Book Cover -- Half-Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface to the Second Edition -- Preface to the First Edition -- Introduction: Renaissance Poetry and Modern Readers -- 1 The Golden Age and the Garden of Eden -- 2 The Pagan Gods -- (a) Venus and Adonis -- (b) Hercules -- (c) Osiris -- 3 Platonism and Neoplatonism -- 4 Stoicism -- 5 Views of History -- 6 Cosmology -- 7 Reformation and Counter-Reformation -- 8 Protestant Theology -- 9 Humanism -- 10 Biblical Exegesis and Typology -- 11 Theories of Poetry -- 12 Allegory -- 13 Numerology -- A Note on the Division of Historical Periods -- Abbreviations -- References -- Further Reading -- INTRODUCTION -- 1 THE GOLDEN AGE AND THE GARDEN OF EDEN -- 2 THE PAGAN GODS -- 3 PLATONISM AND NEOPLATONISM -- 4 STOICISM -- 5 VIEWS OF HISTORY -- 6 COSMOLOGY -- 7 REFORMATION AND COUNTER-REFORMATION -- 8 PROTESTANT THEOLOGY -- 9 HUMANISM -- 10 BIBLICAL EXEGESIS AND TYPOLOGY -- 11 THEORIES OF POETRY -- 12 ALLEGORY -- 13 NUMEROLOGY -- Bibliographical Appendix -- A ENGLISH RENAISSANCE AUTHORS -- B CLASSICAL, MEDIEVAL AND CONTINENTAL RENAISSANCE AUTHORS -- Author Index.