Since the dawn of history people have used charms and spells to try to control their environment, and forms of divination to try to foresee the... otherwise unpredictable chances of life. Many of these techniques were called 'superstitious' by educated elites. For centuries religious believers used 'superstition' as a term of abuse to denounce another religion that they thought inferior, or to criticize their fellow-believers for practising their faith 'wrongly'. From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, scholars argued over what 'superstition' was, how to identify it, and how to persuade people to avoid it. Learned believers in demons and witchcraft, in their treatises and sermons, tried to make 'rational' sense of popular superstitions by blaming them on the deceptive tricks of seductive demons. Every major movement in Christian thought, from rival schools of medieval theology through to the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, added new twists to the debates over superstition. Protestants saw Catholics as superstitious, and vice versa. Enlightened philosophers mocked traditional cults as superstitions. Eventually, the learned lost their worry about popular belief, and turned instead to chronicling and preserving 'superstitious' customs as folklore and ethnic heritage. Enchanted Europe is the first comprehensive, integrated account of western Europe's long, complex dialogue with its own folklore and popular beliefs. Drawing on many little-known and rarely used texts, Euan Cameron constructs a compelling narrative of the rise, diversification, and decline of popular 'superstition' in the European mind.

The second edition of the popular English Phonetics and Phonology textbook has been extensively updated and expanded to offer greater flexibility for... teachers and increased support for non-native speakers studying the sound systems of English. An ideal introduction to the study of the sound systems of English, designed for those with no previous knowledge of the subject Second edition now rigorously updated and expanded to reflect feedback from existing students and to increase support for non-native speakers of English Benefits from a useful introduction to articulatory phonetics, along with coverage of the main aspects of the phonological structure of present-day English Features a completely new chapter on the relationship between English spelling and pronunciation, extended coverage of intonation, and extensive revisions to sections on rhythm, word stress, intonation and varieties of English worldwide Will include invaluable chapter-by-chapter exercises, linked to sound files available on the accompanying website at www.wiley.com/go/carrphonetics (available upon publication)

This volume is perfect for introductory level students of English phonetics and phonology. Presupposing no previous knowledge of either phonetics or... phonology, it presents the subject with a minimum of technical terminology.

This is an introduction to the phonology of present-day English. It deals principally with three varieties of English: "General American," Southern... British "Received Pronunciation" and "Scottish Standard English." It offers a systematic and detailed discussion of the features shared by these major accents, and explains some major differences. Other varieties of English--Australian and New Zealand English, South African English and Hiberno-English--are also discussed briefly. Without focusing on current phonological theory and its evolution, the author demonstrates the importance of "theory," in whatever shape or form, in phonological argumentation. This textbook will be welcomed by all students of English language and linguistics.

With a friendly writing style and abundant illustrations, Pronunciation Made Simple (formerly English Pronunciation for International Students)... helps students understand and achieve the pronunciation patterns of native English speakers. Appropriate for both classroom use and self-study, this confidence-building text motivates students to practice their skills outside the classroom.

Box of 1,000 flash cards includes color-coded tabs on the top of the cards to easily remove and replace cards in the proper section. Card categories... include:   • misused words • misspelled words • vocabulary • write right

English Reformations takes a refreshing new approach to the study of the Reformation in England. Christopher Haigh's lively and readable study... disproves any facile assumption that the triumph of Protestantism was inevitable, and goes beyond the surface of official political policy to explore the religious views and practices of ordinary English people. With the benefit of hindsight, other historians have traced the course of the Reformation as a series of events inescapably culminating in the creation of the English Protestant establishment. Haigh sets out to recreate the sixteenth century as a time of excitement and insecurity, with each new policy or ruler causing the reversal of earlier religious changes. This is a scholarly and stimulating book, which challenges traditional ideas about the Reformation and offers a powerful and convincing alternative analysis.

The most extensive new collection in this field published in more than three decades, English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology surveys the... astonishing, and astonishingly varied, dramatic works written and performed in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.Popular in their own time, the 27 plays included here—by Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Webster, Thomas Middleton, among many others—reveal why these playwrights’ achievements, like Shakespeare’s, deserve reading, teaching, and performing afresh in our time. Edited by a team of exceptional scholars and teachers, this anthology opens an extraordinary tradition in drama to new readers and audiences.

The book considers the London theatrical culture which took shape in the 1570s and came to an end in 1642.Places emphasis on those plays that are... readily available in modern editions and can sometimes to be seen in modern productions, including Shakespeare. Provides students with the historical, literary and theatrical contexts they need to make sense of Renaissance drama. Includes a series of short biographies of playwrights during this period. Features close analyses of more than 20 plays, each of which draws attention to what makes a particular play interesting and identifies relevant critical questions. Examines early modern drama in terms of its characteristic actions, such as cuckolding, flattering, swaggering, going mad, and rising from the dead.

This is the first comprehensive collection of English Renaissance literary criticism to appear for nearly a century. Brian Vickers has brought together... a wide-ranging selection of texts, some well-known (such as Sir Philip Sidney's Apology for Poetry, the most brilliant critical essay of the whole Renaissance, here given complete), some little-known (Dudley North's account of Metaphysical poetry), and one being printed for the first time (John Ford's elegy on John Fletcher).

Rich selection of 123 poems by 6 great English Romantic poets: William Blake (24 poems), William Wordsworth (27 poems), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (10... poems), Lord Byron (16 poems), Percy Bysshe Shelley (24 poems) and John Keats (22 poems). Introduction and brief commentaries on the poets. Includes 2 selections from the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

Capturing the grandeur of a gracious, splendid Europe of wealth and Old World sensibilities, this glorious, complex novel has become a touchstone for a... great writer’s entire literary achievement. From the opening pages, when the high-spirited American girl Isabel Archer arrives at the English manor Gardencourt, James’s luminous, superbly crafted prose creates an atmosphere of intensity, expectation, and incomparable beauty. Isabel, who has been taken abroad by an eccentric aunt to fulfill her potential, attracts the passions of a British aristocrat and a brash American, as well as the secret adoration of her invalid cousin, Ralph Touchett. But her vulnerability and innocence lead her not to love but to a fatal entrapment in intrigue, deception, and betrayal. This brilliant interior drama of the forming of a woman’s consciousness makes The Portrait of a Lady a masterpiece of James’s middle years.