By Michael Pincombe
November 09, 2001
The term 'humanist' originally referred to a scholar of Classical literature. In the Renaissance and particularly in the Elizabethan age, European intellectuals devoted themselves to the rediscovery and study of Roman and Greek literature and culture. This trend of Renaissance thought became known ...
By Leah Scragg
May 24, 1996
A knowledge of the history and evolution of the tales on which Shakespeare drew in the composition of his plays is essential for the understanding of his work. In re-telling a particular story, a Renaissance writer was not simply reshaping the structure of the narrative but participating in a ...
By A. D. Cousins
December 03, 1999
Alongside Spenser, Sidney and the early Donne, Shakespeare is the major poet of the 16th century, largely because of the status of his remarkable sequence of sonnets. Professor Cousins' new book is the first comprehensive study of the Sonnets and narrative poems for over a decade. He focuses in ...
By Danielle Clarke
February 15, 2001
The Politics of Early Modern Women's Writing provides an introduction to the ever-expanding field of early modern women's writing by reading texts in their historical and social contexts. Covering a wide range of forms and genres, the author shows that rather than women conforming to the ...
By Robin Kirkpatrick
April 19, 1995
This is the first comprehensive critical comparison of English and Italian literature from the three centuries from Dante to Shakespeare. It begins by examining Chaucer's relationship with Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, and then looks at similar relationships within the areas of humanist education,...
By Annabel M. Patterson
October 18, 1999
Marvell: The Writer in Public Life is substantially revised from Professor Patterson's well received 1978 study, including a new introduction and new chapter on Marvell and secret history. This important study provides an up to date perspective on a writer still thought of merely as the author of ...
By Alison Findlay, Gweno (University Of Ripon And York St John) Williams, Stephanie (University Of Sunderland) Wright
November 27, 2000
There is a traditional view that women were absent from the field of dramatic production in the early modern period because of their exclusion from professional theatre. Women and Dramatic Production 1550-1700 challenges this view and breaks new ground in arguing that, far from writing in closeted ...
By David Reid
June 21, 2000
The Metaphysical Poets provides an introduction to the work of six strikingly various and original poets- Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Vaughan, Marvell and Traherne. By closely examining how the poems work, the book aims to help readers at all stages of proficiency and knowledge to enjoy and critically...
By Ad Putter, Jane Gilbert
May 16, 2000
The Middle English popular romances enjoyed a wide appeal in later medieval Britain, and even today students of medieval literature will encounter examples of the genre, such as Sir Orfeo, Sir Tristrem, and Sir Launfal. This collection of twelve specially commissioned essays is designed to meet the...
By Ad Putter
October 02, 1996
The late 14th century produced a crop of brilliant writers: Chaucer, Langland and Gower. Their achievement was rivalled only by a series of four works generally agreed to have been written by a single northern author, known as the Gawain-Poet. This book introduces the reader to the Gawain-poet's ...
By Thomas N. Corns
October 31, 1994
Paradise Lost is not merely the masterpiece of John Milton (1608-74) but a turning point in style and form, which had a profound influence on the poetry of the following century. Divided into two parts, this major survey begins by discussing the revolutionary characteristics of Paradise Lost in the...
By P.M. Oliver
February 19, 1997
This, the first book to focus solely on Donne's religious writing, also places his work in a literary context and attempts to reach a more realistic assessment of its originality than has been possible hitherto. The prose works that are examined in detail include the controversial treatises ...
