English Metrical Psalms
Poetry as Praise and Prayer, 1535–1601

This 1987 book was the first full-scale study of English metrical Psalms to be published in the twentieth century.

Rivkah Zim (Author)

9780521172219, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 February 2011

346 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2 cm, 0.44 kg

During the sixteenth century the Book of Psalms was considered to be a uniquely authoritative and universally applicable collection of religious poems. Whereas the Bible in general taught what God said to man, the Psalms, it was felt, taught man how to speak to God. From the 1530s people of many different religious and intellectual persuasions discovered that the poetry of the Psalms lent itself to memorable English translation, and a substantial and varied range of imitations of the Psalms began to appear. Dr Zim's 1987 book was the first full-scale study of this important genre to be published in the twentieth century. In challenging a number of critical orthodoxies and illuminating the expressive qualities of these poems, Dr Zim has produced a major contribution to our understanding of Tudor literary culture.

Preface
Conventions and abbreviations
1. An introduction: imitatio and the psalms in sixteenth-century England
2. 'Holy Davids divine Poeme': Sir Thomas Wyatt's imitation of David's penitential psalms and Sir Thomas Smith's 'other psalme'
3. 'Particuler prayers of particular persons, in particular greefes eyther of body or soule': occasional verses by the Earl of Surrey and others (1535–1554) 4. 'Holy songes of veritie': Thomas Sternhold and psalms 'For the recreation of all such as delight in Musicke' and 'for the confortyng of suche … in the common prayers in the church'
5. 'A heavenly poesie … of that Lyricall kind': Sir Philip Sidney and the Countess of Pembroke 'singing the praises … of that God, who giveth us hands to write, and wits to conceive': Part one - Sir Philip Sidney
6. 'A heavenly poesie … of that Lyricall kind': Part two - The Countess of Pembroke
7. Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Poetry by individual poets [DCF]