An imaginative and exciting mixture of literary criticism and cultural analysis, The Poem, the Garden, and the World shows just how important the advent of the pleasure garden was in shaping the imaginations of so many writers after it became popular in the sixteenth century. Whether thinking about escaping from the pressures of real life or the development of a national form and consciousness, literary style or the advent and spread of the British Empire, the reality and idea of the pleasure garden was central to the development of English Renaissance literature, particularly the work of Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. Jim Ellis has written an important book that helps us understand the nature of early modern English writing. Andrew Hadfield, author of Lying in Early Modern English Culture: From the Oath of Supremacy to the Oath of Allegiance
In this thoroughly researched, theoretically sophisticated, and well-written book, Jim Ellis shows how important gardens, both real and fictional, were to English Renaissance culture. As he demonstrates, gardens were important to look at, to move through, and to think with. The Poem, the Garden, and the World is an illuminating work of cultural studies that should be widely read and appreciated. Stephen Guy-Bray, author of Shakespeare and Queer Representation
