ABSTRACT
The phrase 'English Renaissance' has traditionally referred to the period between 1509 and 1660, from the accession of Henry VIII to the Restoration of Charles II after the English Civil War. One important change instituted by recent historicist approaches is the development of alternative ways of reading the lyric poem. Arthur Marotti demonstrates that John Donne's lyrics were produced within the context of socio-literary coteries, which determined the subject-matter and style of the poetry so individually analysed by New Critics. The major difference between cultural materialists and new historicists lies in a preference for the work of Marxist theorists like Althusser and Williams rather than that of Foucault. Feminist modes of analysis have most significantly reconfigured the field of Renaissance studies. Psychoanalytic theory continues to offer intriguing interpretations of Renaissance poetry, although it has met with powerful opposition from some cultural critics. Literary critics in the field bring to light homoerotic relationships evident in literature but ignored by previous critics.
