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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
ENGLISH POETRY AFTER THE SPANISH ARMADA
CHAPTER II
SPENSER'S SUCCESSORS: SAMUEL DANIEL
CHAPTER III
SPENSER'S SUCCESSORS: MICHAEL DRAYTON; WILLIAM
BROWNE
CHAPTER IV
SPENSER'S SUCCESSORS: SIR JOHN DAVIES; JOSEPH
HALL; JOHN MARSTON
PAGE
I
9
27
54
SCHOOLS OF POETICAL "WIT" UNDER ELIZABETH AND
JAMES I. SCHOOL OF THEOLOGICAL WIT
118
CHAPTER VIII
JAMES I. SCHOOL OF METAPHYSICAL WIT
147
CHAPTER IX
JAMES I. SCHOOL OF COURT WIT
CHAPTER X
SCHOOLS OF POETICAL "WIT" IN THE REIGN OF
CHARLES I.
CHAPTER XI
CAVALIER AND ROUNDHEAD
169
200
285
ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS
INFLUENCE OF THE CROWN IN POLITICS AND
POETRY DURING ELIZABETH'S REIGN
Perplexity of feeling in the English People after the Reformation.
Ideas of National Unity centred in the Queen.
Poetical reflection of national feeling in The Faery Queen.
CHANGE OF NATIONAL FEELING AFTER THE SPANISH ARMADA
Gradual disappearance of the Queen's old Ministers.
Declining influence of the Crown in Elizabeth's last years.
Growing consciousness of power in the Nation.
Growth of the language in capacity for philosophical expression.
IDEA OF NATIONAL UNITY
Illustrated by theories of Government :-
(1) Hooker's theory of Church and State.
(2) Bacon's theory of Government by Prerogative.
Impossibility of continuing the system of Constitutional Absolutism under
James I.
Antagonism between the life of the Court and the life of the Nation.
Dissolution of the elements of Medieval Poetry combined in The Faery
Queen.
Sectional ideals in the Court and the Universities.
Sketch of the different lines of advance in English Poetry during the
period between the Spanish Armada and the Revolution of 1688.
SUCCESSION TO SPENSER
Spenser's Colin Clout's Come Home Again.
Criticism of the different Court poets.
Praise of Daniel.
SAMUEL DANIEL
His birth, education, history, and character.
Ideal of a patriotic Court and a refined language.
"DELIA" and "COMPLAINT OF FAIR ROSAMOND."
General praise bestowed on them.
"THE CIVIL WARS."
Contrary opinions: Drayton, Coleridge, Wordsworth.
Imitation of Lucan's Pharsalia.
Daniel's political ideal embodied in his Defence of Ryme.
Defects of The Civil Wars as a poem.
"PANEGYRIC CONGRATULATORIE."
Praise of James I.
Praise of Absolutism as a remedy for Feudal Anarchy.
Appeal to the King to restore the standard of "plain living and high
thinking."
"MUSOPHILUS."
Daniel's ideal a mixture of Catholicism and Humanism.
Dialogue between Philocosmus and Musophilus.
Musophilus' plea for the recognition of literature at Court.
Enthusiastic vision of the imperial growth of the English Language.
"BALLAD OF ULYSSES AND THE SIREN."
PASTORALISM OF THE COurt.
Court patronage.
MICHAEL DRAYTON
His birth and poetical education under Sir H. Goodere.
"HARMONY OF THE CHURCH."
Poem confiscated by order of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
"IDEA: THE SHEPHERD'S GARLAND."
"IDEA'S MIRROR."
Idea, a name for Lucy, Countess of Bedford.
Her patronage of Drayton.
She is praised in
"MORTIMERIADOS,"
and in
"ENDIMION AND PHOEBE."
Drayton revises and recasts his poems in praise of Lady Bedford.
"THE BARONS' WARS."
A recast of Mortimeriados.
All references to Lady Bedford removed from Drayton's poems.
Causes of Drayton's quarrel with the Countess.
He transfers the praises of Idea to Anne Goodere.
He attempts by flattery to secure the favour of James I., but is unsuccessful.
He is patronised by Sir Walter Aston.
44 "POLYOLBION "
Dedicated to Prince Henry.
Drayton complains in the Preface of his neglect at Court.
He is patronised by the Earl of Dorset, to whom he dedicates his later
poems.
His death and burial in Westminster Abbey.
CHARACTER OF HIS GENIUS.
His receptivity, versatility, and learning.
His gifts spoilt by obsequiousness to the tastes of patrons.
His originality shown in
"ENGLAND'S HEROICAL EPISTLES,"
A disciple of Drayton.
"BRITANNIA'S PASTORALS."
"THE SHEPHERD'S PIPE."
Browne's love of his native county.
Adaptation of Arcadian imagery to Devonshire scenery.
His early maturity.
His Euphuism.
Probable influence on Herrick and Suckling.
Didactic tendency in Mediæval Poetry.
Allegory of Dante and Langland.