A Concise Companion to English Renaissance Literature

This Concise Companion launches students into the study of English Renaissance literature through the central contexts that informed it. Places the poetry within contexts such as: economics; religion; empire and exploration; education, humanism and rhetoric; censorship and patronage; royal marriage and succession; treason and rebellion; “others” in England; private lives; cosmology and the body; and life-writing. Incorporates recent developments in the field, as well as work soon to be published. Entices students to explore the subject further. Provides new syntheses that will be of interest to scholars. All the contributors are highly regarded scholars and teachers.

Notes on Contributors vii Introduction 1 Donna B. Hamilton 1 Economics 11 S. P. Cerasano 2 Religion 32 Donna B. Hamilton 3 Royal Marriage and the Royal Succession 54 Paul E. J. Hammer 4 Patronage, Licensing, and Censorship 75 Richard Dutton 5 Humanism, Rhetoric, Education 94 Peter Mack 6 Manuscripts in Early Modern England 114 Heather Wolfe 7 Travel, Exploration, and Empire 136 Ralph Bauer 8 Private Life and Domesticity 160 Lena Cowen Orlin 9 Treason and Rebellion 180 Andrew Hadfield 10 Shakespeare and the Marginalized ‘‘Others’’ 200 Carole Levin 11 Cosmology and the Body 217 Cynthia Marshall 12 Life-Writing 238 Alan Stewart Index 257