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Renaissance.
1509-1660

Selected from early editions and
manuscripts and edited by

J. WILLIAM HEBEL
Cornell University

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NEW YORK: Printed for F.S. CROFTS & Co.
and are to be sold at 41 Union Square West
and in England by BASIL BLACKWELL, OXFORD
918

4444

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

PREFACE

The lyrical poetry of the period drawn upon by this volume has been well presented in a number of anthologies; but so far as we are aware, no previous anthology has given an adequate representation of the rich store of non-dramatic poetry in its wide variety. This we have attempted to do. In order that we might have sufficient space for the inclusion of a number of long poems we have omitted Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton. We have been willing to do so because we believe that all readers and students desire to have complete editions of these poets. For the most part, the authors represented herein are accessible, if at all, only in scarce or expensive editions. A very few poems we have reprinted for the first time; many others have seen but one previous reprinting. We have not, however, aimed at novelty; we have attempted to give from the English Renaissance such poems as a lover of poetry might wish to have at his command. We have made poetic merit the principal test for inclusion. Yet in presenting poetry of the past one must yield something to the necessity for historical background, without which the full significance, or even the full beauty, of the cherished poetic legacy cannot appear. We have therefore added a few poems of historical or biographical interest, illustrating the literary life of Tudor-Stuart England. We have amplified the material of this nature by the inclusion of some noteworthy prefaces and dedications, and by extracts from the critical works of Sidney and Jonson.

Having begun with the purpose of illustrating English poetry from the beginning of Henry VIII's reign to the Restoration, in the progress of our work we found a continuous tradition which unified this body of poetry. The animating impulses of this tradition appear to be those which flow from the Renaissance. Thus the title for the volume at which we arrived seems to us exact and adequate. As might have been expected, the exact limits of 1509-1660 have been transgressed. Some particular poems early in the book were composed before 1509; and we have deliberately gone beyond 1660 by the inclusion of Traherne, who obviously belongs with his fellows, Herbert, Crashaw, and Vaughan, rather than with poets of the Restoration.

We have thought that the text of poetry for the reader and student should be prepared as carefully as that in definitive editions for the scholar. Hence our text is taken from the original editions and manuscripts, with a few exceptions made necessary when the desired volume or manuscript was in private hands and inaccessible to us. Except for correcting obvious printer's errors, such as turned or omitted letters, we have found emendation almost unnecessary, for usually the passage which at first seems corrupt proves merely to be one of obscure or unexpected meaning. Where change from the basic text seemed unavoidable, we have in almost every instance drawn upon another equally authoritative early text. Every such deviation has been noted, with the authority for our reading. In the notes we have

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