The Making Of Restoration Poetry

A survey of Restoration poetry, from the forms in which it was disseminated to studies of important texts. This book explores the complex ways in which authors, publishers, and readers contributed to the making of Restoration poetry. The essays in Part I map some principal aspects of Restoration poetic culture: how poetic canons were established through both print and manuscript; how censorship operated within the manuscript transmission of erotic and politically sensitive poems; the poetic functions of authorial anonymity; the work of allusion and intertextualreference; the translation and adaptation of classical poetry; and the poetic representations of Charles II. Part II turns to individual poets, and charts the making of Dryden's canon; the ways in which Mac Flecknoe operates through intertextual allusions; the relationship of the variant texts of Marvell's "To his Coy Mistress"; and the treatment of Rochester's canon and text by his modern editors. The discussions are complemented by illustrationsdrawn from both printed books and manuscripts. PAUL HAMMOND is Professor of Seventeenth-Century Literature at the University of Leeds.

A survey of Restoration poetry, from the forms in which it was disseminated to studies of important texts.

'If I by miracle can be This livelong minute true to thee 'Tis all that heav'n allows.' The Earl of Rochester was England's first celebrity poet, a byword for the theatricality, licentiousness, and scepticism of the Restoration age. But his scandalous reputation belies the variety and sophistication of his work: his love poems set new standards not only of sexual explicitness but also of psychological acuity and lyric grace, while his satires broke new ground as much by the refinement of their ironies as in the brutality of their invective. A fascinatingly contradictory figure, Rochester emerges more clearly than ever from this new edition, the first selection of his work in modern spelling to take account of recent revolutionary advances in textual scholarship. It includes only poems now securely attributed to the poet, in texts based not on the posthumous and unreliable printed editions but on the most authoritative manuscripts which circulated in his lifetime. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

An innovative account of the literary Restoration that stresses its diversity, historical self-awareness, and openness to new voices.

Essays by leading scholars explore the work, life and times of the notorious libertine poet John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester.

In the most comprehensive, up-to-date account of the poetry published in Britain between the Restoration and the end of the eighteenth century, a team of leading experts surveys the poetry of the age in all its richness and diversity. They provide a systematic overview, and restore these poetic works to a position of centrality in modern criticism.

This revisionist study of Restoration literature and culture demonstrates how important the decades between 1660 and 1700 were in transforming, enlarging and diversifying English-language poetry. Wright challenges the longstanding narrative of Restoration poetry as a male, urban, London-centric form obsessed with the contemporary, arguing persuasively that this schema omits crucial literary works and relationships. Framed around three detailed case studies of neglected aspects of Restoration poetry, the book explores the depth of Spenser's influence, the importance of poetry flourishing in Ireland, the significance of natural landscapes and the vital role of women: both as readers, and writers. This book presents a diverse literary Restoration steeped in historical self-awareness and anxieties, engaged with the world outside England's capital, and open to new voices. Its impressive scope encompasses myriad little-known writers, while extensive historical research underpins its fresh perspectives on poets such as Dryden, Rochester, Cowley, Milton, Marvell and Behn.

Building on the strength of Keith Walker’s acclaimed The Poems of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1984), leading scholar Nicholas Fisher presents a thoroughly revised and updated edition of the work of one the greatest Restoration wits. Includes the text of Lucina’s Rape, Rochester’s adaptation of Fletcher’s revenge tragedy Valentinian, in a text that readily identifies Rochester’s revisions Presents the poems in versions that were current during Rochester’s lifetime, allowing the reader to experience the poems as Rochester’s contemporaries did Incorporates insights and discoveries made over the last twenty-five years and texts of manuscripts that previously were unavailable for study