History of English Literature, Volume 1: Medieval and Renaissance Literature to 1625

890 Pages·2018·6.042 MB·English

by  Franco Marucci

Volume 1
Book 1
History of English Literature
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Medieval and Renaissance Literature to 1625
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Peter Lang
History of English Literature

History of
English Literature
Volume 1

Medieval and Renaissance
Literature to 1625
Franco Marucci
Translated from the Italian by Julia Bolton Holloway, Rosalynd Pio,
Maria Cristina Cignatta and Valentina Poggi
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Marucci, Franco, 1949- author.
Title: Medieval and Renaissance literature to 1625 / Franco Marucci.
Description: Oxford ; New York : Peter Lang, [2018] | Series: History of
English literature ; Volume 1 | Includes bibliographical references and
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017047860 | ISBN 9783034322287 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: English literature--History and criticism.
Classification: LCC PR83 .M37 2017 | DDC 820.9--dc23 LC record available
at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017047860
Originally published in Italian as Storia della letteratura inglese – Dalle origini al 1625
by Casa Editrice Le Lettere (2015).
Cover image: N.C. Wyeth, illustration from The Boy’s King Arthur, edited by
Sidney Lanier ed. (1880).
Cover design by Brian Melville.
ISBN 978-3-0343-2228-7 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78874-194-1 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-78874-195-8 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78874-196-5 (mobi)
© Peter Lang AG 2018
Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,
52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom
[email protected], www.peterlang.com
Franco Marucci has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as Author of this Work.
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.
This publication has been peer reviewed.
Printed in Germany
Contents
List of abbreviations xv
§ 1. Th e initial and terminal dates of this volume 1
Part I
The Formation of a National Literature 3
2. P lacing Old English literature in the canon 5
3. E nglish history to 1066 14
4. Bede 19
5. O ld English poetry 21
6. B eowulf 28
Part II
The Middle English Period 35
7. E nglish history from 1066 to 1485 37
8. G enres and ‘matters’ 45
9. Th e Arthurian romances:
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, Layamon 59
10. R icardian literature 64
11. Th e influence of the Roman de la Rose 67
vi
§ 12. P earl and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 73
13. Gower 85
14. Langland 92
15–20. Chaucer 105
§ 15. Stereotypes of courtly love and symptoms of
modernity, p. 105. § 16. Biography, p. 119. § 17. Dream-vision
poems, p. 123. § 18. Troilus and Criseyde, p. 131. §§ 19–20.
The Canterbury Tales (§ 19. The poem as a field of contrary
vectors, p. 136. § 20. The internal texture, p. 147).
21. Th e English Chaucerians: Hoccleve, Lydgate, Hawes 160
22. Barclay 173
23. Skelton 178
24. F ifteenth-century Scottish literature 191
25. The Scottish Chaucerians: Douglas, Henryson, Dunbar 197
26. Lyndsay 210
27. P opular ballads and lyrics 215
28. M edieval drama 219
29. F ifteenth-century prose 225
30. The Paston Letters 228
31. Caxton 232
vii
§§ 32–33. Malory 236
§§ 32–33. Le Morte d’Arthur (§ 32. Authorship, publication
and popularity, p. 236. § 33. The stark kaleidoscope, p. 245).
Part III
The Sixteenth Century 251
34. E ngland under the Tudors 253
35. Th e English Reformation 263
36–38. E nglish humanism and the Renaissance 267
§ 36. The continental trail, p. 267. § 37. Forms, reception and
genetic and historical theories, p. 275. § 38. The arts, p. 281.
39. M ore 284
40. C onduct books 294
41. Th e Miscellanies 304
42. W yatt 307
43. S urrey 318
44. Th e Mirror for Magistrates 326
45. G ascoigne 330
46. O ther minor poets 333
47. E lizabethan Catholic poets 334
viii
§§ 48–54. Sidney 338
§ 48. The diagnostician and healer of infected man, p. 338.
§ 49. The Lady of May and other youthful lyrics, p. 345. § 50.
Astrophel and Stella, p. 347. §§ 51–52. The Old Arcadia (§ 51.
The neoclassical polish and the oblivion of reality, p. 354.
§ 52. Malice, humour and political allegory in the pastoral
canvas, p. 360). § 53. The New Arcadia: The toning down of
the pastoral and the emphasis on the heroic, p. 364. § 54.
The Defence of Poesy, p. 367.
55. G reville 372
56–65. S penser 375
§ 56. The most poetic of English poets, p. 375. § 57.
The Shepheardes Calender. 1579: The fateful year,
p. 381. § 58. Aesopian and pastoral fables and elegies,
p. 386. §§ 59–62. The Faerie Queene (§ 59. The poem’s ‘dark
conceit’, p. 389. § 60. Upright knights against felons, monsters
and enchantresses, p. 398. § 61. Man vs beast, p. 404. § 62.
The Mutability Cantos, p. 414). § 63. Amoretti, p. 416. § 64.
‘Epithalamion’ and ‘Prothalamion’, p. 419. § 65. The four
hymns to heavenly love, p. 423.
66. R alegh, Wotton 427
67. Th omas Campion 434
68. D rayton 437
69. D aniel 442
70. O ther sonneteers and pastoral poets 448
71. D avies and Davies of Hereford 451
ix
§ 72. Hall 454
73–83. Donne 457
§ 73. The holy sinner and the querelle on concettism,
p. 457. § 74. Biography, p. 467. §§ 75–76. Songs and Sonnets
(§ 75. The obsolescence of Petrarchism, p. 470. § 76. Love,
rescued from, and a slave to, time, p. 476). § 77. Elegies
and epithalamia, p. 484. § 78. The satires, p. 488. § 79.
The Verse Letters, p. 490. § 80. The Anniversaries, p. 493.
§§ 81–82. Divine poems (§ 81. La Corona and Holy
Sonnets, p. 497. § 82. The hymns, p. 505). § 83. Treatises,
libels and sermons, p. 506.
84. Puttenham 510
Part IV
The Elizabethan Theatre 515
85. Tudor masques and interludes 517
86. Elizabethan drama: An overview 520
87. The incunabula 525
88. Udall 531
89. Bale 533
90. Gorboduc 536
91. Cambyses 540
92. Arden of Feversham 542