Explores the poetry of the Renaissance, from Dunbar in the late 15th century to the Songs and Sonnets of John Donne in the early 17th. The book offers more than the wealth of literature discussed: it is a pioneering work in its own right, bringing the insights of contemporary literary and cultural theory to an overview of the period.

Gary F. Waller

1. Reading the Poetry of the Sixteenth Century. 2. Language, the Poet and the World. 3. Erected Wit and Infected Will: Cultural Contraction in the Lyric. 4. A Century of Court Poets: Dunbar, Wyatt, Ralegh, Greville. 5. The Sidneys and Their Circle. 6. Spenser and The Faerie Queene. 7. The Poetry of Shakespeare and the Early Donne. 8. Gendering the Muse: The Emergence of Women's Poetry. 9. Conclusion Reopening the Canon. Chronology General Bibliographies