 
were also borrowed from the Italian and the French. The native drama continued to develop and 
gain popularity.
The Height of the Renaissance 
Under the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), order was restored, and England entered upon 
her most glorious age. Elizabeth was only twenty-five when she assumed the throne, never married, 
and ruled wisely and well for forty-five years. 
Interested in education, Queen Elizabeth established one hundred free grammar schools in 
all parts of the country. These schools were open to both sexes of all ranks. In 1579, Gresham 
College was founded in London to cater to the needs of the middle class. Unlike the classical 
curriculum offered by Oxford and Cambridge, its curriculum included law, medicine and other 

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practical courses. As the children of the middle class grew better educated, the middle class itself 
grew in power.
During Elizabeth’s reign, England began to gain supremacy on the seas. The Elizabethan 
Age is an age of poetry. Except perhaps for the essayist Francis Bacon and the critic Christopher 
Marlowe, people were not yet writing prose of literary quality. Some Elizabethan writers dealt 
exclusively in lyric poetry, but many were also playwrights writing their plays in verse.
The Elizabethan period was golden age of English drama. In 1576, James Burbage built 
England’s first playhouse, called