By the standards of the 14th century, the writing style of the man who called himself Sir John Mandeville is so informal as to be nearly chummy: "He who wants to pass over the sea to Jerusalem, may go by many ways, both by sea and by land depending on the countries he comes from; many ways come to a single end. But do not think I shall tell of all the towns and cities and castles that men shall go by, for then I must make too long a tale of it." Historians remain skeptical as to whether the author really did journey to the Holy Land and Egypt, or hire himself out as a soldier to the Great Khan of China. Whatever the case, it is indisputable that he is one of the first modern travel writers, as we have come to know the genre, and that his book was considered authoritative in matters geographical throughout Europe--consulted by Leonardo da Vinci and Christopher Columbus alike.

Product Description: This critical essay on Milton's shorter poems covers his life and career, intellectual and poetic assumptions. Each poem has an introduction which includes the issues raised by it. Some poems, for example "Lycidas" are included in full with annotations.

Product Description: This book offers a reading of most of the poems collected by Milton in his youth and early maturity for Humphrey Moseley's publication of "The Poems of Mr John Milton" in 1645. The edition is examined as a poetic and political manifesto, anticipating many of the ideas more fully discussed in "Paradise Lost"...read more

Provides background information to the study of the history plays, surveys Elizabethan attitudes toward history, and discusses each play in detail, exploring their central issues