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6.1 Queen Elizabeth I as the Spouse of the Song of Songs 6.1 Queen Elizabeth I as the Spouse of the Song of Songs
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6.2 Singing in the ‘English Quire’: Verse versions of the Song of Songs 6.2 Singing in the ‘English Quire’: Verse versions of the Song of Songs
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6.3 Catholic voices: Robert Southwell and Henry Constable 6.3 Catholic voices: Robert Southwell and Henry Constable
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8.4 Ravished by God and open to most men: John Donne’s controversial Spouse 8.4 Ravished by God and open to most men: John Donne’s controversial Spouse
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6.5 Scottish and English Spouses: Elizabeth Melville and Aemilia Lanyer 6.5 Scottish and English Spouses: Elizabeth Melville and Aemilia Lanyer
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6 The English Spouse: The Song of Songs in sixteenth-century England
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Published:December 2024
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Abstract
This chapter examines the reception and interpretation of the Song of Songs’ text and tradition in sixteenth-century England, with particular attention to its politico-religious use, to the rich tradition of verse versions, and to the appropriation of the biblical book in religious poetry. After discussing how the Song of Songs emerged as a key text for anti-Catholic nationalism, it focuses on the poetic celebration of Queen Elizabeth as the biblical Spouse. Next, this chapter dwells on the tradition of English verse versions of the Song of Songs, including William Baldwin’s The Canticles, or Balades of Salomon and Gervase Markham’s The Poem of Poems. Or, Sions Muse, showing how this tradition often provided a bridge between the biblical book and the English love lyric. The last sections are devoted to an overview of religious verse, including works by Robert Southwell, Henry Constable, Elizabeth Melville, John Donne, and Aemilia Lanyer.
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