Renaissance Poetry and Drama in Context

"Renaissance Poetry and Drama in Context: Essays for Christopher Wortham offers the reader an exciting range of probing enquiries into early modern texts as artworks and cultural documents. Firmly anchored in fresh approaches to canonical authors such as Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, Donne and Marvell, this illustrated collection is conceptually expansive, drawing in more minor works as it reaches back to medieval drama and classical precedents and forward to film and the novel. As a...
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"Renaissance Poetry and Drama in Context: Essays for Christopher Wortham offers the reader an exciting range of probing enquiries into early modern texts as artworks and cultural documents. Firmly anchored in fresh approaches to canonical authors such as Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, Donne and Marvell, this illustrated collection is conceptually expansive, drawing in more minor works as it reaches back to medieval drama and classical precedents and forward to film and the novel. As a showcase of primarily Australian, yet also global, scholarship from established and newer researchers, Renaissance Poetry and Drama in Context pursues fascinating textual minutiae and raises provocative, larger questions about the period. These contributions, bookended with reflections on an impressive academic life, make the volume a worthy tribute to Professor Wortham." Dr Liam Semler, Department of English, University of Sydney "Prismatically reflecting the many and varied interests of the scholar it celebrates, Renaissance Poetry and Drama in Context: Essays for Christopher Wortham will delight all those interested in the exploration of early modern literature and culture. Its contributors have obviously been provoked by the occasion to produce of their best, and the essays collected here crackle with critical energy. Tudor drama, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, Donne and Marvell all feature in discussions rich in insights and original contextualization; contemporary cartography, cosmology and mythology are explored; women's lives and authorship are discussed in fascinating detail; and essays on the legacy of 'the Shakespearean moment' in our own contemporary culture in creative writing and film point to the enduring power and interest of the poetry and drama celebrated here. A worthy Festschrift, and a rich feast indeed." Dr Ronald Bedford, School of Arts, University of New England