Professor Cathy Shrank

School of English

Faculty Director of One University Strategy Delivery

English Cathy Shrank
Profile picture of English Cathy Shrank
c.shrank@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 8485

Full contact details

Professor Cathy Shrank
School of English
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Profile

My research focuses on early modern (or Renaissance) literature and culture. My interest in this area stems back to my undergraduate days at Cambridge, where a course on comparative literature introduced me to the poetry of the Henrician courtier Thomas Wyatt and his translations of Petrarch. I pursued this interest in early and mid-Tudor writing – an often neglected part of the canon – through my Masters and PhD, which looked at formations of English national identity in the decades after the break with Rome.

I moved to Sheffield in 2005, after stints at King’s College London and the University of Aberdeen.

Research interests

My research ranges from the late fifteenth to the late seventeenth century, and moves between poetry, prose, and drama, and between texts in manuscript and print. It also includes less obviously “literary” forms of writing, such as medical or educational works, although I’ve also written on hypercanonical figures like Shakespeare. The eclectic nature of what I study is exemplified by an on-going project on English dialogues: works written in the form of a conversation. These cover all sorts of topics, from teaching skills such as archery or maths, to the behaviour of women, or pressing political issues such as the marriage of Elizabeth I, the role of parliament, or the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. 

A lot of my research involves scholarly editing. Projects (completed and on-going) include Shakespeare’s poems, the works of the Elizabethan writer Thomas Nashe, and William Tyndale’s Parable of the Wicked Mammon. As with the work on dialogues, annotating these texts takes you down often unexpected paths, from working out the date of solar and lunar eclipses to acquiring a detailed knowledge of early modern insults. Soon I will be getting back to where my academic journey began, with an edition of the poems of Thomas Wyatt.

Other forthcoming work includes essays on the marital correspondence of Sir John Cheke, the relationship between literature and history, and a collection of essays (co-edited with Phil Withington) on Thomas More’s Utopia.

Publications

Books

  • Shrank C (2006) Writing the nation in Reformation England, 1530-1580. Oxford University Press on Demand. RIS download Bibtex download

