Compilation and Circulation: The Fortunes of Early Catholic Verse Miscellanies

• In Event: Printers, Smugglers, Readers, and Scribes: The Book Culture of the Elizabethan Catholic Underground

Abstract

This paper will examine some selected Catholic verse miscellanies and make suggestions about the circulation of their material contents in non-Catholic manuscripts and in printed forms. It will notice particularly the changes in content as verses move through different media, and changing strategies of representation tailored to different reader audiences. Robert Southwell’s religious poetry appears as merely “divine” and “witty” poetry in non-Catholic print publication, or as snippets of general moral advice, often unattributed, in Protestant manuscript collections. British Library, Additional MS 15.225, another example, includes a Catholic ballad on the heavenly Jerusalem featuring the Virgin Mary singing the Magnificat amidst gathered virgins sitting at her feet, while printed versions, such as The Song of Mary (1601), omit the stanza entirely. Catholic verse miscellanies supplied materials for various audiences and various purposes throughout the early modern period.

Author

• Robert S. Miola, Loyola University Maryland