Literary Criticism (1400-1800)

Googe, Barnabe | Simon McKeown and William E. Sheidley (essay date 2001)

Simon McKeown and William E. Sheidley (essay date 2001)

SOURCE: McKeown, Simon and William E. Sheidley. Introduction to The Shippe of Safegarde (1569), by Barnabe Googe, pp. xiii-xxxiv. Tempe, Ariz.: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1989.

[In the following excerpt, McKeown and Sheidley analyze Googe's The Ship of Safegarde, which they see as a moralizing poem extolling the rewards of a virtuous life and the superiority of Protestantism over Catholicism.]

In 1569 the London printer William Seres, renowned mainly for producing books of prayers and devotions, published a slim octavo volume entitled A newe Booke called the Shippe of safegarde.1 This work, ascribed on the title-page to one “G. B.,” has the appearance of a poetic miscellany; in addition to a prose dedication, the volume includes an introductory address to the reader in fourteeners, two narrative versifications of miraculous...

[The entire page is 9704 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

Lookup any word on eNotes with our dictionary. Highlight the word and press SHIFT + D for a definition, or SHIFT + T for a synonym.