Differences between Renaissance and Pre-Renaissance literature?

One of the primary differences between Renaissance and
Medieval (Pre-Renaissance) literature is the rediscovery of texts from classical
antiquity. In the Middle Ages, there was extreme attention given to Biblical and
religious texts, while writers largely dismissed the great writers of the past because
they were pagan.

This began to shift during the Humanist
period in Italy, when Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio began to examine classical writers
within the context of religious themes; thus we have the Roman poet Virgil as Dante's
guide through Christian Hell in his
Inferno.

The discovery of Plato (who
was largely lost during the Middle Ages) in the Renaissance led to Neo-Platonism in the
Renaissance, which proved to be very compatible with Christian ideology due to the idea
that the more perfect soul is trapped inside the corrupt body. Not only did this
influence literature, but also the other arts, as seen in both Michelangelo's poetry and
sculpture.

Literature in the Renaissance also began to be
more personal and examined, as Petrarch wrote sonnets about his own individual condition
in his Rime sparse, evoking the first person singular in reference
to his melancholy disposition. This proved to be an early indicator of what would come
in modern literature.