Autobiography and authorship in Renaissance verse
Subtitle: chronicles of the self
By: Elizabeth Heale.
Series: Early modern literature in history; Early modern literature in history (Palgrave Macmillan (Firm))
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 206
Subjects: English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism; Self in literature; Autobiography in literature; Renaissance -- England; Poets in literature
Description: "The advent of relatively cheap printed editions of verse in the mid-sixteenth century produced an explosion of verse, much of which represented the first-person speaker as a version of the author. This book examines the way in which writers, often seeking advancement in their careers, harnessed the powers of verse and print for self-promotional purposes.

Close attention to the self-constructions of these writers reveals conflicts and contradictions in available models of the self, as well as doubts about the powers of verse to express the inner self.

Texts studied include: an extraordinary manuscript autobiography by Thomas Whythorne; printed verse by a woman, Isabella Whitney; an erotic romance by George Gascoigne, hailed as the first 'novel' in English; little-known but memorable narratives of travel to Russia and Africa, and of the experience of war; and more canonical works by Spenser, Sidney and Shakespeare."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-201) and index.