As the last Stuart monarch; Queen Anne (1665-1714) received the education thought proper for a princess; reading plays and poetry in English and French while learning dancing; singing; acting; drawing; and instrumental music. As an adult; she played the guitar and the harpsichord; danced regularly; and took a connoisseurs interest in all the arts.In this comprehensive interdisciplinary biography; James Winn tells the story of Annes life in new breadth and detail; and in unprecedented cultural context. Winn shows how poets; painters; and musicians used the works they made for Anne to send overt and covert political messages to the queen; the court; the church; and Parliament. Their works also illustrate the pathos of Annes personal life: the loss of her mother when she was six; her troubled relations with her father and her sister (James II and Mary II); and her own doomed efforts to produce an heir. Her eighteen pregnancies produced only one child who lived past infancy; his death at the age of eleven; mourned by poets; was a blow from which Anne never fully recovered. Her close friendship with Sarah; Duchess of Marlborough; a topic of scabrous ballads and fictions; ended in bitter discord; the death of her husband in 1708 left her emotionally isolated; and the wrangling among her chief ministers hastened her death.Richly illustrated with visual and musical examples; Queen Anne draws on works by a wide array of artists-among them the composer George Frideric Handel; the poet Alexander Pope; the painter Godfrey Kneller; and the architect Christopher Wren-to shed new light on Annes life and reign. This is the definitive biography of Queen Anne.
#491503 in eBooks 2014-06-02 2014-06-02File Name: B00KYM9JLU
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A Royal MM RomanceBy Christopher (o.d.c.)Enter QUEEN ISABELLA and the younger MORTIMER.Y. Mor. Fair Isabel; now have we our desire;The proud corrupters of the light-braind kingHave done their homage to the lofty gallows;And he himself lies in captivity.Be ruld by me; and we will rule the realm:In any case take heed of childish fear;For now we hold an old wolf by the ears;That; if he slip; will seize upon us both;And gripe the sorer; being gripd himself.Christopher Marlowe brought something to the Elizabethan stage which it had lacked: nothing less than genius. First of all; for iambic pentameter so rhythmic and vigorous (Ben Jonson called it "Marlowes mighty line"); it almost reads itself; which is one reason the occasional formatting slip and lack of notes in this Gutenberg edition are barely noticeable.Shakespeare took much from Marlowe. From this play; the dramatic compression of historical events. But Shakespeare in his plays at least; never portrayed a mans passionate love for another man as boldly as Marlowe does here:Enter GAVESTON. K. Edw. My Gaveston! Welcome to Tynmouth! welcome to thy friend!Thy absence made me droop and pine away;For; as the lovers of fair Danaeuml;;When she was lockd up in a brazen tower;Desird her more; and waxd outrageous;So did it fare with me: and now thy sightIs sweeter far than was thy parting henceBitter and irksome to my sobbing heart.Gav. Sweet lord and king; your speech preventeth mine;Yet have I words left to express my joy:The shepherd; nipt with biting winters rage;Frolics not more to see the painted springThan I do to behold your majesty.The depiction of Edwards degradation and murder in the last act was years ahead of its time. The villain Lightborn is truly Jacobean. That this pitiable scene is otherwise surrounded by camp proves that Marlowe knew (instinctively?) when to sink it. It was a pleasure to re-read this after many years.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A Very Interesting Play Both To Read And For StudyBy FCD117I liked reading this play very much. The play was composed by Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe was a contemporary of Shakespeare. Marlowe seems to have led a complicated life and died young under questionable circumstances.Marlowe and other playwrights including Shakespeare influenced each other. It is this that makes Marlowes plays interesting to me. I also found this play quite readable compared to some of Shakespeares plays; at least his later plays; for which I often need study guides.As I do with other plays; I read the script and then downloaded an audio version. I listened to the audio version and enjoyed the entire exercise very much. This has also added much to my studying of Shakespeare. Thank You.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Great play; horrible formattingBy MelissaOf course; Edward the Second is a wonderful play. I realize that I downloaded the free version; but it wasnt broken up into acts or scenes; and some parts were lumped together instead of written like a play. It was hard to figure out who was talking often because of the abbreviations used for speakers names. It got the job done; but it was hard to read during class because of this. If youre reading this because of a class; it might be easier to buy the paperback copy; or look up the ending points of each act and mark them on the digital copy; which was what I did.
