A Guide to Welsh Literature: 1530-1700

Edited by Geraint Gruffydd

A Guide to Welsh Literature: 1530-1700

Edited by Geraint Gruffydd

Distributed for University of Wales Press

293 pages | 8-2/5 x 5-2/5 | © 1997
University of Wales Press - Guide to Welsh Literature
Paper $39.95 ISBN: 9780708314005 Published April 1997 For sale in North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand only

This is the third of a series of volumes outlining the history and development of Welsh literature from its beginnings in the sixth century to the present day.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to Welsh literature of the period c. 1530-1700. During this period Welsh literature underwent a profound transformation, largely reflecting the political and social changes of the times. The old professional poetry went into a lingering decline, and new forms of free-metre verse arose to take its place. The advent of humanism provided the impetus for remarkable Biblical translations, which laid the foundations for a new style of religious prose-writing practiced in varying ways by Anglicans, Puritans and Catholics alike. From a total dependence on manuscripts for the dissemination of literature at the beginning of the sixteenth century there was a shift to an almost total dependence on print by the end of the seventeenth century. All these topics are discussed lucidly and systematically by leading authorities.

Contents
Gareth Elwyn Jones, Wales 1550-1700 - The Historical Background
 
Ceri W. Lewis, The Decline of Professional Poetry
 
Cennard Davies, Early Free-Metre Poetry
 
Nesta Lloyd, Late Free-Metre Poetry
 
Branwen Jarvis, Welsh Humanist Learning
 
Isaac Thomas,Translating the Bible
 
R. Geraint Gruffydd, Anglican Poetry
 
M. Wynn Thomas, Seventeenth-Century Puritan Writers: Morgan Llwyd and Charles Edwards
 
Geraint Bowen, Roman Catholic Prose and its Background
 
Graham C. G. Thomas,From Manuscript to Print - I. Manuscript
 
Charles Parry, From Manuscript to Print - II. Printed Books.
Review Quotes
The Year's Work in English Studies

“ . . . in the excellent Guides to Welsh Literature.” –The Year’s Work in English Studies

Books in Wales

“A Guide to Welsh Literature c.1530-1700 mirrors the labours and mission of the scholars, poets, prose writers and translators whose works it seeks so succinctly and diligently to appreciate and evaluate. They would have revelled in its scholarship and erudition. It is a fitting tribute to their creativity and vision.” –Books in Wales

New Welsh Review

“The contributors to this volume do an excellent job of addressing the far-ranging effects of these developments on Welsh poetry and prose, while also highlighting the uniqueness of individual poets and writers . . . Given that this volume contains eleven chapters by eleven different contributions, it is remarkably coherent. While the thorough index makes this a very useful reference book, it can also be read straight through as a fluid narrative of literary history . . . Each chapter constitutes a solid introduction to its specific field . . .” –New Welsh Review

Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie

“The third volume of A Guide to Welsh Literature covers an époque in the history of Welsh literature which is characterised by profound changes in its form, function and content, reflecting equally profound changes in social and political structures . . . The book provides students of Welsh and Celtic with a fine survey of Welsh literature in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and more with an impressive and up to date introduction to the intellectual life of Wales in this crucial period of its history.” –Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie

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