George Saintsbury undertakes a comprehensive critical survey of Elizabethan literature, tracing its trajectory from the publication of Tottel's Miscellany in 1557 through the flourishing of drama and poetry at the turn of the century. The primary problem addressed is the long barren period of English letters preceding this era and the gradual evolution of a distinct national voice through the rediscovery of classical models and the adaptation of continental forms. The book examines the metrical innovations and personal note introduced by Wyatt and Surrey, the towering influence of Spenser's allegorical mastery, and the dramatic revolution initiated by the university wits and culminated by Shakespeare.
Throughout the text, the author explores the development of early English prose from the unadorned humanist style of Ascham to the rich periods of Hooker and the ornate euphuism of Lyly. He contrasts the strict classical tragedy of the Senecan model with the untamed vitality of native chronicle plays and melodramas, mapping the growth of both comedic farce and tragic grandeur. Attention is given to the various poetic miscellanies, the sonnet crazes of the 1590s, and the rise of historical poetry and formal satire by writers such as Daniel, Drayton, and Donne.
The volume highlights individual literary figures while evaluating their relative contributions to the formation of a national literature, analyzing both formal structures and thematic substance. Saintsbury offers detailed textual criticism of major works, illustrating how technical experiments in prosody—such as blank verse and the Spenserian stanza—paved the way for the golden age of English poetry. The work maintains a balance between historical context and aesthetic judgment, assessing the successes and failures of the period's experimental literature.
By examining the transition from medieval conventions to Renaissance individualism, the author demonstrates how foreign influences were successfully absorbed and transformed by English writers. The narrative follows the gradual mastery of linguistic and metrical tools that eventually placed English literature on a level with the classical languages. Through meticulous analysis, the text illuminates the complex interplay between scholarly ambition and native vernacular expression that characterized the age.
The study concludes by establishing the foundations of the subsequent seventeenth-century literary output, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of the formative decades that preceded the Jacobean era. Without resorting to direct spoilers of literary trajectories, Saintsbury hints at the ultimate maturity of the English theatrical and poetic tradition as a direct result of these early trials. The result is a foundational work of literary history that maps the intellectual landscape of late sixteenth-century England with remarkable breadth.
