I show how the English authors of the 16th and 17th centuries consistently adapted and transformed Classical conceptions of the nature and purpose of poetry and literature. A collection of the most important source texts follows the presentation body.

The first half of an Early Modern literature survey, focusing on 16th century English literature with an emphasis on coterie reading.

Observing human behavioral tendencies across a development of time is ever enigmatic, despite being a quotidian phenomenon. The enigma comes in through the wand of possibilities and the erratic realities that course through humanity. Things and time happen to creations across the world and the obsolete happenings never get obsolete along the narratives that make the world a bulb of connected currents – the things that warrant life, existence, quest for power, death, lust and love, and the consistent search for God at the center of life at large. Here, religion, rituals, spirituality – all towards the comb of human exploration become a spectacle to observe with open minds; since your limit becomes the start for another in this world of plausibilities – Literature; a Review of Literature From the Beginning to Renaissance. Keywords: Human Behavioral Tendencies, Quotidian, Enigma, Narratives, Plausibilities

This chapter discusses ‘grace’ in the context of the Italian Renaissance. During this time, the term became a mark of distinction in the questione della lingua and in the new language of literature. It was reenergised by the recovery of ancient texts that extolled its virtues as an instrument of persuasion in the language and visual arts. And it was the central bone of contention in Reformation and Counter-Reformation discussions about the nature of God's intervention in human salvation. Within each of these contexts, grace became a defining quality that Italians made their own. Grace provides a unique perspective on sixteenth-century Italy, for it rose to prominence in the context of so-called High Renaissance art, yet it also played a pivotal role in its polemical progress towards Mannerism. It was not, therefore, a banner that united artists in their advance towards the full maturity of their discipline, but a locus of encounter and conflict...

Submission for Marco Sgarbi, ed., Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Philosophy between 1300 and 1650 (Amsterdam: Springer, 2015 [online version, c3000 words])