This reference volume looks at literature written during the Renaissance epoch from an atypical perspective—a global one. Renaissance volumes historically have dealt exclusively with European literary phenomena or, more recently, with culturally European literary works expatriate in the New World as well. This book attempts to look at typical and significant literary effort around the world. It tries to take into account authors, compositions, movements, and literary types and terminology not only in European culture and its extensions, but also in the native cultures of the New World, in Asia, on the Indian subcontinent, and in the Muslim world both in and outside India. The period under consideration focuses mainly on the years 1500–1700, but the encyclopedia also glances back at a few important ancient and medieval precursors.

Most of the entries included here have been suggested by popular anthologies of literature. I have included entries, writers, and texts that are often covered in introductory college or advanced high-school classes because the primary intended reading audience for this book consists of students in these kinds of classes as well as their instructors.