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This original book challenges prevailing accounts of English literary history, arguing that English literature emerged as a distinct category during the late sixteenth century, as England's relationship with classical Rome was suffering an unprecedented strain. Exploring the myths through which poets such as Geoffrey Whitney, William Shakespeare, and John Milton understood the nature of their art, Sean Keilen shows how they invented archaic origins for a new kind of writing. When history obliged English poets to regard themselves as victims of the Roman Conquest rather than rightful heirs of classical Latin culture, it also required a redefinition of their relations with Roman literature. Keilen shows how the poets' search for a new beginning drew them to rework familiar fables about Orpheus, Philomena, and Circe, and invent a new point of departure for their own poetic history.

Birds in literature --- Birds in poetry --- Mythologie [Klassieke ] in de literatuur --- Mythologie classique dans la littérature --- Mythology [Classical ] in literature --- Nachtegaal in de literatuur --- Nightingale in literature --- Oiseaux dans la littérature --- Orpheus (Greek mythology) in literature --- Orpheus (Griekse mythologie) in de literatuur --- Orphée (Mythologie grecque) dans la littérature --- Rossignol dans la littérature --- Vogels in de literatuur --- Birds in literature. --- English literature --- Mythology, Classical, in literature. --- Nightingale in literature. --- Orpheus (Greek mythology) in literature. --- Renaissance --- Classical influences. --- History and criticism. --- Milton, John, --- Shakespeare, William, --- Whitney, Geffrey, --- Knowledge --- Ornithology. --- Shakespeare, William --- Ornithology --- Whitney, Geffrey --- Milton, John --- Early modern, 1500-1700 --- History and criticism --- Classical influences --- England