The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Renaissance and the Early Seventeenth Century

In all six of its volumes The Broadview Anthology of British Literature presents British literature in a truly distinctive light. Fully grounded in sound literary and historical scholarship, the anthology takes a fresh approach to many canonical authors, and includes a wide selection of work by lesser-known writers. The anthology also provides wide-ranging coverage of the worldwide connections of British literature, and it pays attention throughout to issues of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. It includes comprehensive introductions to each period, providing in each case an overview of the historical and cultural as well as the literary background. It features accessible and engaging headnotes for all authors, extensive explanatory annotations throughout, and an unparalleled number of illustrations and contextual materials, offering additional perspectives both on individual texts and on larger social and cultural developments. Innovative, authoritative, and comprehensive, The Broadview Anthology of British Literature embodies a consistently fresh approach to the study of literature and literary history. For the second edition of this volume a considerable number of changes have been made. William P. Weaver has provided us with a superbly revised and updated translation of More's Utopia. We have added several additional sonnets from Sidney's Astrophil and Stella, and we now include Spenser's letter to Ralegh along with the selections from The Faeirie Queene. Isabella Whitney, who has been included in the website component of the anthology, is now included as part of the bound volume. Perhaps the most significant change for the new edition is the inclusion of more Milton. Samson Agonistes, which has been part of the website component, is now included in the bound book, and we now include more from Paradise Lost; Book 4 and Book 10 now appear in their entirety.