A bibliographical catalogue and first-line index of printed anthologies of English poetry to 1640

Abstract

Early English poetry anthologies are important because they reflect the poetic taste of their age. This dissertation is a reference work on those anthologies--a bibliographical catalogue and first-line index of early printed anthologies of English poetry to 1640. There are four parts to the dissertation. The introduction gives an overview of the subject and relates it to larger critical issues, such as authorship, style, and the manuscript culture. Next is a short-title list of anthologies and their subsequent editions. Part Three is comprised of quasi-facsimile bibliographical descriptions of the first editions of the anthologies followed by the first lines of their poems in sequence. Last is a comprehensive index of all of the first lines of all of the anthologies. This reference work will be useful to scholars working with Renaissance lyric poetry.