Poetical Works (Volume II). by Giles and Phineas Fletcher - 1970.

Cambridge, UK Cambridge: At the University Press, 1970. Hardcover First Edition (1909); Second Printing (1970). Near Fine in Very Good DJ: The Book shows indications of very careful use: a few small, faint soil spots at the bottom edge of the text block; faint tanning to the endpapers; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome, close-to-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing only very mild wear and unobtrusive cosmetic flaws. Bright and clean. Corners sharp. Very close to 'As New'. The DJ shows very light wear to extremities, with several tiny nicks and tears; mild rubbing; faint sunning to the blue-toned background field of the backstrip and along the top edge of the front panel; unclipped. Shows mild wear and minor cosmetic flaws, but remains attractive and intact. unclipped. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (8.6 x 6 x 1.15 inches). xxiii, 310 pages. Edited by Frederick S. Boas. Language: English. Weight: 23 ounces. First Edition (1908); Second Printing (1970). Hardback with DJ. Originally published in two volumes in 1908 and 1909, the present work remains the standard edition of the poetical works of Giles Fletcher and his brother Phineas Fletcher. The second volume includes the poems, original or translated, of Phineas Fletcher which appeared in or after that year.Phineas Fletcher wrote throughout his life. At his death he left behind a body of literature larger than that of his Renaissance contemporaries: in fact, his work rivals in size the canons of Spenser and Milton. The collected works of Phineas Fletcher include an epic, an epyllion, a drama, several medium-length verse narratives, pastoral eclogues, verse epistles, epithalamia, hymns, psalms, translations, various songs, occasional pieces, lyrics, and devotional poems. In scope, variety, and quality, his writings are second to none of that age. In 1627 he published Locustae, vel Pietas Jesuitica (The Locusts or Apollyonists), two parallel poems in Latin and English furiously attacking the Jesuits. Grosart saw in this work one of the sources of Milton's conception of Satan. Next year appeared an erotic poem, Brittain's Ida, with Edmund Spenser's name on the title page. It is certainly not by Spenser, and is printed by Grosart with the works of Phineas Fletcher. Sicelides was printed in 1631. In 1633 his magnum opus, The Purple Island was published. The book was dedicated to his friend Edward Benlowes, and included his Piscatorie Eclogues and other Poetical Miscellanies. He died in 1650 in Hilgay, Norfolk. The Purple Island, or the Isle of Man, is a poem in twelve cantos describing in cumbrous allegory the physiological structure of the human body and the mind of man. The intellectual qualities are personified, while the veins are rivers, the bones the mountains of the island, the whole analogy being worked out with great ingenuity. The manner of Spenser is preserved throughout, but Fletcher never lost sight of his moral aim to lose himself in digressions like those of the Faerie Queene. The chief charm of the poem lies in its descriptions of rural scenery. The Piscatory Eclogues are pastorals, the characters of which are represented as fisher boys on the banks of the Cam, and are interesting for the light they cast on the biography of the poet himself (Thyrsil) and his father (Thelgon).