Edmund Spenser in Context

A comprehensive guide to the literary, religious and political contexts that shape Edmund Spenser's poetry.

Andrew Escobedo (Edited by)

9781107094536, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 October 2016

384 pages, 9 b/w illus.
23.5 x 16 x 2.2 cm, 0.78 kg

Edmund Spenser's poetry remains an indispensable touchstone of English literary history. Yet for modern readers his deliberate use of archaic language and his allegorical mode of writing can become barriers to understanding his poetry. This volume of thirty-seven essays, written by distinguished scholars, offers a rich introduction to the literary, political and religious contexts that shaped Spenser's poetry, including the environment in which he lived, the genres he drew upon, and the influences that helped to fashion his art. The collection reveals the multiple personae that Spenser constructs within his work: to read Spenser is to read a rich archive of literary forms, and this volume provides the contexts in which to do so. A reading list at the end of the volume will prove invaluable to further study.

Introduction Andrew Escobedo
Part I. Spenser's Environment: 1. Pedagogy, education, and early career Andrew Wallace
2. Laureate career-fashioning William A. Oram
3. Patrons Richard McCabe
4. Church controversy Gregory Kneidel
5. Figures of Elizabeth Anna Riehl Bertolet
6. Publication and the book marketplace Andrew Zurcher
7. Colonialism and the New World Brian Lockey
8. Colonialism and Irish plantation Thomas Herron
9. Spenser's Irish circle Willy Maley
10. Land, boundaries, and borders Philip Schwyzer
Part II. Genre and Craft: 11. Epic David Quint
12. Pastoral Katherine Little
13. Romance Clare Kinney
14. The Bible and biblical hermeneutics Jamie Ferguson
15. Allegory: theory and practice Judith H. Anderson
16. Complaint and satire William Kerwinl
17. Renaissance literary theory Gordon Teskey
18. Renaissance rhetorical theory Michael Hetherington
19. Poetry and the Commonwealth Cathy Shrank
20. Poetical history John E. Curran, Jr
21. Premodern literary character Andrew Escobedo
22. Prosody Paul J. Hecht
Part III. Influences and Analogues: 23. Virgil David Scott Wilson-Okamura
24. Ovid Syrithe Pugh
25. Petrarch Patrick Cheney
26. Chaucer Craig A. Berry
27. The Sidney circle Mary Ellen Lamb
28. Spenser's French connection Anne Lake Prescott
29. Plato and Platonism William Junker
30. Aristotle and the virtues Joe Moshenska
31. Protestant theology and devotion Beth Quitslund
32. Emblem and iconography Sarah Howe
33. Saints, legends, and calendars Susannah Brietz Monta
34. Cosmology and cosmography Ayesha Ramachandran
35. Early modern ecology Julian Yates
36. Sex and eroticism in the Renaissance Melissa E. Sanchez
37. Gender in the 1590 Faerie Queene Kimberly Anne Coles
Further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary reference works [DSR], Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Poetry by individual poets [DCF], Poetry [DC]