"From Renaissance to Baroque" continues in the fine tradition of the highly respected critic, as Louis L. Martz addresses some of the central concerns in current studies of English poetry from the 16th and 17th centuries. "From Renaissance to Baroque" presents a selection of 12 essays examining the poetry of Marlowe, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, Herbert, Carew, Herrick, Marvell, Crashaw, and Vaughan, along with a study of "Vergil's "Eclogues" and an exploration of the nature and function of pastoral poetry. As a whole these essays develop two themes: the context of religious controversy within which this poetry developed, and the relationship of poetry to the visual arts, especially those of Mannerism and the Baroque. In pursuing the latter theme the book includes 40 illustrations, one in full colour, drawn from Leonardo, Raphael, El Greco, Tintoretto, Vermeer, Bernini, Rubens, Rembrandt, and others. Of special interest is the discussion, with eight illustrations, of all the known portraits of John Donne. The final essay, "The Protestant Baroque", published here for the first time, presents the author's latest views on religious poetry and art of the seventeenth century.
This suite of essays reflects Martz's breadth of understanding, as he reminds us that poetry is still an art, not merely a reflection of political oppression or coercion stuffed into meter and rhyme. The collection will be of major importance to all students of Renaissance poetry, especially those concerned with English religious poetry and with the relationship between poetry and the visual arts.