Renaissance Literature (Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature)

313 Pages·2009·0.97 MB·English

by  Siobhan Keenan

Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature
Series Editors: Martin Halliwell and Andy Mousley
This series provides accessible yet provocative introductions to a wide range of
literatures. The volumes will initiate and deepen the reader’s understanding of
key literary movements, periods and genres, and consider debates that inform
RENAISSANCE
the past, present and future of literary study. Resources such as glossaries of
key terms and details of archives and internet sites are also provided, making
each volume a comprehensive critical guide.
LITERATURE
K
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RENAISSANCE LITERATURE e
n
a
Siobhan Keenan n
E
s This guide opens with an overview of the contexts in which English Renaissance R
d
literature was produced, and a discussion of its contemporary and subsequent
e E Siobhan Keenan
critical reception. The following chapters survey Renaissance drama, poetry,
N i
d and prose and provide illustrative case studies of key texts as well as a guide n
to further reading. The final chapter summarises significant developments in A
i English Renaissance literary culture, and discusses the future direction of I b
u Renaissance literary scholarship. S
S u
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Key Features A
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• Detailed readings of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, Milton’s ‘Lycidas’, N g
l Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Venus and Adonis and C
a Hamlet, Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, Jonson’s The Alchemist, Lanyer’s ‘The h
Description of Cookham’, Bacon’s Essays, Donne’s sermons, Nashe’s The E
c Unfortunate Traveller and Wroth’s The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania
L
C
i • A broad overview of Renaissance literature and its contexts I
t T
• An accessible introduction to Renaissance literary criticism, including past
i E r
r and present debates about the Renaissance canon R i
C • A variety of study aids, including summaries of key points, a Glossary of A t
literary and historical terms, a Chronology, sample essay questions and i
plans, and a guide to further reading and electronic resources T c
U
h
a
Siobhan Keenan is a Senior Lecturer in English at De Montfort University, Leicester. R
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She is the author of Travelling Players in Shakespeare’s England (2002). E l

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Edinburgh University Press E d
i 22 George Square d
d Edinburgh EH8 9LF in e
www.euppublishing.com b
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E ISBN 978 0 7486 2584 0 rg s
Cover design: Michael Chatfield h
Pantone 2612
Renaissance Literature
Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature
Series Editors: Martin Halliwell, University of Leicester and
Andy Mousley, De Montfort University
Published Titles:
Gothic Literature, Andrew Smith
Canadian Literature, Faye Hammill
Women’s Poetry, Jo Gill
Contemporary American Drama, Annette J. Saddik
Shakespeare, Gabriel Egan
Asian American Literature, Bella Adams
Children’s Literature, M. O. Grenby
Contemporary British Fiction, Nick Bentley
Renaissance Literature, Siobhan Keenan
Forthcoming Titles in the Series:
Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature, Hamish Mathison
Contemporary American Fiction, David Brauner
Victorian Literature, David Amigoni
Crime Fiction, Stacy Gillis
Modern American Literature, Catherine Morley
Scottish Literature, Gerard Carruthers
Modernist Literature, Rachel Potter
Medieval Literature, Pamela King
Women’s Fiction, Sarah Sceats
African American Literature,Jennifer Terry
Contemporary British Drama,David Lane
Contemporary Poetry,Nerys Williams
Renaissance Literature
Siobhan Keenan
Edinburgh University Press
©Siobhan Keenan, 2008
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22George Square, Edinburgh
Typeset in 11.5/13Monotype Ehrhardt
by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire and
printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wilts
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7486 2583 3 (hardback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 2584 0(paperback)
The right of Siobhan Keenan
to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Contents
Series Preface vii
Acknowledgements viii
Abbreviations ix
About this Book x
Chronology xii
Introduction 1
The Historical Context 1
The Critical Context 35
Chapter 1Drama 59
The Professional Stage 60
Private and Occasional Drama 74
Attitudes to Drama 79
Comedy 81
Tragedy 89
History 98
Romance and Tragicomedy 105
Court Masques 113
Chapter 2Poetry 128
Overview 128
Pastoral Verse 139
The Epic 148
vi contents
The Epyllion 158
The Sonnet Sequence 165
The Lyric 173
The Country-House Poem 177
Chapter 3Prose 192
Non-Fiction 193
Fiction 195
The Essay 198
Sermons and Devotions 201
Romances 204
Conclusion 219
The Future 221
Student Resources 224
Essay Writing Advice 224
Sample Essay Questions and Plans 226
Glossary 236
Guide to Further Reading 245
Index 270
Series Preface
The study of English literature in the early twenty-first century is
host to an exhilarating range of critical approaches, theories and
historical perspectives. ‘English’ ranges from traditional modes of
study such as Shakespeare and Romanticism to popular interest in
national and area literatures such as the United States, Ireland and
the Caribbean. The subject also spans a diverse array of genres from
tragedy to cyberpunk, incorporates such hybrid fields of study as
Asian American literature, Black British literature, creative writing
and literary adaptations, and remains eclectic in its methodology.
Such diversity is cause for both celebration and consternation.
English is varied enough to promise enrichment and enjoyment for
all kinds of readers and to challenge preconceptions about what the
study of literature might involve. But how are readers to navigate
their way through such literary and cultural diversity? And how are
students to make sense of the various literary categories and peri-
odisations, such as modernism and the Renaissance, or the prolif-
erating theories of literature, from feminism and marxism to queer
theory and eco-criticism? The Edinburgh Critical Guides to
Literature series reflects the challenges and pluralities of English
today, but at the same time it offers readers clear and accessible
routes through the texts, contexts, genres, historical periods and
debates within the subject.
Martin Halliwell and Andy Mousley
Acknowledgements
I am especially grateful to the Series Editors for their invitation to
write this book and to Andy Mousley for his advice and encourage-
ment throughout the process. I am, likewise, thankful for the support
of staff at Edinburgh University Press (Máiréad McElligott, espe-
cially) and for the helpful suggestions made by the Press’s anony-
mous readers.
My passion for Renaissance literature and my thinking about it
have been shaped by those who have taught me and by my col-
leagues and students. I am indebted to them all but would especially
like to thank the following: Catherine Bates, Charles Butler,
Bernard Capp, Deborah Cartmell, Kate Chedgzoy, Peter Davidson,
Rebecca D’Monté, A. S. G. Edwards, Scott Fraser, Takako Kato,
Peter Mack, Clare McManus, Andy Mousley, J. R. Mulryne,
Melanie Ord, Amanda Penlington, Claire Preston, John Reid, Carol
Chillington Rutter, Jane Stevenson, Christiania Whitehead, and the
late Julia Briggs.
The completion of this book has been assisted by a period of
research leave, granted by the School of English, Performance and
Historical Studies at De Montfort University (Leicester), for which
I express my thanks. My last, and greatest, debt of gratitude is to
my husband David Morley, for his encouragement and support
during the writing of the book, and to my son Gabriel, for his
patience.
Abbreviations
ELH English Literary History
ELR English Literary Renaissance
MLQ Modern Language Quarterly
MLR Modern Language Review
MRDE Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England
PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association of
America
REED Records of Early English Drama
RES Review of English Studies
RQ Renaissance Quarterly
ShS Shakespeare Survey
ShSt Shakespeare Studies
SQ Shakespeare Quarterly
SEL Studies in English Literature
TLS Times Literary Supplement