BIOGRAPHY

Kinloch, T. F. The Life and Works of Joseph Hall, 1574-1656. London: Staples Press, 1951, 206 p.

Comprehensive survey of Hall's life and literary works.

CRITICISM

Boyce, Benjamin. “Joseph Hall's Characters of Vertues and Vices.” In The Theophrastan Character in England to 1642, pp. 122-35. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1947.

Identifies Hall as the first significant character sketch writer in England and focuses on important features of the genre.

Clausen, Wendell. “The Beginnings of English Character-Writing in the Early Seventeenth Century.” Philological Quarterly 25, no. 1 (January 1946): 32-45.

Maintains that the Theophrastus was not the only literary source for English character sketch writers, asserting that Ben Jonson was perhaps a more significant influence on the development of the English form of the genre.

Corthell, Ronald J. “Joseph Hall's Characters of Vertues and Vices: A ‘Novum Repertum.’” Studies in Philology 76, no. 1 (January 1979): 28-35.

Suggests that Hall's innovation of the Theophrastan character sketch model “is controlled by Biblical models and by Renaissance literary theory and practice.”

———. “Joseph Hall and Seventeenth-Century Literature.” John Donne Journal 3, no. 2 (1984): 249-68.

Surveys modern Hall scholarship and reviews recent editions of his works.

Fisch, H. “Bishop Hall's Meditations.” Review of English Studies 25, no. 99 (1949): 210-21.

Argues that Hall's model for writing meditations gave shape and theory to a formerly ambiguous concept, effectively creating a new literary genre.

Hall, H. Gaston. “Molière, Chevreau's École du sage, and Joseph Hall's Characters.” French Studies 29, no. 4 (October 1975): 398-410.

Proposes that Hall's sketch of “The Hypocrite” in Characters of Vertues and Vices influenced the characters in Molière's comedies.

Knutson, Harold C. “Three Characters in Search of a Vice: The Hypocrite in Theophrastus, Joseph Hall, and La Bruyère.” Dalhousie French Studies 27 (summer 1994): 51-63.

Considers Hall's role in the development of the character sketch genre in his Characters of Vertues and Vices.

Kranidas, Thomas. “Style and Rectitude in Seventeenth-Century Prose: Hall, Smectymnuus, and Milton.” Huntington Library Quarterly 46, no. 3 (summer 1983): 237-69.

Discusses how Hall and John Milton exercised self-presentation in their satires which contributed to the bishops' controversy. The critic defends Milton from charges of extreme vehemence and questions Hall's sincerity in their satirical exchange.

Limouze, Henry S. “Joseph Hall and the Prose Style of John Milton.” Milton Studies 15 (1981): 121-41.

Reviews the stylistic classifications of Hall as a follower of Seneca versus John Milton as a follower of Cicero.

Leslie, Marina. “Antipodal Anxieties: Joseph Hall, Richard Brome, Margaret Cavendish and the Cartographies of Gender.” Genre 30, no. 1 (spring-summer 1997): 51-78.

Discusses Hall's satire Mundus Alter et Idem as an example of the misogynist images and metaphors.

Martz, Louis L. The Poetry of Meditation: A Study in English Religious Literature of the Seventeenth Century, 1954. Revised edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962.

Landmark study of meditation poetry in which Hall is identified as an important influence on the genre.

Peter, John. “Renaissance Satire.” In Complaint and Satire in Early English Literature, pp. 104-56. 1959. Reprint. Folcroft, Penn.: Folcroft Press, 1969.

Examines the development of satire in Renaissance England, identifying Hall's satire as a precursor to the more mature work of John Marston.

Salyer, Sandford M. “Hall's Satires and the Harvey-Nashe Controversy.” Studies in Philology 25, no. 4 (April 1928): 149-70.

Analyzes Hall's allusions to Thomas Nashe and Gabriel Harvey in his satires, concluding that Hall may have attempted to gain attention by connecting himself to their dispute.

Selden, Raman. “The Elizabethan Satyr-Satirist.” In English Verse Satire, 1590-1765, pp. 45-72. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978.

Considers classical and medieval precedents for Renaissance satire and finds in Hall's work a balance of stoicism and the influence of Juvenal.

Smith, Philip A. “Bishop Hall, ‘Our English Seneca.’” PMLA 63, no. 4 (December 1948): 1191-1204.

Details the significant aspects of the stoic influence in Hall's writing, particularly the importance of reason and moderation.

Stein, Arnold. “Joseph Hall's Imitation of Juvenal.” Modern Language Review 43 (1948): 315-322.

Maintains that although Hall was influenced by Juvenal, his debt to the classical satirist has generally been overstated.

Additional information on Hall's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 121 and 151, and Reference Guide to English Literature Ed. 2.