In this comprehensive Companion over fifty of the very best of modern scholars - including Patrick Collinson, Germaine Greer, Richard Harries, Arthur Kinney, Andrew Hadfield , Jean Howard, and Judith Anderson - come together to offer an original and far-reaching survey of English Renaissance literature and culture.

The first part of the volume considers pertinent issues such as humanism, English reformations, the development of the language, court culture, and playhouses, in terms of the way in which these aspects of Renaissance culture influenced literary production.

There are provocative essays on canonical genres such as love poetry and Jacobean tragedy , but also accounts of popular and occasional drama and verse, and on the visual arts. The Companion also approaches key texts of the period through a number of new readings by eminent scholars in the field providing original perspectives and positions on both canonical and non-canonical texts. The essays include a range of approaches to a variety of texts from 'The Spanish Tragedy' and 'The Faerie Queen' to ''Tis Pity She's a Whore', the poems of Lady Mary Wroth, and a selection of critical elegies. In the final section, the book moves on to explore contemporary debates in Renaissance studies such as feminism, sexuality, historicism, and nation. This Companion is the only book of its kind to travel beyond the stage and is an invaluable guide for both student and teacher.