I conceived the idea of a book that would make Renaissance poetry more accessible to the student reader when I first began undergraduate teaching, and throughout the preparation and writing of this book I have had the needs of the student reader foremost in my mind. In my attempt to synthesise and clarify large and often complex areas of knowledge I have drawn freely on the work of scholars in a number of fields relevant to Renaissance studies. The way in which I have chosen to organise the book, with the interests of the student, not the scholar, in mind, means that I have not distinguished the original from the borrowed parts of my argument. However, although I have not acknowledged specific debts, the more important of these are indicated in the lists of Further Reading at the end of the book. I can only hope that my wish to see the intellectual context of Renaissance literature more widely understood will justify my dependence on the work of others.
I owe more immediate debts to former teachers and colleagues. My supervisors at Columbia University, especially Professor E.W.Tayler, taught me the need to explore the intellectual context of Renaissance literature. Colleagues at Leicester have given me help of different kinds: Professor A.D.Fitton Brown has provided me with some classical sources; J.C.Hilson has had many conversations with me about the nature of literary contexts; in particular, R.K.Biswas has discussed the planning of the book at all stages and patiently read and criticised the first draft in detail. T.M.Rivers has helped correct the proofs.
I wish to thank Penguin Books Ltd for permission to quote from the following copyright material: Augustine, Concerning the City of God against the Pagans, translated by Henry Bettenson, and Ovid, Metamorphoses, translated by Mary M.Innes.
ISABEL RIVERS
LEICESTER, DECEMBER 1977