A Literary History of Latin & English Poetry

Victoria Moul's groundbreaking study uncovers one of the most important features of early modern English poetry: its bilingualism. The first guide to a forgotten literary landscape, this book considers the vast quantities of poetry that were written and read in both Latin and English from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Introducing readers to a host of new authors and drawing on hundreds of manuscript as well as print sources, it also reinterprets a series of landmarks in English poetry within a bilingual literary context. Ranging from Tottel's miscellany to the hymns of Isaac Watts, via Shakespeare, Jonson, Herbert, Marvell, Milton and Cowley, this revelatory survey shows how the forms and fashions of contemporary Latin verse informed key developments in English poetry. As the complex, highly creative interactions between the two languages are revealed, the work reshapes our understanding of what 'English' literary history means.

• Provides the first survey of the contemporary Latin poetry that was both written and most frequently read in early modern England, painting an integrated picture in which the forms and fashions of contemporary Latin verse informed key developments in English literature
• Introduces readers to a wealth of little-known authors, forms and genres in an accessible and carefully-structured way, clearly delineating the influence of classical poets, such as Claudian, as well as what was innovative and unclassical in Latin literary culture
• Re-contextualises key genres and forms of English poetry from the mid-sixteenth to the early eighteenth century within the wider bilingual literary context, offering fresh perspective on a series of key works and authors of English poetry from Tottel's miscellany to the hymns of Isaac Watts