A History of Seventeenth-Century English Literature

A History of Seventeenth-Century Literature outlines significant developments in the English literary tradition between the years 1603 and 1690. An energetic and provocative history of English literature from 1603-1690. Part of the major Blackwell History of English Literature series. Locates seventeenth-century English literature in its social and cultural contexts. Considers the physical conditions of literary production and consumption. Looks at the complex political, religious, cultural and social pressures on seventeenth-century writers. Features close critical engagement with major authors and texts Thomas Corns is a major international authority on Milton, the Caroline Court, and the political literature of the English Civil War and the Interregnum.

A History of Seventeenth-Century Literature outlines significant developments in the English literary tradition between the years 1603 and 1690.* An energetic and provocative history of English literature from 1603-1690.* Part of the major Blackwell History of English Literature series.* Locates seventeenth-century English literature in its social and cultural contexts.* Considers the physical conditions of literary production and consumption.* Looks at the complex political, religious, cultural and social pressures on seventeenth-century writers.* Features close critical engagement with major authors and textsThomas Corns is a major international authority on Milton, the Caroline Court, and the political literature of the English Civil War and the Interregnum.

List of illustrations ixPreface x1 The Last Years of Elizabeth I: Before March 1603 1Literary Consumption and Production 2Latin, Neo-Latin and English 14Manuscript, Performance, Print 16The Press and its Controls 22The Final Years of Elizabethan Theatre 26Patronage and Court Culture 302 From the Accession of James I to the Defenestration of Prague: March 1603 to May 1618 33Changes and Continuities 33The Making of the Royal Courts 35Masques and Other Court Entertainments 38Early Jacobean Theatre 42Jacobean Shakespeare 45Other Drama 70Non-Dramatic Poetry 87Non-Fictional Prose 1133 From the Defenestration of Prague to the Personal Rule: May 1618 to March 1629 119Continental Wars 119Three Funerals and a Wedding 123Masques and Pageants 129Plays and Players 133Poetry and Prose Romance 151Non-Fictional Prose 156News 1644 The Literature of the Personal Rule: March 1629 to April 1640 167The Making of the Caroline Court 167Masques of the Personal Rule 176Other Entertainments 182Music and Literature at the Caroline Court 184Themes, Occasions and Conversations 186From Manuscript to Print 190Plays and Players 192Literature and Laudianism 203George Herbert 206The Emblem Books of Quarles and Wither 215Early Milton 2215 From the Short Parliament to the Restoration: April 1640 to May 1660 229Events and Consequences 229Royalist Poetry 239Crashaw and Vaughan 264Mid-Century Drama 273Sir Thomas Browne 277Poetry for Parliament and Protectorate 283Pamphlet Wars 295Newspapers 3116 The Literature of the Rule of Charles II: May 1660 to February 1685 317Dissent, Popery and Arbitrary Government 317Theatre of the Rule of Charles II 327Rochesterism 352The Poetry of Dryden and Butler 360Marvell After 1660 370Bunyan, Pepys and Sprat 381Milton, St Nicholas and Hutchinson 391Katherine Philips and Margaret Cavendish 4057 From the Accession of James II: After February 1685 409James II and the Williamite Revolution 409Aphra Behn: The Late Works 413Dryden and James II 416After 1690 421Bibliography 429Index 453