The Catholicism of Literature in the Age of the Book of Common Prayer

This book presents a challenging, new view of English Literature 1558-1689. It demonstrates the vital continuity of Roman Catholicism in English Literature from the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558 to the deposing of James II in 1689. Focused mainly on poetry and plays, it argues that English Literature was a significant means by which Roman Catholic ideas persisted in an era which established the Book of Common Prayer and the Church of England. Presenting a new view of that Church's culture, and so of its wider relation to religions both Catholic and Protestant, the book will be important to anyone interested in the interaction of literature and religion in the period, as well as in questions of how English Literature flourished in a Biblicist age. Through the very idea of literary works to chapters on the Eucharist, Purgatory, Christian worship and the Virgin Mary, the book joins together major and minor authors of the era to present English Literature afresh. Important figures include William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, Queen Henrietta Maria, Robert Southwell, John Donne, George Herbert, John Dryden, Robert Herrick, Margaret Cavendish and Aphra Behn. With focused discussion of works by these and many others, this is a vigorous recognition of England's literary culture and its heritage, 1558-1689.