English poetry in the first half of the seventeenth century, an outstandingly rich and varied body of verse, can be understood and appreciated more fully when set in its cultural and ideological context. This introductory Companion, consisting of fourteen new introductory essays by scholars of international standing, provides individual studies of Donne, Jonson, Herrick, Herbert, Carew, Suckling, Lovelace, Milton, Crashaw, Vaughan and Marvell, together with general essays on the political, social and religious context, and the relationship of poetry to the mutations and developments of genre...

Among the radical sects which flourished during the tumultuous years of the English Revolution, the early Quakers were particularly aware of the power of the written word to promote their prophetic visions?and unorthodox beliefs.

This collection of new essays by literary scholars and historians looks at the diversity of seventeenth-century Quaker writing, examining its rhetoric, its polemical strategies, its purposeful use of the print medium, and the heroism and vehemence of its world vision.

The diverse and controversial world of contemporary Milton studies is brought alive in this stimulating Companion.

• Winner of the Milton Society of America's Irene Samuels Book Award in 2002.
  
• Invites readers to explore and enjoy Milton's rich and fascinating work.
  
• Comprises 29 fresh and powerful readings of Milton's texts and the contexts in which they were created, each written by a leading scholar.
  
• Looks at literary production and cultural ideologies, issues of politics, gender and religion, individual Milton...

This volume deals with the crisis in the representation of the monarchy that was provoked by the execution of Charles I.

A History of Seventeenth-Century Literature outlines significant developments in the English literary tradition between the years 1603 and 1690.

• An energetic and provocative history of English literature from 1603-1690.
• Part of the major Blackwell History of English Literature series.
• Locates seventeenth-century English literature in its social and cultural contexts.
• Considers the physical conditions of literary production and consumption.
• Looks at the complex political, religious, cultural and social pressures on...

Paradise Lost is not merely the masterpiece of John Milton (1608-74) but a turning point in style and form, which had a profound influence on the poetry of the following century. Divided into two parts, this major survey begins by discussing the revolutionary characteristics of Paradise Lost in the context of contemporary literary norms and examines the theological, psychological, stylistic and narrative innovation in the poem. It then provides a fuller account of the complex, and now obscure political, and theological issues and other issues that Milton's poem addresses and...

This collection of original essays by literary critics and historians analyses a wide range of Milton's writing, from his early poetry, through his mid-century political prose, to De Doctrina Christiana, and finally to his last and greatest poems. The contributors investigate the rich variety of approaches to Milton's engagement with Catholicism and its relationship to reformed religion.