How does soil, as an ecological element, shape culture? With the sixteenth-century shift in England from an agrarian economy to a trade economy, what changes do we see in representations of soil as reflected in the language and stories during that time? This collection brings focused scholarly attention to conceptions of soil in the early modern period, both as a symbol and as a feature of the physical world, aiming to correct faulty assumptions that cloud our understanding of early modern ecological thought: that natural resources were then poorly understood and recklessly managed, and that...

Following the trial and execution of Charles I in 1649, the later seventeenth century witnessed an explosion of print culture in England, including an unprecedented boom in biographical writing. Andrea Walkden offers a case study examination of this fascinating trend, bringing together texts that generations of scholars have considered piecemeal and primarily as sources for their own research.

Private Lives Made Public: The Invention of Biography in Early Modern England contributes an incisive, fresh take on "life-writing"--a catch-all label that, in contemporary discourse, encompasses...

Throughout his poetry, as he explored how human beings could and should align their wills with God's, John Milton grappled with this reality: as we travel through this life, our paths fork and choices are made, and thus the eventual integration into the divine "all in all" described in Paradise Lost is always delayed or projected forward. In this relationship, Milton sees a generative tension between certainties--such as the premise that God exists and is good--and contingencies, those acts and experiences that are generated by the created world. As the essays in this volume argue, it is this...

In a major contribution to the burgeoning area of study that crosses between early modern texts and premodern cultures, Danila Sokolov argues for the necessity of reading the work of English Petrarchan writers in light of earlier medieval forms of poetic subjectivity. By doing just that, this book directly challenges one of the most enduring myths of contemporary criticism and shows that the many innovations associated with the poetry of Petarchism derive from medieval subjectivities that continue to inform modern ideas of selfhood and modernity more generally.

While the lines of division...

Examines Milton's identification with characters in Jesus's parables. Connects Milton's engagement with the parables to his self-representation throughout his poetry and prose.

Explores the philosophical significance of gluttony in Paradise Lost, arguing that a complex understanding of gluttony and of ideal, grateful, and gracious eating informs the content of Milton's writing.