Shakespeare, Spenser, and the Crisis in Ireland [Hardcover]

A study of the literary representation of Ireland in English Renaissance writing.Christopher Highley's book explores the most serious crisis the Elizabethan regime faced: its attempts to subdue and colonise the native Irish. Through a range of literary representations from Shakespeare and Spenser, and contemporaries like John Hooker, John Derricke, George Peele and Thomas Churchyard he shows how these writers produced a complex discourse about Ireland that cannot be reduced to a simple ethnic opposition. Highley argues that the confrontation between an English imperial presence and a Gaelic 'other' was a profound factor in the definition of an English poetic self.Christopher Highley's book explores the most serious crisis the Elizabethan regime faced: its attempts to subdue and colonise the native Irish. Through a range of literary representations from Shakespeare and Spenser, and contemporaries like John Hooker, John Derricke, George Peele and Thomas Churchyard he shows how these writers produced a complex discourse about Ireland that cannot be reduced to a simple ethnic opposition. Highley argues that the confrontation between an English imperial presence and a Gaelic 'other' was a profound factor in the definition of an English poetic self.Christopher Highley's book explores the most serious crisis the Elizabethan regime faced: its attempts to subdue and colonize the native Irish. Through a range of literary representations from Shakespeare and Spenser, and contemporaries such as John Hooker, John Derricke, George Peele and Thomas Churchyard he shows how these writers produced a complex discourse about Ireland that cannot be reduced to a simple ethnic opposition. Highley argues that the confrontation between an English imperial presence and a Gaelic other was a profound factor in the definition of an English poetic self.List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Elizabeth's other isle; 1. Spenser's Irish courts; 2. Reversing the conquest: deputielî