Melodious Tears: The English Funeral Elegy from Spenser to Milton

Front Cover
Clarendon Press, 1990 - 296 pages
An original and perceptive study, this work charts the history of the elegy from the mid-sixteenth century when it was exclusively the province of professional writers, to the 1630s, by which time the fashion for vernacular elegy had spread throughout the literate classes. Kay gives full treatment to the works of major elegists--particularly Spenser, Sidney, Donne, and Milton--in relation to the broad range of elegies generated in response to the deaths of Sidney (1586), Queen Elizabeth (1603), and Prince Henry (1612). The work also includes a number of elegies surviving in manuscript form.

From inside the book

Contents

The English Tradition of Elegy
9
The Elegies of Spenser and Sidney
29
Elegies on Sidney 1568 and on Queen
67
Copyright

6 other sections not shown

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1990)

DennisKayFellow and Tutor in EnglishLincoln College, Oxford.

Bibliographic information