Literature

During the Renaissance, educated people wrote in "pure" Latin, the Latin used in Ancient Rome. When Petrarch wanted to write poems to the woman he loved, he suggested writing in the vernacular. The vernacular is the everyday language people speak in a region-Italian, French, or German, for example. When authors began writing in the wernacular, many more people could read their work.

In the early 1300s, Dante Alighieri, a poet of Florence, wrote one of the world's greatest poems in the vernacular. It is called The Divine Comedy The poem is more than 14,000 lines. Its about a person's journey from hell to heaven. It also describes the horrible pushiments for different sins.

Another important writer was Chaucer. He also used the vernacular. Chaucer wrote in English. His book, The Canterbury Tales describes 29 pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury. The English Chaucer used in his writing is the English we speak today.