Also, England around that time had cast off the Catholic Church, and its traditions, including adherence to Latin as the Gold Standard may have begun to wane and the English people were searching for literary heroes of their own in their own language.
The other thing was that the distinction between what may have been considered 'high culture' and that of the masses was less distinct than it was today. That it was just thought of as 'their culture'.
Joe, you are totally missing something. England of the 16th and 17th centuries was a rather sparsely populated country. At the beginning of the 14th century England had an estimated population of about 7.5 million people. By 1400 there were only about 2 million left. (I will leave you to figure out why)Quote from: "Renee"
By 1600 the population had only recovered to around 4 million. About 8 percent of the population lived exclusively in the large cities BUT at least another 25% of the population depended upon the cities as their means of livelihood. That means although people may have not lived in cities full time, there were still certain times of the year where travel to larger cities was necessary. Cities as today, were cultural hubs where the latest trends in culture and entertainment eminated from.