The writers of the 17th century generally worked under the influence of the Renaissance and Reformation and Milton was no exception to it. In Milton’s poetry, there is a nice fusion of the elements upheld by the Renaissance and the Reformation.
Reformation was a religious movement and aimed at the cultivation of religious, spiritual and moral values. The spirit of Reformation includes all that Hebraism stands for viz. spiritual discipline, moral austerity and the other-worldly outlook. The writers working under the influence of Reformation, championed theological dogmas rather than humanistic culture. They aimed at self-purification rather than the cultivation of art or music. They were opposed to all kinds of gay frivolities and artistic pursuits. They were puritans to whom religion and morality were the preeminent concerns. And they looked askance at learning or classical matters and the adorers of Art and Beauty. They never practiced literature for the sake of art or culture. These writers influenced by the Reformation were moralists, preachers and reformers rather than humanists or artists.
In Milton’s poetry, there is the presence of the qualities represented by the Renaissance and Reformation. He is both a belated Elizabethan of the Renaissance and a fervent disciple of the Reformation. Thus, Reformation was a religious movement based on the opposition of people to the claims of the Papal authority and the Church of Rome. Reformation was a protestant rising against Roman Catholicism. Spenser, like his other contemporaries, is affected by the movement of Reformation. The first book of the Faire Queen is, in fact, an epitome of the history of Reformation, vividly presenting the struggle between the forces of Protestantism headed by Queen Elizabeth (represented in the book as Una) and the forces of Roman Catholicism headed by Mary Queen of Scots (represented in the Faire Queen as Duessa).
Reformation left its enduring and lasting effect on English literature. One of the effect of the Reformation was that, it evolved a kind of religion-at-home; especially for the middle class and was quite un-medieval. The Squires, Lawyers, Merchants and Yeomen accepted this new
faith. Reformation left its mark on English literature. It gave England, Bible and the book of common prayers. It also produced a number of tracts, treatises, sermons and books of devotion. It gave an impetus to the use of vulgar tongues. Moreover, Reformation made an end of the medieval tradition of anonymous authorship. The Reformation began on a medieval thesis with medieval controversies and it ended here with the English Bible and English prayer book which are, in the best sense, as popular and modern as any other great literature.