RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF RENAISSANCE LITERATURE

The Cambridge History of Early Modern English Literature (2003)

The first full-scale history of early modern English literature in nearly a century.

Offers new perspectives on English literature produced in Britain between the Reformation and the Restoration.

While providing the general coverage and specific information expected of a major history, its 26 chapters address recent methodological and interpretive developments in English Literature studies.

The Five Sections

1 – Modes and Means of Literary Production, Circulation and Reception

2 – The Tudor Era from the reformation to Elizabeth I

3 – The Era of Elizabeth and James VI

4 – The Earlier Stuart Era

5 – The Civil War and Commonwealth Era

Clearly organised by period

Modes and Means of Literary Production, Circulation and Reception

1 – Literacy, society and education (Kenneth Charlton and Margaret Spufford)

2 – Manuscript transmission and circulation (Harold Love and Arthur F. Marotti)

3 – Print, literary culture and the book trade (David Kastan)

4 – Literary Patronage (Graham Parry)

5 – Languages of early modern literature in Britain (Paula Blank)

6 – Habits of reading and early modern literary culture (Steven Zwicker)

The Tudor Era from the reformation to Elizabeth I

7 – Literature and national identity (David Loades)

8 – Literature and the court (William Sessions)

9 – Literature and the church (Janel Mueller)

The Era of Elizabeth and James VI

10 – Literature and national identity (Claire McEachern)

11 – Literature and the court (Catherine Bates)

12 – Literature and the church (Patrick Collinson)

13 – Literature and London (Lawrence Manley)

14 – Literature and the theatre (David Bevington)

The Earlier Stuart Era

15 – Literature and national identity (Johann Sommerville)

16 – Literature and the court (Leah Marcus)

17 – Literature and the church (Debora Shuger)

18 – Literature and London (Thomas Corns)

19 – Literature and the theatre to 1660 (Martin Butler)

20 – Literature and the household (Barbara Lewalski)

The Civil War and Commonwealth Era

21 – Literature and national identity (Derek Hirst)

22 – Literature and religion (David Loewenstein and John Morrill)

23 – Literature and London (Nigel Smith)

24 – Literature and the household (Helen Wilcox)

25 – Alternative sites for literature (Joshua Scodel)

26 – From Revolution to Restoration in English literary culture (James Grantham Turner)

Benefits Chapters and significant themes are organised in a way which is immensely easy to understand - The first part of the history, titled 'Modes and Means of Literary Production, Circulation and Reception' is not specifically tied to a certain decade or monarch's rule like the rest of the parts, rather it serves as an overview and introduction to the major themes present throughout the remainder of the book. Following this first overview part are four further parts which break into broad monarchic time lines. These parts are further broken into such chapters as 'Literature and London', 'Literature and the Household', 'Literature and the Church', etc. These chapter headings are used in each of the four parts, which helps to provide an ongoing sense of literary growth throughout England. In 1528 it was unlikely that there was more than a handful of people in a single town who could read and write, by 1674, the vast majority of people, from the rudest peasant to the King or Queen, could read and write with ease, and all had reasonable access to printed works.

Includes a detailed chronological outline of historical events and texts in Britain 1528-1674 - The last eighty pages or so of the work are devoted to a series of chronologies outlining the major political and literary events of the one hundred and forty-six years covered. These chronologies were very helpful in further placing an author within their milieu, and helped to reinforce the concept of an inclusive history rather than a 'great names' history.

Comprehensive bibliography and footnoting.

While England is the principal focus, literary production in Scotland, Ireland and Wales is treated, as are other subjects less frequently examined in previous histories, including women's writings and the literature of the English Reformation and Revolution.

Reviews'This bold and ground-breaking book offers a remarkable range of new ways of understanding early modern literature in its historical contexts.' David Norbrook, University of Oxford

'… this book is a prodigious achievement. Meticulously edited and beautifully produced, with a multifaceted chronology as an appendix, its essays are for the most part marvels of compressed and incisive critical judgment. The expert contributors combine breadth of coverage and depth of reflection with tremendous assurance.' Times Literary Supplement

'Astonishingly comprehensive and coherently unified … This extraordinarily useful reference work [is] at once authoritative, pioneering and inclusive …'. Renaissance Quarterly

'This book is a major accomplishment, and will alter the very landscape for which it provides such an effective map.' Studies in English Literature

' …a monument and record of a generation that has made large advances in knowledge and understanding of its period'. The Review of English Studies

Citation

Loewenstein, David, and Janel Mueller, eds. The Cambridge History of Early Modern English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002. (published in paperback 2006)

UoE Library Reference: 820.93 LOE

Also available in part on Google Books

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography58,326 people ... 10,972 portraits ... 67 million words ... 2500 years of history.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is the national record of men and women who have shaped British history and culture, worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century. The Dictionary offers concise, up-to-date biographies written by named, specialist authors. It is overseen by academic editors at Oxford University, UK, and published by Oxford University Press.

