Saturday, March 28, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
17th Century
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Texts
7. Fair Margaret and Sweet WilliamFair Margaret and Sweet William — a ballad of love, death, and supernatural visitation.8. Annan WaterAnnan Water — a Scottish ballad of a lover who drowns crossing the swollen Annan Water to reach his beloved.9. The Bailiff's Daughter of IslingtonThe Bailiff's Daughter of Islington — a ballad of faithful love rewarded after years of separation.10. Barbara Allen's CrueltyBarbara Allen's Cruelty — one of the most widely known English ballads, a tale of hard-hearted love and its consequences.15. Robin Hood and Allen-a-DaleRobin Hood and Allen-a-Dale — Robin Hood rescues a young man's bride from a forced marriage to an old knight.17. Robin Hood's Death and BurialRobin Hood's Death and Burial — the ballad of Robin Hood's final betrayal and death at Kirklees Priory.18. The Twa CorbiesThe Twa Corbies — a Scottish ballad in which two ravens discuss a slain knight whose body lies unattended.19. Waly, Waly, Love be BonnyWaly, Waly, Love be Bonny — a Scottish lament of love's inconstancy and the sorrows of a forsaken lover.21. The Fause LoverThe Fause Lover — a ballad of a maiden betrayed by a false lover who reveals himself as the Devil.22. The MermaidThe Mermaid — a ballad of supernatural enchantment and drowning.25. The Banks o' YarrowThe Banks o' Yarrow — a Scottish ballad of betrayal and murder by the banks of the Yarrow Water.A Letter to a FriendSir Thomas Browne's meditation on the death of a friend, blending medical observation with philosophical counsel on mortality, virtue, and the brevity of life.A True and Exact History of the Island of BarbadosRichard Ligon's 1657 account of colonial Barbados — sugar plantations, natural history, enslaved peoples, and island society, written from debtor's prison.A Voyage into TartaryA Frenchman's extraordinary account of his travels through Greece, Turkey, and into the remote interior of Tartary — a rare 17th-century travel narrative of wild adventure and philosophical curiosity.A Voyage to St. KildaMartin Martin's 1698 account of sailing to St. Kilda, the most remote inhabited island in the Hebrides — a firsthand portrait of a people who had never seen a tree, thought writing was sorcery, and lived in the innocence the poets only feigned for the Golden Age.Dampiers New Voyage Round the WorldWilliam Dampier's circumnavigation of the globe (1679–1691) — the pirate-naturalist who inspired Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, and Darwin's Beagle voyage. The book that made the English-speaking world look outward.Hydriotaphia, or Urn-BurialBrowne's meditation on death, burial, and the vanity of monuments — prompted by the discovery of ancient funeral urns in Norfolk. One of the greatest prose works in English. Published 1658.LithoboliaRichard Chamberlain's eyewitness journal of a three-month poltergeist haunting at Great Island, New Hampshire, 1682 — one of the earliest supernatural narratives from colonial America.Religio MediciSir Thomas Browne's personal confession of faith — the religion of a physician who traveled through Catholic and Protestant Europe and emerged with charity broad enough for all. First published 1643.The History of LaplandJohannes Scheffer's 1674 ethnographic masterwork on the Sami people of northern Scandinavia — the first scholarly study of Sami religion, magic, customs, and daily life, commissioned by the Chancellor of Sweden and translated into English at Oxford.The Kingdom of DarknessNathaniel Crouch's 1688 compendium of near fourscore accounts of demons, specters, witches, apparitions, possessions, and supernatural disturbances, collected from authentic records both foreign and domestic.The Mysteryes of Nature and ArtJohn Bate's 1634 handbook of practical wonders — water engines, fireworks, painting, etching, medicines, and the magnificent experiments of an Elizabethan maker.The Strange and Dangerous Voyage of Captaine Thomas JamesCaptain Thomas James's 1633 journal of his harrowing voyage into Hudson Bay in search of the Northwest Passage — storms, ice, starvation, and near-death wintering on Charleton Island.Works of Anne BradstreetThe first published poet in the American colonies — Puritan piety and tender domestic observation from the New World.