Book excerpt: Low discusses the courtly or aristocratic ideal as the great enemy of the georgic spirit, and shows that georgic powerfully invaded English poetry in the years from 1590 to 1700. Originally published in 1985. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.