Guilty Creatures: Renaissance Poetry and the Ethics of Authorship
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In this innovative and learned study, Dennis Kezar examines how Renaissance poets conceive the theme of killing as a specifically representational and interpretive form of violence. Closely reading both major poets and lesser known authors of the early modern period, Kezar explores the ethical self-consciousness and accountability that attend literary killing, paying particular attention to the ways in which this reflection indicates the poet's understanding of his audience. Among the many poems through which Kezar explores the concept of authorial guilt elicited by violent representation are Skelton's Phyllyp Sparowe, Spenser's Faerie Queene, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the multi-authored Witch of Edmonton, and Milton's Samson Agonistes.
Introduction: The Renaissance Killing Poem31Courting Heresy and Taking the Subject: John Skelton's Precedent172Spenser and the Poetics of Indiscretion503The Properties of Shakespeare's Globe864The Witch of Edmonton and the Guilt of Possession1145Samson's Death by Theater and Milton's Art of Dying1396Guilt and the Constitution of Authorship in Henry V and the Antitheatrical Elegies of W. S. and Milton172Notes207Index263
