Michael Drayton, Literary History and Historians in Verse

The Uses of Medievalism in Early Modern England: Recovery, Temporality, and the “Passionating” of the Past

“…This was a "new kind of history," one that "combines lyric with historical narrative," and one that, in its tendency to articulate a specifically female voice, challenged "the selfassertive masculinity of epic historical narratives through its exploration of the personal and political consequences of desire" (Brown 2004, 179-80). Van Es (2008) and Budra (1995) have noted the deep roots of this "new" lyric history in both classical and native traditions, especially Ovid's Heroides and The Mirror for Magistrates; but it is Meres's language in describing the two poets that is most significant here. In its unusual use of "Passionate" as both a verb and an adjective, Meres identifies something vital to this writing.…”