Scattergood (English literature, Trinity College, Dublin, emeritus) has gathered together several of his previously published papers, with some revisions, for this volume. He looks at Middle
and Early Modern English poems and prose that were written to address a specific occasion. This might be personal, like being wakened by one of those new-fangled clocks, to national, such as
the capture of nine French ships during the Hundred Years War. Scattergood moves from the personal to the universal in his examination of the poems. He has selected themes that reflect changes
in the society or the lives of the authors. These enlightening essays are a good reminder that literature is not created in a vacuum and that all writing is in some part, occasional. Annotation
穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
