Elizabeth I: Collected Works / Edition 2

by Elizabeth I, Leah S. Marcus, Janel Mueller, Mary Beth Rose

Overview

This long-awaited and masterfully edited volume contains nearly all of the writings of Queen Elizabeth I: the clumsy letters of childhood, the early speeches of a fledgling queen, and the prayers and poetry of the monarch's later years. The first collection of its kind, Elizabeth I reveals brilliance on two counts: that of the Queen, a dazzling writer and a leading intellect of the English Renaissance, and that of the editors, whose copious annotations make the book not only essential to scholars but accessible to general readers as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226504650
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	05/01/2002
Edition description:	1
Pages:	470
Sales rank:	1,003,239
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Janel Mueller is a professor of English, the William Rainey Harper Professor in the College, and dean of the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. She is the author of The Native Tongue and the Word: Developments in English Prose Style, 1380-1580.

Leah S. Marcus is the Edwin Mims Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. Her books include Puzzling Shakespeare: Local Reading and Its Discontents and Unediting the Renaissance: Shakespeare, Marlowe, Milton. With Mary Beth Rose, Mueller and Marcus edited Elizabeth I: Collected Works.


Janel Mueller is the William Rainey Harper Distinguished Service Professor Emerita in the Department of English and the College at the University of Chicago.



Janel Mueller is a professor of English, the William Rainey Harper Professor in the College, and dean of the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. She is the author of The Native Tongue and the Word: Developments in English Prose Style, 1380-1580.

Leah S. Marcus is the Edwin Mims Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. Her books include Puzzling Shakespeare: Local Reading and Its Discontents and Unediting the Renaissance: Shakespeare, Marlowe, Milton. With Mary Beth Rose, Mueller and Marcus edited Elizabeth I: Collected Works.



Janel Mueller is the William Rainey Harper Distinguished Service Professor Emerita in the Department of English and the College at the University of Chicago. She is a coeditor of Elizabeth I: Collected Works and Elizabeth I: Autograph Compositions and Foreign Language Originals, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Joshua Scodel is Helen A. Regenstein Professor in English, Comparative Literature, and the College at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Excess and the Mean in Early Modern English Literature.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations and Frequently Cited Works
Preface
I. 1533-1558
Letters 1-23
Poems 1-3
Prayers 1-2
II. 1558-1572
Speeches 1-12
Letters 24-33
Poems 4-5
Prayers 3-28
Poem 6
III. 1572-1587
Speeches 13-18
Letters 34-77
Poems 7-12
Prayers 29-35
IV. 1588-1603
Speeches 19-24
Letters 78-103
Poems 13-15
Prayers 36-39
Lists of Speeches, Letters, Poems, Prayers
Index of Names

Editorial Reviews

This collection shines a light onto the character and experience of one of the most interesting of monarchs. English professors Marcus (Vanderbilt), Mueller (University of Chicago), and Rose (University of Illinois-Chicago) have collected the speeches, letters, poems and prayers written by Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603), arranged into four chronological groupings. The writings of the first period, from 1533 to 1558, contain no speeches because Elizabeth was then only a princess, daughter of the executed Anne Boleyn, and her principal job was, literally, to keep her head on her shoulders; the less she said, the safer she was. But even after she assumed the crown, she was still faced with the formidable task of staying alive as she forced her advisers to accept a woman as a sovereign and to obey her wishes. Her writings provide an excellent record of how well she was able to accomplish these goals. The speeches of this archetypal Renaissance figure (she wrote in several languages, including ancient Greek) sometimes read more like memos and her prayers occasionally seem like propaganda--but overall she was proficient enough to write in an elegant, clear voice. Because of the volume of writings contained herein and the extensive, helpful annotations the editors have added, we are likely never to get a closer or clearer look at her. An intriguing and intense portrait of a woman who figures so importantly in the birth of our modern world, this book, though aimed primarily at scholars, could be profitably read and enjoyed by any interested reader. Illus. not seen by PW. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In a single extraordinary volume, Elizabeth I: Collected Works, Marcus (English, Vanderbilt) and her coeditors have collected the Virgin Queen's letters, speeches, poems, and prayers--translated from French, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and ancient Greek, when necessary. From an early (1544) letter of the Princess Elizabeth to Queen Katherine to a long letter about Ireland addressed to Lord Mountjoy (February 1603) shortly before the queen's death, the editors have put together an impressive, heavily footnoted volume. While browsers will certainly find items of interest (e.g., a touching condolence letter from the queen to her ambassador to France upon the death of his son), this scholarly work will be of interest primarily to scholars. Highly recommended for academic libraries and for public libraries with strong collections of Elizabethan history. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal

A remarkable body of letters, speeches, poems and prayers, revealing the Virgin Queen in all her eloquence and intelligence.
—Times Literary Supplement

Jonathan Bate