The funeral elegy is in some ways the quintessential English Renaissance genre. This book demonstrates how the hospitality of elegy to different styles, genres and modes, alongside the primary formal obligation to fit the poem decorously to the subject, gave a special value to ingenuity. The elegist, like the sonneteer, had to prove (or at least protest) that the ingenuity was grounded in the subject and not merely indulged in as a species of self-advertisement or display. By the time Milton came to write "Lycidas", the vernacular funeral elegy had developed into a form - or rather a variety of possible forms - in which any educated person could perform. For younger poets the elegy eventually constituted a kind of laboratory in which they could put into notice what they had learned about composition. It also became, during the period covered in this study, a means of learning about decorum, of investigating, exploring, analyzing, representing, anatomizing social (and political) relationships on the occasion of the subject's death. "Melodious Tears" charts the history of the elegy from the time in the mid-16th century when it was exclusively the province of professional writers, the

This volume is designed to guide students of Sidney through the labyrinth of Sidney scholarship now available. Within the framework of a detailed bibliography and an account of Sidney's fluctuating reputation, it presents some of the more representative and stimulating studies of recent years. The essays have been selected both for their individual qualities and because, taken together, they cover a wide range of Sidney's art, and illustrate a variety of approaches to it. The essays should, like the texts they study, stimulate in their readers debate, argument, and real engagement with Sidney's masterpieces.

In examining historical records, Kay has assembled a story of Shakespeare's life - one that shows a man driven to develop his business interests and to preserve his estates in Stratford-upon-Avon. He contends that there is little evidence that Shakespeare was writing with an eye on posterity. Rather, his writing was intimately bound up with his contemporary culture, and particularly with the new art form of the professional theater. Kay argues that in writing for the public stage Shakespeare chose a medium whose tendency to be social and collaborative was especially marked in the culture of early modern England, where the function, value, effects, and even the existence of drama were matters of intense concern. In various chapters Kay describes Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford, citing its history and the career of Shakespeare's father, his own marriage and appearances in the town records; the curriculum Shakespeare probably followed at the grammar school in Stratford and the evidence the plays provide of his reading throughout his life; English history from the accession of Henry VII in 1485 to the death of James I in 1625, depicting the culture and society of Shakespeare's England; London, the city where Shakespeare worked for some 20 years, and the evidence of his activities and residences there; the theatrical industry in which Shakespeare worked, considering the playhouses, acting companies, the playgoers, and changing attitudes to the drama; Elizabethan and Jacobean culture, with special reference to the place of drama; and the three major phases of Shakespeare's literary career. Kay's research and archival detective work provide a portrait of a man whose plays entertained bothroyalty and commoners with characters, plots, and subjects that both reflected and illuminated life as they experienced and understood it. Kay shows that Shakespeare's works were not created in a vacuum - he demonstrates that an appreciation of the extraordinary genius of Shakespeare can only be enriched and deepened by an awareness of his life and career in the context of his times.

Twayne's United States Authors, English Authors, and World Authors Series present concise critical introductions to great writers and their works.

Devoted to critical interpretation and discussion of an author's work, each study takes account of major literary trends and important scholarly contributions and provides new critical insights with an original point of view. An Authors Series volume addresses readers ranging from advanced high school students to university professors. The book suggests to the informed reader new ways of considering a writer's work.

Each volume features:

-- A critical, interpretive study and explication of the author's works

-- A brief biography of the author

-- An accessible chronology outlining the life, the work, and relevant historical context

-- Aids for further study: complete notes and references, a selected annotated bibliography and an index

-- A readable style presented in a manageable length