ABSTRACT
In the sixteenth century a number of forces flowed together to produce the Elizabethan poetic drama, the greatest glory of the age. In Elizabethan England poetry and music lived in close association. The Elizabethan Prayer Book of 1559 was a compromise between the Queen and the reforming party in the House of Commons, and a compromise in which Elizabeth surrendered. The English gave the madrigal, a popular musical form imported from Italy, a warm reception. Queen Elizabeth alone was not the author of the glories of the Elizabethan age; also at work was the genius of the English people, which by mysterious alchemy blossomed then as never before or since. Elizabeth was 25 years of age when she rode to her coronation, a tall, athletic figure, with golden hair and flashing eyes, and vanity. Elizabeth's feigned anger at her ministers, if it was feigned, served the purpose of preventing France from going to war to avenge Mary Stuart's death.
