Ben Jonson, who was with Shakespeare and Marlowe one of three principal playwrights of his age, was also one of its most original and influential poets. Known best for the country house poem ‘To Penshurst’ and his moving elegy ‘On my First Son’, his work inspired the whole generation of seventeenth-century poets who declared themselves the ‘Sons of Ben’. This edition brings his three major verse publications, Epigrams (1616), The Forest (1616), and Underwood

A revealing and original discussion of John Donne's workJohn Donne's voice can seem deceptively modern, yet his work demands contextual reading within early modern culture. The Life of the Author: John Donne presents Donne’s life and work as closely integrated, offering searching analysis of poetry and prose without reducing them to autobiography. Written by Emeritus Professor Tom Cain, a distinguished editor of seventeenth-century texts, this study reinte...

C. S. Lewis offers a magisterial take on the literature and poetry of one of the most consequential periods in world history, providing deep insight into some of the greatest writers of the age, including Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, John Knox, Dr. Johnson, Richard Hooker, Hugh Latimer, Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, and Thomas Cranmer.English Literature in the Sixteenth Century is an invigorating overview of English literature f...

On 26th April 1564, William Shakespeare was baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon. He would go on to be the greatest writer who ever lived. In Hidden Shakespeare, Nicholas Fogg explores Shakespeare's life, from his family background and education in Stratford, through his career in London, to 1616, when he finally shuffled off this mortal coil. Fogg examines the circumstances and stories surrounding Shakespeare, providing reasoned answers to the many questions. Did he leave school at the age of ...

For this updated edition of Shakespeare's most celebrated war play, Professor Gurr has added a new section to his introduction which considers recent critical and stage interpretations, especially concentrating on the 'secret' versus 'official' readings of the play. He analyses the play's double vision of Henry as both military hero and self-seeking individual. Professor Gurr shows how the patriotic declarations of the Chorus are contradicted by the play's action. The play's more controver...

Winner of the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionWinner of the 2022 Slightly Foxed Best First Biography PrizeShortlisted for the 2023 Plutarch AwardA Wall Street Journal Top 10 Best Book of 2022A New York Times Notable Book of the YearNamed a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, Times Literary Supplement, and Literary Hub

"A book for anyone who loves Shakespeare . . . One of the most scandalous and potentially revolutionary theories about the authorship of these immortal works." —Mark Rylance, First Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe TheatreIt is perhaps the greatest story never told: the truth behind the most enduring works of literature in the English language, perhaps in any language. Who was William Shakespeare?Critically acclaimed historian Charles Beauclerk has s...

The pinnacle of Gardner's medieval scholarship: a fascinating re-creation of the world of one of history's greatest writersIn this exquisite biography, John Gardner brings to life Geoffrey Chaucer, illuminating his writings and their inspiration like never before. Through exhaustive research and expert storytelling, Gardner takes readers through Chaucer's varied career—from writing The Canterbury Tales to performing diplomatic work at the Parliament—and cr...

Flamboyant, theatrical and ambitious, Margaret Cavendish was one of the seventeenth century's most striking figures: a woman who ventured into the male spheres of politics, science, philosophy and literature. The Blazing World is a highly original work: part Utopian fiction, part feminist text, it tells of a lady shipwrecked on the Blazing World where she is made Empress and uses her power to ensure that it is free of war, religious division and unfair sexual discrimination. This volume al...

On July 21, 1548, Princess Elizabeth Tudor gave birth to a son at Cheshunt, England. The father of the child was Thomas Seymour, her stepfather.The child was placed in the home of John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford and raised as Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, better known to the world by his pen name "William Shakespeare."This is his story.

The political dilemma of Ireland; the state of faith in England; the charms of the Beggar's Opera; the importance of puns . . . This selection gathers together some of Swift's most brilliant prose, from high politics to social gossip, from savage tirades to lighthearted social satire. In addition to his classic essays, the collection includes several of Swift's letters to Alexander Pope and other great thinkers of the age.

Marlowe's seven plays dramatise the fatal lure of potent forces, whether religious, occult or erotic. In the victories of Tamburlaine, Faustus's encounters with the demonic, the irreverence of Barabas in THE JEW OF MALTA, and the humiliation of Edward II in his fall from power and influence, Marlowe explores the shifting balance between power and helplessness, the sacred and its desecration.