The Seventeenth - Century Literature Handbook

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE HANDBOOK Never a dull read, Marshall Grossman s elegant volume bristles with sharp ideas to inform, stimulate and challenge his audience. Thomas Corns, Bangor University The seventeenth century was a dramatic period in British history, witnessing two revolutions, huge constitutional change, the widening of the political and literary classes, and the gradual acceptance of women as authors. This easy-to-use Handbook offers readers a succinct overview of this complex period, guiding them through the principal literary works, figures and innovations of the time. Focusing on studying texts in context, Marshall Grossman explores the ways in which major works, including Hamlet, Paradise Lost and The Pilgrim s Progress, both reflected and helped to shape the history of the time, while concise sections on topics such as the Gunpowder Plot and the Pamphlet Wars allow the reader to engage more fully with the central themes and preoccupations of the period. Concluding with a series of brief biographical profiles describing the life and works of the century s most significant and influential writers, The Seventeenth-Century Literature Handbook is essential reading for anyone interested in British Literature across the civil war and restoration periods.

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE HANDBOOK"Never a dull read, Marshall Grossman's elegant volume bristles with sharp ideas to inform, stimulate and challenge his audience."Thomas Corns, Bangor UniversityThe seventeenth century was a dramatic period in British history, witnessing two revolutions, huge constitutional change, the widening of the political and literary classes, and the gradual acceptance of women as authors. This easy-to-use Handbook offers readers a succinct overview of this complex period, guiding them through the principal literary works, figures and innovations of the time. Focusing on studying texts in context, Marshall Grossman explores the ways in which major works, including Hamlet, Paradise Lost and The Pilgrim's Progress, both reflected and helped to shape the history of the time, while concise sections on topics such as the Gunpowder Plot and the Pamphlet Wars allow the reader to engage more fully with the central themes and preoccupations of the period. Concluding with a series of brief biographical profiles describing the life and works of the century's most significant and influential writers, The Seventeenth-Century Literature Handbook is essential reading for anyone interested in British Literature across the civil war and restoration periods.

Preface xiChronology xvPart 1 Texts and Contexts: An Overview 1Reading the Historical Landscape 3Renaissance and/or Reformation: From Elizabeth to James 5New Science Leaves All in Doubt 14Business and Trade 34Breaking the State 59The Restoration 86The Short Reign of James II and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 97The Production of Culture in the Seventeenth Century 104Part 2 Topics in Seventeenth-Century Literature 125Aemilia Lanyer and the Gendering of Genre 127Changing Conventions: Hamlet and The Alchemist 141Pamphlet Wars: To Kill a King! 149Everything Happens Twice 166Part 3 Some Key Texts 189The Winter's Tale 191Areopagitica 203Paradise Lost 212The Pilgrim's Progress 220Part 4 Writers of the Seventeenth Century 225Astell, Mary (1666-1731) 227Bacon, Francis (1561-1626) 229Baxter, Richard (1615-1691) 236Beaumont, Francis (1584-1616) 240Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689) 243Boyle, Robert (1627-1691) 247Browne, Sir Thomas (1605-1682) 250Bunyan, John (1628-1688) 253Burton, Robert (1577-1640) 257Carew, Thomas (1594/5-1640) 259Cavendish, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673) 261Cowley, Abraham (1618-1667) 263Crashaw, Richard (1613-1648) 265Davenant, Sir William (1606-1668) 267Donne, John (1572-1631) 270Dryden, John (1631-1700) 278Filmer, Sir Robert (1588-1653) 283Fletcher, John (1579-1625) 285Fox, George (1624-1691) 287Hartlib, Samuel (1600-1662) 290Herbert, George (1593-1633) 293Herrick, Robert (1591-1674) 297Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679) 299Hutchinson, Lucy (1620-1681) 303Hyde, Edward, First Earl of Clarendon (1609-1674) 306Jonson, Ben (1572-1637) 309Lanyer, Aemilia (1569-1645) 314Locke, John (1632-1704) 316Lovelace, Richard (1617-1657) 322Marvell, Andrew (1621-1678) 325Middleton, Thomas (1580-1627) 330Milton, John (1608-1674) 333Otway, Thomas (1652-1685) 342Pepys, Samuel (1633-1703) 345Philips, Katherine (1632-1664) 347Shadwell, Thomas (1640-1692) 350Shakespeare, William (1564-1616) 353Suckling, Sir John (1609-1641) 358Traherne, Thomas (1637-1674) 360Vaughan, Henry (1621-1695) 364Webster, John (1578?-1638?) 367Wilmot, John, Earl of Rochester (1647-1680) 370Wroth, Lady Mary (1587-1653?) 373Works Cited 375Index 387