Poetry on Pre-Raphaelite principles: science, nature and knowledge in William Michael Rossetti’s 'Fancies at Leisure' and 'Mrs. Holmes Grey'

This article demonstrates how early Pre-Raphaelite poetry worked according to the principle that art should be modelled on science theorised by the Pre-Raphaelites in their early essays. As the main theorists (rather than practitioners) of Pre-Raphaelite art, F. G. Stephens and William Michael Rossetti defined the Pre-Raphaelite project in terms of observation, investigation, experiment, the “adherence to fact” and the “search after truth”. In the hands of the early Pre-Raphaelite poets, and particularly Rossetti himself, poetry too becomes a mode of scientific enquiry into the natural world, the nature of observation, human psychology and medical practice.

Persia and kingship in William Cartwright's The Royall Slave (1636)

The recent reorientation of early modern studies draws attention to the Renaissance stage as a site of exploration of images of the Islamic world. This article examines the use of ancient and contemporary Persia in William Cartwright’s The Royall Slave (1636), in which Persia figures as a convenient space through which to examine political issues relevant to the audience at home in England. Assessing the construction of idealized societies and rulers in the play, The Royall Slave is a contemporary Court and academic drama that demonstrates its importance as one of a number of synchronous texts that represent Persia.