Placing Elysium in renaissance Britain : poetry, politics, theology, eros / Patrick Cheney.
| Author/creator | Cheney, Patrick, 1949- author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2025. |
| Copyright Date | ©2025 |
| Description | xi, 339 pages : illustrations (black and white, and colour) ; 22 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Early modern literary geographies Early modern literary geographies. ^A1348701 |
| Contents | Introduction: Elysium: the poetry of place/the place of poetry -- Britain among the Elysian Fields: a new literary geography -- The Elysian idea of the English Renaissance: period and place -- Epic and Elysium: genre and place -- Spenser, Britain, and the place of Golden Age Elysian poetry -- Thrusting Elysium into hell: Nashe, Kyd, Marlowe, Marston -- The Muses Elysium: the Golden World in Drayton and Chapman. |
| Abstract | "Placing Elysium in Renaissance Britain: Poetry, Politics, Theology, Eros is the first study of Elysium as a place in English Renaissance culture. The absence of such a study in the fields of literature and geography is surprising: from its captivating origin in the oceanic margins of Homer's Odyssey to its presence in the Eden of Milton's Paradise Lost, Elysium is a destination to be desired: it is the land of the blessed. As such, Elysium becomes a geographical site for an author's most valued space. In Britannia, Camden provides leadership for this project by citing Plutarch as locating the blessed place in Britain. Following Camden, Spenser centralizes the idea of Britain as Elysium. Subsequently, English authors make the Elysian place the site of a liberating sublimity as the height of artistic renown. This authorial template becomes the site for literary inflections in the realms of politics, theology, and eros. However, Kyd and Marlowe darken the Spenserian project, recalling Virgil's geographical positioning of Elysium next to Hell. In turn, Drayton, Chapman, and Marston champion the Spenserian idea of Britain as Elysium. As this conversation suggests, English authors make Elysium the central place of the 'Renaissance' period concept, and they do so in the nation-building genre of epic. In The Muses Elizium, Drayton crowns the Spenserian tradition by making the blessed place the monomyth of national poetry. At the centre of the monomyth is the cherished ideal of Renaissance culture: the Elysian capacity of the human to become divine." -- Publisher's description. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN | 9780198871200 |
| ISBN | 0198871201 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | (ebook) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joyner | Order on Demand Title | Order On Demand | ✔ Available | Click to order this title |