Sixteenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology

This anthology of sixteenth-century English verse features generous selections from the canonical poets, alongside judicious selections from lesser-known writers. The anthology represents a wide range of genres, including the love lyric, mythological narrative, and religious and political poetry. It covers a broad time period, extending to include the love poetry of John Donne, which marked the end of one poetic era and the beginning of another.

Major works or parts of works are presented in their entirety wherever possible: Book III of The Faery Queen and the whole of Astrophil and Stella, for example. At the same time, the inclusion of unusual material, such as several poems reportedly written as their authors awaited execution, and six different versions of the same psalm, encourages readers to discover interesting connections and contrasts in the literature of the period. Detailed annotations provide useful background information and facilitate close reading of the poems.