The renewed interest in classical studies for a time
retarded the development of national languages and literatures in Europe. To
the humanists only Latin and Greek seemed worthy of notice. Petrarch, for
instance, composed in Italian beautiful sonnets which are still much admired,
but he himself expected to gain literary immortality through his Latin works.
Another Italian humanist went so far as to call Dante "a poet for bakers
and cobblers," and the Divine Comedy was indeed translated into
Latin a few years after the author's death.
THE VERNACULAR REVIVAL
But a return to the vernacular was bound to come. The
common people understood little Latin, and Greek not at all. Yet they had
learned to read and they now had the printing press. Before long many books
composed in Italian, Spanish, French, English, and other national languages
made their appearance. This revival of the vernacular meant that henceforth
European literature would be more creative and original than was possible when
writers merely imitated or translated the classics. The models provided by
Greece and Rome still continued, however, to furnish inspiration to men of
letters.
