Early Modern English Poetry: A Critical Companion - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195153871 ISBN 13: 9780195153873

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2006

Synopsis

Early Modern English Poetry: A Critical Companion presents twenty-eight original essays on the major poems of the English Renaissance. Each essay is written by a leading scholar and examines a poem in the context of an important topic in early modern culture. The selections provide groundbreaking scholarship on subjects ranging from the invention of English verse, Petrarchism, pastoral, elegy, and satire to women's religious verse, the politics of town, the place of homoeroticism, and Cavalier poetry.
An ideal supplement to both primary texts and anthologies of Renaissance literature, Early Modern English Poetry offers fresh approaches to poems by Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Aemilia Lanyer, John Donne, John Milton, and many others. The first three chapters set the rest of the volume in context with coverage of the sixteenth-century invention of verse, print and manuscript culture in early modern England, and Renaissance treatises on the art of poetry. The remaining chapters are structured around authors and their works--which are each related to a specific issue in early modern culture--and organized chronologically according to the dates of composition or publication of the poems discussed. This innovative and flexible design corresponds perfectly with courses in which students first read a primary text and then expand their understanding of the work with detailed critical commentary. The book is enhanced by a general introduction, recommended reading lists at the end of each chapter, and a chronology of Renaissance poetry tailored to the book's contents. Early Modern English Poetry provides an accessible introduction both to a key selection of canonical poetic works in English and to historical and cultural topics that illuminate them.

About this title

About the Author:

Patrick Cheney is at The Pennsylvania State University. Andrew Hadfield is at University of Sussex.

Review:

"In this densely packed, compact book, Kendall covers a great deal of territory, and delivers extremely sharp and insightful judgments and distinctions that also have the virtue of being relatively brief and pithy."--Stephen E. Tabachnick, English in Literary Transition

"An enjoyable read with potentially immense pedagogical value." --Sixteenth Century Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0195153871
• ISBN 13: 9780195153873
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: Cheney Patrick, Hadfield Andrew, Sullivan Jr. Garrett A.