Spenser's Forms of History: Elizabethan Poetry and the 'State of Present Time'

by Bart van Es

In Spenser's Forms of History , Bart Van Es presents an engaging study of the ways in which Edmund Spenser utilized a number of "forms of history"--chronicle, antiquarian discourse, secular typology, political prophecy, and others--in both his poetry and his prose, and assesses their collective impact on Elizabethan poetry.

244 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2002

About the author

Bart van Es is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St. Catherine’s College. He is the author of Spenser’s Forms of History, Shakespeare in Company, and Shakespeare’s Comedies. He was born in the Netherlands and now lives with his family in England.

Reviews

[Jacky Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The argumentative drive could be made slightly more clearer, as could there be less summary (what he would call 'thick description') and more incisive analysis. Nevertheless, van Es' refashioning of what it meant for Spenser to be a 'poet Historicall', highlighting in particular the temporal and formal multiplicity of, conflicts and ambiguities in, as well as distinctly (and troublingly) political edge to the historical representations in Spenser's writing, is refreshing and frankly indispensable. Very interesting thus to be working closely with him in the next two years.