Emotive language is now best understood by combining the analytic techniques of classical rhetoric with current linguistic practices. With or without prompting, the 'passions' of Renaissance culture can stir contrary feelings in today's readers, which are enlisted to validate a range of theorised responses. This book will mediate between critics, readers, the author and the original audience, using the 'New Rhetoric' to open fresh perspectives on writers as diverse as Christopher Marlowe, Lucy Hutchinson and Margaret Cavendish.