In Spenser's Forms of History, Bart van Es describes six modes through which Early Modern England addressed the past: chronicle, chorography, antiquarian discourse, euhemerism, typology, and prophecy. By setting this material alongside the works of Edmund Spenser, the book explores allusive strategies ranging in effect from euology to polemic. Key Spenserian texts, including The Faerie Queene, The Shepeardes Calendar, and A View of the
Present State of Ireland, are read against Elizabethan cultural documents extending from popular print to restricted manuscripts. Over the course of six chapters, each focusing on a single 'form', the book shows Spenser to have been an exceptional historical thinker. Drawing on recent studies of nationhood, the study not only
offers a new picture of the English 'Poet Historical', but also makes an innovative contribution to current debates concerning the relationship between literature and history.
- ISBN10 0199249709
- ISBN13 9780199249701
- Publish Date 26 September 2002
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Oxford University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 244
- Language English