The literary and political activity of manuscript verse collectors -- The politics of courtly and anti-courtly love poetry in the hands of collectors -- 'Love-song weeds, and satyrique thornes': anti-courtly love poetry and Somerset libels -- The Spanish match and the history of sexuality -- Verse collectors and Buckingham's assassination -- Epilogue: redeploying anti-courtly love poetry against the Protectorate
Summary
This is an analyis of the contribution to literary history of early 17th century hand-written English poetry anthologies. Compiled by manuscript verse collectors, these anthologies preserved a number of pieces by major authors of the English Renaissance, yet they tended to surround them with unprintable verses on sex and politics
