I'm having trouble understanding this statement, and what it means?

Question

“Historians have disagreed on the true nature of the Renaissance. The clue to understanding it lies in
realizing that it was an age of contradictions, that it included many conflicting trends. Misery and
splendor, beauty and horror, despotism and the urge for free expression, all flourished side by side.”

Is this statement vaild based off a liturature on the renaissance.

It's for school and i;m having a hard time dealing with it.


Jacob Burckhardt- The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy

Niccolo Machiavelli- The Prince

Baldassare Castiglione- The Book of the Courtier

Giovanni Boccaccio- The Decameron

-those are the doc/readings that i recived


also, should i write about the contradictions with other ages, or the contradictions inside the renaissance

Answer 1

Basically, throughout all of human history some of the most influential eras had enormous amounts of both good and bad going on. :) Trying to "classify" it or describe the "nature" of an era is an exercise in futility (thus the disagreements with historians). Really, there are too many variables to consider, and any given time period does not fit neatly into specific categories.

For instance, try comparing it to an era that was also full of contradictions, such as the 1960's. During that period there was loads of creativity going on in music, literature, painting (etc.), while at the same time there was a ton of hard times, too. Even if you focus only on America, there was the death of two Kennedys, Martin Luther King Jr, the whole civil rights movement...the list goes on.

Answer 2

I guess I don't see your problem. As it stands the statement is quite valid. Many different things were going on during the Renaissance and many different directions were taken by many different individuals which were, in truth, various forms of experimentation.

Answer 3

> also, should i write about the contradictions with other ages, or the contradictions inside the renaissance

Inside!