Edited books

Journal articles

Chapters

  • Shrank C (2024) Rewriting Robert the Devil: Thomas Lodge and Medieval Romance In Donoghue D, Sobecki S & Watson N (Ed.), Form and Power in Medieval And Early Modern Literature (pp. 241-258). Boydell & Brewer RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2022) Making History: Poetry and Prosopopoeia, History in the Humanities and Social Sciences (pp. 286-305). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2022) Wyatt and Surrey, The Oxford History of Poetry in English (pp. 405-421). Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2022) Wyatt and Surrey In Bates C & Cheney P (Ed.), The Oxford History of Poetry in English: Volume 4. Sixteenth-Century British Poetry (pp. 405-421). Oxford: Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2021) Civil Instruction, The Cambridge Connection in Tudor England (pp. 232-251). BRILL RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C & Werstine P (2021) The Shakespeare manuscripts In Erne L (Ed.), The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Textual Studies (pp. 53-70). Bloomsbury RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2020) Mirroring the "Long Reformation": Translating Erasmus' Colloquies in Early Modern England*, Early Modern Literature and England's Long Reformation (pp. 7-23). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2020) Legends, Shrines and Ruined Tombs, Memory and the English Reformation (pp. 334-350). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2020) Citing scripture in late medieval and early modern English morality drama, Enacting the Bible in medieval and early modern drama Manchester University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2020) Legends, Shrines and Ruined Tombs Memory and Reformation in Female-Voiced Complaint, MEMORY AND THE ENGLISH REFORMATION (pp. 334-349). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2020) The Bow and the Book: Ascham’s Toxophilus In Nicholas L & Law C (Ed.), Roger Ascham and His Sixteenth-Century World (pp. 208-225). Brill RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2019) ‘Masters of civility: Castiglione’s Courtier, Della Casa’s Galateo and Guazzo’s Civil Conversation in early modern England’ In Marrapodi M (Ed.), The Routledge Research Companion to Anglo-Italian Renaissance Literature and Culture (pp. 144-159). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2019) Masters of civility Castiglione's Courtier, della Casa's Galateo, and Guazzo's Civil Conversation in early modern England, ROUTLEDGE RESEARCH COMPANION TO ANGLO-ITALIAN RENAISSANCE LITERATURE AND CULTURE (pp. 144-159). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C & Lyne R (2017) Shakespeare’s Sonnets, The Complete Poems of Shakespeare (pp. 269-623). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C & Lyne R (2017) ‘Let the Bird of Loudest Lay’, The Complete Poems of Shakespeare (pp. 251-267). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C & Lyne R (2017) Introduction, The Complete Poems of Shakespeare (pp. xiii-xv). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C & Lyne R (2017) A Lover’s Complaint, The Complete Poems of Shakespeare (pp. 625-661). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2017) Mocking or Mirthful? Laughter in early modern dialogue In Knights MJ & Morton A (Ed.), The Power of Laughter and Satire in Early Modern Britain: Political and Religious Culture, 1500-1820 Boydell & Brewer View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2017) Cross Sections (I): 1516-1520 In Keymer T (Ed.), The Oxford History of the Novel in English, vol. 1 (pp. 46-54). Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2017) On Error In Loffman C & Phillips H (Ed.), A Handbook of Editing Early Modern Texts (pp. 139-146). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2017) Promising Eternity in the 1609 Quarto Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Imprint previously known as Arden Shakespeare RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2016) Finding a Vernacular Voice: The Classical Translations of Sir Thomas Wyatt In Copeland R (Ed.), The Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature: Volume 1: 800-1558 (pp. 583-600). Oxford: Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2016) Disséquer le corps politique: la Couronne et le Parlement dans les dialogues politiques anglais du début du XVIIe siècle In Bouhaik-Girones M (Ed.), Usages et stratégies polémiques en Europe, XIVe-premier XVIIe siècle (pp. 155-166). Peter Lang RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2015) Mise-en-page, “the Authors Genius”, “the capacity of the Reader”, and the ambition of ‘a Good Compositer’, In Archer C & Peters L (Ed.), Religion and the Book Trade (pp. 66-82). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2013) All talk and no action? Early modern political dialogue, The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Prose (pp. 27-42). Oxford: Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2012) Beastly Metamorpohoses: Losing Control in Early Modern Literary Culture In Herring J (Ed.), Intoxication and Society (pp. 193-209). Palgrave MacMillan RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2011) Formation of Nationhood Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2011) 1553, Oxford History of Popular Print Culture, Vol 1 (pp. 537-547). Oxford University Press View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2010) Society In Kinney AF (Ed.), Elizabethan and Jacobean England Wiley-Blackwell RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2009) The Politics of Shakespeare's Sonnets In Armitage D, Condren C & Fitzmaurice A (Ed.), Shakespeare and Early Modern Political Thought (pp. 101-118). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C & Pincombe M (2009) The Travails of Tudor Literature In Pincombe M & Shrank C (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Literature:1485-1603 (pp. 1-19). OUP Oxford RIS download Bibtex download
  • Pincombe M & Shrank C (2009) Prologue: The Travails of Tudor Literature In Shrank C & Pincombe M (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Literature: 1485-1603 RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL (2009) 'Sir Thomas Elyot and the Bonds of Community' In Shrank C (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Literature (pp. 154-169). Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2008) Stammering, snoring and other problems in Early Modern dialogue In Blakeley J & Pincombe M (Ed.), Writing and Reform in Sixteenth-Century England (pp. 179-192). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C (2007) John Bale and reconfiguring the 'medieval' in Reformation England, READING THE MEDIEVAL IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND (pp. 179-+). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Withington P & Shrank C () Introduction to Thomas More’s Utopia, The Oxford Handbook of Thomas More's Utopia (pp. 1-16). Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C () Utopia in Sixteenth-Century Italy, The Oxford Handbook of Thomas More's Utopia (pp. 231-247). Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C () Answer Poetry and Other Verse “Conversations”, A Companion to Renaissance Poetry (pp. 376-388). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C () Elyot, Thomas John Wiley & Sons, Ltd RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C () Poetry and the Commonwealth, Edmund Spenser in Context (pp. 176-184). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C () ‘Hoysted high vpon the rolling wheele’: Elianor Cobham's Lament, A Mirror for Magistratesin Context (pp. 109-125). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C () Crafting the Nation, A Social History of England, 1500–1750 (pp. 19-38). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C () His sister's family: the Harts, The Shakespeare Circle (pp. 49-56). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C () Counsel, succession and the politics of Shakespeare's Sonnets, Shakespeare and Early Modern Political Thought (pp. 101-118). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank CL () ‘Civil instruction: Ordering the godly commonweal in John Cheke’s marital correspondence’ In McDiarmaid JF (Ed.), The Cambridge Connection in Tudor England: Humanism, Reform, Rhetoric, Politics Brill RIS download Bibtex download
  • Shrank C () Manuscript, Authenticity and 'evident proofs' against the Scottish Queen (pp. 198-218). View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download

Book reviews

  • Shrank C (2017) WILLIAM TYNDALE A very brief history. TLS-THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT(5985), 12-12. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download

Conference proceedings papers

Scholarly editions

  • Shrank C & Lyne R (2017) The Complete Poems of Shakespeare. Routledge. RIS download Bibtex download

Dictionary/encyclopaedia entries

  • Shrank CL (2010) Community. In Cultural Reformations Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
Research group

I welcome applications from potential research students in any area of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English literature and culture.

Current and former PhDs include projects on Post-War Polish productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream; Drayton’s Poly-olbion; representations of Thomas Wolsey from Skelton to Shakespeare; Tudor women writers; a comparative study of the influence of Galen in England and Italy; and editions of a number of important early manuscripts (Burley; V&A Dyce MS 44; BL Harleian MS 7392(2); BL Additional MS 36529).

Teaching activities

My teaching at undergraduate and Masters level mainly focuses on the period 1500-1800.