Title: English Reformation literature
First published: 1982
Description: Challenging the established history of sixteenth-century English literature, the author demonstrates the presence and significance of a native Protestant literary tradition that emerged out of the radical Reformation during the reign of Edward VI (1547-1553). Standard authorities have assumed a hiatus between the rise of humanism under the early Tudor kings and the renaissance of poetry and drama at the end of the Elizabethan age. The author argues the importance of the mid-sixteenth-century literature that introduced Protestant themes and a plain style and influenced both the Elizabethan flowering and the English literature of the seventeenth century. Drawing on disciplines such as political, ecclesiastical, and intellectual history, art, iconography, and printing, the author discusses the literary achievement of the middle sixteenth century as it manifested itself in a variety of genres, including dialogue and interlude, ethical verse, political allegory, millennial prophecy, and biblical paraphrase. Because the impulse of early Protestantism was toward public reformation rather than private sanctification, satire and comic drama are particularly important in the literature of this period. This book provides us with the first comprehensive study of the literature of the English Reformation. -- from Book Jacket.
Subjects: History and criticism, England, Protestant authors, English literature, Religion and literature, Christianity and literature, Reformation, Protestantism and literature, History, English literature, history and criticism, early modern, 1500-1700
Places: England
People: House of Tudor
Time periods: 16th century, Early modern, 1500-1700
LC classification: PR411 .K48 1982