1. Aim: Summarize Influential Literary Works and Techniques of Key Renaissance Writers

2. Renaissance Writers Change Literature
Renaissance writers produced works that reflected their time
Used techniques that writers rely on today
Dante-
Wrote in the vernacular, his native language (Italian)
Renaissance writers wrote either for self-expression or to portray individuality of their subjects 2

3. Petrarch & Boccaccio
Francesco Petrarch- one of the early and most influential humanists
Considered the father of Renaissance Humanism
Wrote in both Italian and Latin
Wrote sonnets (14 line poems)
Giovanni Boccaccio- Italian writer
Best known for the Decameron
Series of realistic off-color stories 3

4. Machiavelli Advises Rulers
Wrote The Prince (1513)
Examines the imperfect conduct of human beings
Focuses on how a rule can gain power and keep it in spite of his enemies
He began with the idea that most people are selfish, fickle, & corrupt
Not concerned with what was morally right but what was politically effect
Argued that in the real world of power and politics, a prince must sometimes mislead people and lie to their opponents
Must also gain the trust of others 4