Poetry and Paternity in Renaissance England
Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne and Jonson
- Author: Tom MacFaul, University of Oxford
- Date Published: October 2012
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781107411371
Paperback
Other available formats:
Hardback, eBook
Looking for an inspection copy?
This title is not currently available on inspection
-
Becoming a father was the main way that an individual in the English Renaissance could be treated as a full member of the community. Yet patriarchal identity was by no means as secure as is often assumed: when poets invoke the idea of paternity in love poetry and other forms, they are therefore invoking all the anxieties that a culture with contradictory notions of sexuality imposed. This study takes these anxieties seriously, arguing that writers such as Sidney and Spenser deployed images of childbirth to harmonize public and private spheres, to develop a full sense of selfhood in their verse, and even to come to new accommodations between the sexes. Shakespeare, Donne and Jonson, in turn, saw the appeal of the older poets' aims, but resisted their more radical implications. The result is a fiercely personal yet publicly-committed poetry that wouldn't be seen again until the time of the Romantics.
Read more- Proposes a new approach to Elizabethan and Jacobean poetry, providing English literature scholars with new frameworks for understanding important but often difficult poets
- Provides fresh close readings of the major poets of the era
- Develops new ideas about Renaissance selfhood, using and extending recent work in social history
Reviews & endorsements
Review of the hardback: 'Enlightening.' The Times Literary Supplement
See more reviews'MacFaul's argument is neat and controlled.' Notes and Queries
Customer reviews
Not yet reviewed
Be the first to review
Review was not posted due to profanity
×Product details
- Date Published: October 2012
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781107411371
- length: 286 pages
- dimensions: 229 x 152 x 15 mm
- weight: 0.39kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. Presumptive fathers
2. Uncertain paternity: the indifferent ideology of patriarchy
3. The childish love of Philip Sidney and Fulke Greville
4. Spenser's timely fruit: generation in The Faerie Queene
5. 'We desire increase': Shakespeare's non-dramatic poetry
6. John Donne's rhetorical contraception
7. 'To propagate their names': Ben Jonson as poetic godfather
Coda: sons.
Sorry, this resource is locked
Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email lecturers@cambridge.org
Register Sign in» Proceed
You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.
Continue ×Are you sure you want to delete your account?
This cannot be undone.
Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.
If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.
×