The New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse

by Alastair Fowler (Editor)

The seventeenth century was a period of remarkable achievement in the field of English it was the age of Shakespeare, Donne, Marvell, Jonson, Drayton, Herbert, Dryden, and Rochester among others. Alastair Fowler's celebrated anthology maps the terrain afresh, including innumerable and generous selections from all of the century's masterpieces as well as fascinating work by less familiar names. It strikes a balance between Metaphysical wit and intellect and Jonsonian simplicity, while also accommodating hitherto neglected popular verse. The result is a truer, more catholic representation of seventeenth-century verse than any previous anthology

Genres: Poetry, 17th Century

882 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 1992

About the author

Alastair David Shaw Fowler CBE FBA (b. 1930) is a Scottish literary critic and editor, an authority on Edmund Spenser, Renaissance literature, genre theory, and numerology. Fowler was educated at the University of Edinburgh, M.A. (1952). He was subsequently awarded an M.A. (1955), D.Phil. (1957) and D.Litt. (1962) from Oxford. As a graduate student at Oxford, Fowler studied with C.S. Lewis, and later edited Lewis's Spenser's Images of Life.

Fowler was junior research fellow at Queen's College, Oxford (1955 - 59). He also taught at Swansea (1959 - 61), and Brasenose College, Oxford (1962 - 71). He was Regius Professor of literature at the University of Edinburgh (1972 - 84) and also taught intermittently at universities in the United States, including Columbia (1964) and the University of Virginia (1969, 1979, 1985–98).

Fowler is known for his editorial work. His edition of John Milton's Paradise Lost, part of the Longman poets series, has some of the most scholarly and detailed notes on the poem and is widely cited by Milton scholars.

Reviews

[Aneece · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read in so many poetry anthologies, but at what point can I say that I've "read" one of them. Let the 17th century collection stand for all the others I've read among.

[AB · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying this, and its really something that I more pick up and read when I feel like it. I dont know why I input these books onto goodreads when I start them, but this is just me 'reviewing' something so I dont see it on my now reading section.

I like the mix of household names and obscure ones. I'm feeling more drawn to the shorter poems than the longer ones, especially in such a large collection such as this.

[Rob]

some excellent poetry. hard for me to grasp the idea that the human condition, or rather, the depth of emotion we feel as humans regarding death, love, god, and life in general, has not changed much in 400 years. many of these poems speak to me as though the authors are alive today. they grapple with the same doubts, heartbreak, lust, ambition and joy that I do.