Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance Poetry

by Rivers,Isabel

• ISBN13: 9780415106474
• ISBN10: 0415106478
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1994-12-19
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Humanism, Allegory, Plato, St. Paul. These were among the names and subjects which formed the basic frame of reference for Renaissance poets. Yet today's reader can approach the poems of Spenser, Milton, Donne et al with a sense of trepidation, having no knowledge of Greek or Latin and only a hazy acquaintance of the Bible and the fundamentals of Christianity.This second edition of Isabel Rivers' seminal and much loved text will be a boon to teachers and students of poetry. Rivers guides the reader around classical and Christian ideas, illustrating how Renaissance poetry draws on these ideas and suggesting where the reader can find out more.A new introduction and fully updated bibliography make this an indispensible tool for the study of English poetry.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	vi
Preface to the First Edition	viii
Introduction: Renaissance Poetry and Modern Readers	1	(8)
The Golden Age and the Garden of Eden	9	(11)
The Pagan Gods	20	(13)
Platonism and Neoplatonism	33	(11)
Stoicism	44	(10)
Views of History	54	(14)
Cosmology	68	(20)
Reformation and Counter-Reformation	88	(18)
Protestant Theology	106	(19)
Humanism	125	(15)
Biblical Exegesis and Typology	140	(10)
Theories of Poetry	150	(10)
Allegory	160	(10)
Numerology	170	(13)
A Note on the Division of Historical Periods	183	(1)
Abbreviations	184	(1)
References	185	(8)
Further Reading	193	(12)
Bibliographical Appendix	205	(1)
A English Renaissance Authors	205	(1)
B Classical, Medieval and Continental Renaissance Authors	206	(23)
Author Index	229