Late Elizabethan and Early Jacobean Poetry
Chapters 12 and 13 examine the experience of poetry in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean period, and assess the claim that the public performance of poetry was common in England at this time. The publication of Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender in 1579 shows a concern for the reader of the printed page, while Sidney’s influential Astrophil and Stella, written around the same time, exploits the tones of the speaking voice. Manuscript circulation continued, and several poets avoided print; others, however, including Shakespeare, made use of the new opportunities provided by the printed book. Popular verse was also widely disseminated through printed sheets. The publication of Jonson’s 1616 Workes definitively marks the establishment of the modern print poet. Several anthologies were published, though individuals also kept manuscript miscellanies; in favour, too, were commonplace books, both printed and handwritten. Paratexts and marginalia furnish further evidence for readers’ experience of poetry.