Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance Poetry

Humanism, Allegory, Plato, St. Paul. These were among the names and subjects which formed the basic frame of reference for Renaissance poets. Yet today's reader can approach the poems of Spenser, Milton, Donne et al with a sense of trepidation, having no knowledge of Greek or Latin and only a hazy acquaintance of the Bible and the fundamentals of Christianity.This second edition of Isabel Rivers' seminal and much loved text will be a boon to teachers and students of poetry. Rivers guides the reader around classical and Christian ideas, illustrating how Renaissance poetry draws on these ideas and suggesting where the reader can find out more.A new introduction and fully updated bibliography make this an indispensible tool for the study of English poetry.