Post-structuralist Readings of English Poetry [Paperback]

A selection of close-readings of canonical English poems with a focus on ideas and debates in critical theory and literary history.A group of leading critics have been invited to offer close readings of well-known poetic texts from the established canon of English literature. The volume is organised historically, with texts ranging from the Renaissance, Augustan and Romantic periods through to the twentieth century.A group of leading critics have been invited to offer close readings of well-known poetic texts from the established canon of English literature. The volume is organised historically, with texts ranging from the Renaissance, Augustan and Romantic periods through to the twentieth century.A group of leading critics have been invited to offer close readings of well-known poetic texts from the established canon of English literature. The volume is organised historically, with texts ranging from the Renaissance, Augustan and Romantic periods through to the twentieth century. All the essays are motivated by ideas and debates in critical theory and will prove a challenge to conventional valuations and ways of construing literary history. By combining theory and practical application, this volume should prove particularly helpful to those keen to pursue the implications of current critical theory.Notes on contributors; Introduction Richard Machin and Christopher Norris; 1. Presentation and representation in the Renaissance lyric: the net of words and the escape of the gods Murray Krieger; 3. Speculations: Macbeth and source Jonathan Goldberg; 4. Trust and transgression: the discursive practices of Much Ado about Nothing John Drakakis; 5. Donne's praise of folly Thomas Docherty; 6. Love and death in 'To His Coy Mistress' Catherine Belsey; 7. Towards the autonomous subject in poetry: Milton's 'On His Blindness' Antony Easthope; 8. Pope among the formalists: textual politics and 'The Rape of the Lock' Christopher Norris; 9. Gray's 'Elegy': inscribing the twilight Stl"