A comprehensive survey of English literary culture from the late fifteenth to the mid-seventeenth century, this collection maps the development of poetry, drama, and prose within the transformative contexts of the Reformation, the rise of print, courtly and public theatrical institutions, and civil conflict. Its essays examine both canonical and lesser-known writers and a wide range of genres—from epic and sonnet to sermon, masque, and prose fiction—while tracing how patronage networks, coteries, universities, and the book trade shaped literary production and reception. It also situates English writing within British and wider transnational frames, exploring questions of gender, religion, colonial encounter, and the politics of reading.