Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance Poetry: A Student's Guide

by Isabel Rivers

Since publication in 1979 Isabel Rivers' sourcebook has established itself as the essential guide to English Renaissance poetry. It provides an account of the main classical and Christian ideas, outlining their meaning, their origins and their transmission to the Renaissance; illustrates the ways in which Renaissance poetry drew on classical and Christian ideas; contains extracts from key classical and Christian texts and relates these to the extracts of the English poems which draw on them; includes suggestions for further reading, and an invaluable bibliographical appendix.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, History, Academic, Literature, Reference, Literary Criticism

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great survey of the Classical and Christian elements that surface in the work of renaissance poets, and provides an crucial interpretive lens through which to view those works. Lay readers approaching English renaissance poetry would be tempted to view the great majority of it as a series of dogmatic enunciations of sermons and obscure theology, but in reality, English poetry is much more complex and not at all a simple elaboration of ideas commonly found in churches. The short chapters in this book convince the reader of that fact by offering a brief survey on the topic in question (e.g. "Protestant Theology," "Platonism and Neoplatonism," "View of History," etc.). Each chapter has extensive quotations in the back; they're not essential to get the author's main point, but they do help to drive her point home. Finally, the nature of the survey-style is that there's dozens of works mentioned throughout each chapter, meaning this book basically eliminates a huge amount of the research required when approaching a topic one knows little about. Get this book to have a short synopsis of major religious topics in English poetry and a list of works to consult if the professor requires anything further (NOTE: the quotes in the back are so perfectly suited to the topics that in theory they can be picked right out of the book and interwoven into a college essay. This might not go over well on upper division classes and definitely won't be accepted in Masters level work, but for lower-classmen at universities and most junior colleges it's probably a safe bet).

[Serena Salvati · Rating 3 out of 5]

good information, but the author doesn't seem to know how to use colons (and there were some other punctuation things), which got irritating very quickly. also there are a lot more selections than I would have wanted/expected, and many are given without much context of the larger work. the author is also very concerned (VERY CONCERNED) with the intentions of the authors/poets she cites. it's not that I disagree entirely, but if you only read a work in its historical context then you aren't reading it for its own sake, you're reading it as a historical text. it just isn't nearly as fun.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a pleasure read, and not to be undertaken in one or two sittings. Excrutiatingly researched, very well written, insightful.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought it, but I dont think I ever opened it, unfortunately.

[Sundry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful if you're studying the subject matter.

[Ak Hauck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! We must read the authors through the lens of their own times and define terms as they understood them. Highly recommended .

[BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful when studying Renaissance poetry as a first year student.