Johannes Gutenberg developed movable type printing with metal letters around 1440 in Mainz, Germany, revolutionizing book production. His invention combined existing technologies—movable type, oil-based ink, and the screw press—into an efficient system that dramatically reduced book costs and increased production speed. The Gutenberg Bible, printed around 1455, demonstrated the technology's potential for producing beautiful, accurate texts.

Printing democratized access to poetry, enabling wider circulation of works beyond manuscript copies limited to elites. Vernacular poetry flourished as printers sought profitable markets, publishing works in local languages rather than only Latin. Standardized texts reduced variations between copies, stabilizing poetic works and enabling canonical editions. Printing facilitated the Renaissance recovery of classical texts and the Reformation's spread, both of which profoundly influenced European poetry's themes and forms.