British Poetry and Drama: 14th to 17th Centuries by Dr. S. Priya Dharsini is a comprehensive and insightful textbook designed for B.A. 2nd Semester English (Honours) students under the NEP & CBCS curriculum. Published by Mahaveer Publications, Dibrugarh, this volume traces the evolution of English literature from the Medieval to the Renaissance era, highlighting the poetic and dramatic traditions that laid the foundation of British literary excellence.

The book provides a detailed study of the major poets and dramatists from the 14th to 17th centuries, including Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, John Donne, and others. It presents the historical background, literary movements, and thematic concerns that defined each period — from medieval allegory and morality plays to the rich humanism and artistic brilliance of the Elizabethan stage.

Written in a lucid, analytical, and student-friendly style, this book includes:

• Concise introductions to major literary movements — Medieval, Renaissance, and Metaphysical

• Critical analysis of prescribed poems and plays with thematic and stylistic interpretations

• Explanatory notes, discussion questions, and references to aid learning and exam preparation

• Focus on the cultural and intellectual transitions that shaped early modern English literature

Ideal for undergraduate English Honours students, this textbook serves as both a core study material and a reliable reference guide, helping learners appreciate the continuity and transformation of British poetic and dramatic art from the 14th to the 17th century.

Contents

UNIT I: INTRODUCTION

• The Renaissance Humanism

• The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation

• Religious and Political Thought

• Ideas of Love and Marriage

• The Writer in Society

UNIT II: POETRY

1. Geoffrey Chaucer — The Wife of Bath’s Prologue

2. Edmund Spenser — Selections from Amoretti

   • Sonnet LXVII: “Like as a huntsman”

   • Sonnet LVII: “Sweet warrior”

   • Sonnet LXXV: “One day I wrote her name”

3. William Shakespeare — Sonnets 30, 116

4. John Donne —

   • The Sunne Rising

   • Batter My Heart

   • Death be Not Proud

   • A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

UNIT III: ELIZABETHAN / RENAISSANCE DRAMA

• Christopher Marlowe — Doctor Faustus

UNIT IV: SHAKESPEARE’S TRAGEDY

• William Shakespeare — Macbeth

UNIT V: SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDY

• William Shakespeare — Twelfth Night

Bibliography