Reading Sixteenth-Century Poetry

Reading Sixteenth-Century Poetry combines close readings of individual poems with a critical consideration of the historical context in which they were written. Informative and original, this book has been carefully designed to enable readers to understand, enjoy, and be inspired by sixteenth-century poetry. Close reading of a wide variety of sixteenth-century poems, canonical and non-canonical, by men and by women, from print and manuscript culture, across the major literary modes and genres Poems read within their historical context, with reference to five major cultural revolutions: Renaissance humanism, the Reformation, the modern nation-state, companionate marriage, and the scientific revolution Offers in-depth discussion of Skelton, Wyatt, Surrey, Isabella Whitney, Gascoigne, Philip Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe, Mary Sidney Herbert, Donne, and Shakespeare Presents a separate study of all five of Shakespeare s major poems - Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, 'The Phoenix and Turtle,' the Sonnets, and A Lover's Complaint- in the context of his dramatic career Discusses major works of literary criticism by Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Philip Sidney, George Puttenham, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Seamus Heaney, Adrienne Rich, and Helen Vendler

Reading Sixteenth-Century Poetry combines close readings ofindividual poems with a critical consideration of the historicalcontext in which they were written. Informative and original, thisbook has been carefully designed to enable readers to understandenjoy, and be inspired by sixteenth-century poetry.* Close reading of a wide variety of sixteenth-century poemscanonical and non-canonical, by men and by women, from print andmanuscript culture, across the major literary modes and genres* Poems read within their historical context, with reference tofive major cultural revolutions: Renaissance humanism, theReformation, the modern nation-state, companionate marriage, andthe scientific revolution* Offers in-depth discussion of Skelton, Wyatt, Surrey, IsabellaWhitney, Gascoigne, Philip Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe, Mary SidneyHerbert, Donne, and Shakespeare* Presents a separate study of all five of Shakespeare'smajor poems - Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece'The Phoenix and Turtle,' the Sonnets, and A Lover'sComplaint- in the context of his dramatic career* Discusses major works of literary criticism by PlatoAristotle, Horace, Longinus, Philip Sidney, George Puttenham, PercyBysshe Shelley, Seamus Heaney, Adrienne Rich, and HelenVendler

Introduction 1The Pleasures and Uses of Sixteenth-Century PoetryPart I 1500-1558. Reading Early Tudor Poetry: Henrician, Edwardian, Marian 191 Voice 21The Poetic Style of Character: Plain and Eloquent Speaking2 Perception 43The Crisis of the Reformation, or, What the Poet Sees: Self, Beloved, God3 World 66The Poet's Ecology of Place: Sky, Sea, Soil4 Form 90The Idea of a Poem: Elegy, Pastoral, Sonnet, Satire, Epic5 Career 115The Role of the Poet in Society: Skelton, Wyatt, and SurreyPart II 1558-1600. Reading Elizabethan Poetry 1396 Voice 141The Poetic Style of Character: From Plain Eloquence to the Metaphysical Sublime7 Perception 163What the Poet Sees, and the Advent of Modern Personage: Desire, Idolatry, Transport, Partnership8 World 185The Poet's Ecology of Place: Cosmos, Colony, Country9 Form 208Fictions of Poetic Kind: Pastoral, Sonnet, Epic, Minor Epic, Hymn10 Career 231The Role of the Poet in Society: Whitney, Spenser, and MarlowePart III A Special Case 25511 Shakespeare: Voice, Perception, World, Form, Career 257Conclusion 280Retrospective Poetry: Donne and the End of Sixteenth-Century PoetryBibliography 288Index 323