The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature

This Companion explores the Bible's role and influence on individual writers, whilst tracing the key developments of Biblical themes and literary theory through the ages. An ambitious overview of the Bible's impact on English literature as arguably the most powerful work of literature in history from the medieval period through to the twentieth-century Includes introductory sections to each period giving background information about the Bible as a source text in English literature, and placing writers in their historical context Draws on examples from medieval, early-modern, eighteenth-century and Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist literature Includes many 'secular' or 'anti-clerical' writers alongside their 'Christian' contemporaries, revealing how the Bible's text shifts and changes in the writing of each author who reads and studies it

This Companion explores the Bible's role and influence onindividual writers, whilst tracing the key developments of Biblicalthemes and literary theory through the ages.* An ambitious overview of the Bible's impact on Englishliterature - as arguably the most powerful work of literaturein history - from the medieval period through to thetwentieth-century* Includes introductory sections to each period giving backgroundinformation about the Bible as a source text in English literatureand placing writers in their historical context* Draws on examples from medieval, early-moderneighteenth-century and Romantic, Victorian, and Modernistliterature* Includes many 'secular' or 'anti-clerical' writers alongsidetheir 'Christian' contemporaries, revealing how the Bible's textshifts and changes in the writing of each author who reads andstudies it

List of Contributors ixPart I Introduction 11 General IntroductionRebecca Lemon, Emma Mason, and Jonathan Roberts 32 The Literature of the BibleChristopher Rowland 103 Biblical Hermeneutics and Literary TheoryDavid Jasper 22Part II Medieval 394 IntroductionDaniel Anlezark 415 Old English PoetryCatherine A. M. Clarke 616 The Medieval Religious LyricDouglas Gray 767 The Middle English MysticsAnnie Sutherland 858 The Pearl-PoetHelen Barr 1009 William LanglandSister Mary Clemente Davlin, OP 11610 Geoffrey ChaucerChristiania Whitehead 134Part III Early Modern 15311 IntroductionRoger Pooley 15512 Early Modern WomenElizabeth Clarke 16913 Early Modern Religious ProseJulie Maxwell 18414 Edmund SpenserCarol V. Kaske 19715 Mary SidneyRivkah Zim 21116 William ShakespeareHannibal Hamlin 22517 John DonneJeanne Shami 23918 George HerbertJohn Drury 25419 John MiltonMichael Lieb 26920 John BunyanAndrew Bradstock 28621 John DrydenGerard Reedy, S.J. 297Part IV Eighteenth Century and Romantic 31122 IntroductionStephen Prickett 31323 Eighteenth-Century Hymn WritersJ. R. Watson 32924 Daniel DefoeValentine Cunningham 34525 Jonathan SwiftMichael F. Suarez, S.J. 35926 William BlakeJonathan Roberts and Christopher Rowland 37327 Women Romantic PoetsPenny Bradshaw 38328 William WordsworthDeeanne Westbrook 39729 S. T. ColeridgeGraham Davidson 41330 Jane AustenMichael Giffin 42531 George Gordon ByronWolf Z. Hirst 43832 P. B. ShelleyBernard Beatty 451Part V Victorian 46333 IntroductionElisabeth Jay 46534 The BrowningsKevin Mills 48235 Alfred TennysonKirstie Blair 49636 The BrontësMarianne Thormählen 51237 John RuskinDinah Birch 52538 George EliotCharles LaPorte 53639 Christina RossettiElizabeth Ludlow 55140 G. M. HopkinsPaul S. Fiddes 56341 Sensation FictionMark Knight 57742 DecadenceAndrew Tate 587Part VI Modernist 60143 IntroductionWard Blanton 60344 W. B. YeatsEdward Larrissy 61745 Virginia WoolfDouglas L. Howard 62946 James JoyceWilliam Franke 64247 D. H. LawrenceT. R. Wright 65448 T. S. EliotDavid Fuller 66749 The Great War PoetsJane Potter 681Index 696