This volume collects together for the first time the best contemporary published work on the dramatist and author George Peele. Written by renowned scholars, the reprinted essays discuss Peele's prolific literary output, including his Lord Mayor's Pageants, Court Entertainments, occasional poems, and his many plays. The volume features a substantial introduction which discusses Peele's life and works, particularly in the context of the other five University Wits.

David Bevington is Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and Professor in English Language and Literature and Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, USA.

Contents: Introduction; Part I Lord Mayor's Pageants, Court Entertainments, Occasional Poems: Entertainments for court and city, A.R. Braunmuller; 'Many a 'Herdsman' more disposde to morne': Peele, Campion, and the Portugal expedition of 1589, Hugh Gazzard. Part II The Arraignment of Paris: Gifts and reasons: the contexts of Peele's 'The Araygnement of Paris', Louis Adrian Montrose; The triumph of chastity: form and meaning in The Arraignment of Paris, Andrew von Hendy; Pastoral poetry: the vitality and versatility of a convention, Hallett Smith; Elizabethan epideictic drama: praise and blame in the plays of Peele and Lyly, R. Headlam Wells. Part III The Old Wives Tale: The Protestant context of George Peele's 'pleasant conceited' 'Old Wives Tale', Frank Ardolino; Homely matter and multiple plots in Peele's 'Old Wives Tale', John D. Cox; 'Seeing is believing': action and narration in 'The Old Wives Tale' and 'The Winter's Tale', Philip Edwards; Old wives' tales, George Peele, and narrative abjection, Mary Ellen Lamb; 'Soft, who have we here?': the dramatic technique of 'The Old Wives Tale', Joan C. Marx; The hearth and the cell: art in 'The Old Wives Tale', Susan T. Viguers. Part IV The Battle of Alcazar: 'Alcazar': the text and the sources, David Bradley; Moors, villainy and 'The Battle of Alcazar', Peter Hyland; The Battle of Alcazar, Eldred Jones. Part V Edward I: 'Edward I': in peace triumphant, fortunate in wars, A.R. Braunmuller. Part VI David and Bathsheba: Peele's 'David and Bethsabe': reconsidering Biblical drama of the long 1590s, Annaliese Connolly; The House of David in Renaissance drama: a comparative study, Inga-Stina Ewbank; 'What words, what looks, what wonders?': language and spectacle in the theatre of George Peele, Inga-Stina Ewbank. Part VII Peele and Titus Andronicus: Mutius: an obstacle removed in Titus Andronicus, Brian Boyd; Name index.