The Ludic Self in Seventeenth-Century English LiteratureThis book argues that play offered Hamlet, John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, Robert Burton, and Sir Thomas Browne a way to live within the contradictions and conflicts of late Renaissance life by providing a new stance for the self. Grounding its argument in recent theories of play and in a historical analysis that sees the seventeenth century as a point of crisis in the formation of the western self, the author demonstrates how play helped mediate this crisis and how central texts of the period enact this mediation. |
Contents
Self and Play Definitions | 1 |
Hamlet A Man to Double Business Bound An Example | 15 |
Play and Historical Process | 35 |
John Donne at Play in Between | 49 |
George Herbert Pulling for Prime | 79 |
Andrew Marvell Recreating the Self | 105 |
Robert Burtons Play Therapy for a Melancholy Age | 139 |
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Common terms and phrases
ambiguous Anatomy Anatomy of Melancholy Andrew Marvell Angler Appleton House become body Brian Sutton-Smith Browne's Burton Cambridge century child Childhood Christ Church Claudius Claudius's Colie comic conflicts confusion contemporaries contests contradictions critics cultural Damon death defined describes divine Donne's double bind drama Ecchoing Song England English Essays experience Family father fear fiction fish folly fool frame Garden Garden of Cyrus George Herbert God's Hamlet human ideal identity John Donne King liminal literary Literature live London lover ludic Marvell's lyrics medieval melancholy metaphor mirror mother nurture nymph Ophelia Oxford paradox Patrides play players playful poem poet poetic Poetry political praise presence Press Pseudodoxia reader Religio Medici religious Renaissance retreat ritual Robert Robert Burton role s/he separation sermon seventeenth seventeenth-century Shakespeare Sir Thomas Browne social soul speaker stance structure Studies T. S. Eliot thee thou tion tradition trans truth voice words York