The Oxford DNB was first published in 2004 in print (60 vols.) and online. Since 2005 online updates have extended the Dictionary’s coverage in three annual updates, published every January, May, and September. The Oxford DNB now includes biographies of more than 58,326 men and women who died in or before the year 2008—plus 502 ‘Theme’ articles for reference and research.

Introduction to the DNBThe Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, in association with the British Academy is the first point of reference for anyone interested in the lives of the peoples of the British Isles and their connections overseas, from the earliest times to the end of the year 2000. It is the product of research instituted at the University of Oxford and funded by the British Academy—Britain's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences—and by Oxford University Press. It is the achievement of 10,000 contributors and advisers, a worldwide community co-ordinated by project staff in Oxford.

The Oxford DNB aims to provide full, accurate, concise, and readable articles on noteworthy people in all walks of life, which present current scholarship in a form accessible to all. No living person is included: the Dictionary's articles are confined to people who died before 31 December 2000. It covers people who were born and lived in the British Isles, people from the British Isles who achieved recognition in other countries, people who lived in territories formerly connected to the British Isles at a time when they were in contact with British rule, and people born elsewhere who settled in the British Isles for significant periods or whose visits enabled them to leave a mark on British life.

The Oxford DNB comprises 50,113 substantive articles in a single alphabetical sequence. 49,705 of these concern individuals, and 408 cover the lives of several people in a single entry under the name of a family or group—the Grey family, for example, or the Tolpuddle Martyrs. 5217 people appear in subsidiary notices forming part of another article. In total, the Oxford DNB includes lives of 54,922 people. It incorporates in rewritten or revised form all 38,607 lives contained in the Dictionary of National Biography, the precursor of the Oxford DNB, published between 1885 and 1900, and in its supplements, published between 1901 and 1996.

Articles in this dictionary present the lives of one or more persons written by one or more authors. They bear the names of those authors, and in the case of articles from the DNB that have been revised for the Oxford DNB the form of the signature indicates the fact of their revision. In addition to outlining a person's activities, character, and significance, each article aims to include, where feasible, certain standard facts about the person's life: dates and, as appropriate, places of key life events (such as birth, education, marriage, death, and burial), information about parents and spouses, and places of residence. All articles contain bibliographical sources. Further references are provided which list material that supplements the article and may assist research: on archives, likenesses, and wealth at death.

https://as.exeter.ac.uk/library/resources/e-resources/

elibrary/

Citations

http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.lib.exeter.ac.uk/

Harrison, Matthew and Brian, eds. Dictionary of national biography : from the earliest times to the year 2000. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.

UoE Library Reference: 920.042 OXF

And last but not least…

SparkNotes!!!

An Introduction to SparkNotes…Sometimes you don't understand your teacher, your textbooks make no sense, and you have to read sixteen chapters by tomorrow. SparkNotes is a resource you can turn to when you're confuzzled.

As SparkNotes editors, our mission is to help you make sense of confusing work. We are well qualified to lend a hand: we're graduates of top schools, we have advanced degrees galore, we've taught undergraduate and graduate classes, we work with experts to create books, blogs, quizzes, and flashcards that will help you master hard material.

We're here to help you learn, not to help you cheat. Our literature guides are meant to be read along with the books they analyze.

Reading a SparkNote instead of reading a book is misusing a SparkNote. Those of us who write SparkNotes love the books that we write about, and we want you to read them as well! We think that SparkNotes are an excellent way to supplement your understanding of great works of literature, which can often be extremely confusing.

We believe that the content of SparkNotes reflects this philosophy—our analysis sections are detailed and longer than our summaries, and the supplementary sections, such as "Character Analysis" and "Themes, Motifs, and Symbols" are scholarly secondary material that can be invaluable when developing paper ideas or writing papers. SparkNotes are there to help you understand literature—not as a substitute for it.

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