The chapter concentrates upon the wealth of early modern responses to the demise of Elizabeth I in 1603. Particular attention is played to the Petrarchan discourse of eternizing, the memorialization of the last Tudor monarch in her own lifetime, and the scriptural and mythological associations which shaped the early modern reception of Elizabeth. The continuities between textual and artistic productions during the period are explored with reference to Elizabethan iconography and there is sustained analysis in this context of published miscellanies mourning the queen shortly after her death. The discussion concludes with a consideration of how dynastic change and the strategic deployment of cultural amnesia also influenced the age’s evocation of Elizabeth in the decades after her passing.

This chapter offers a critical overview of historical, cultural, and literary debates around ‘Windrush’. It revisits how the boat’s arrival in 1948 has come to represent the ‘beginnings’ of multicultural Britain and the consequent reshaping of the nation’s identity. It examines which factors influenced the writers and works that came to prominence and gained an enduring currency as Windrush narratives; it also attends to works that have been less celebrated. The particular focus of the chapter is on how the construction of the Windrush experience within literary works has aligned with wider political narratives to emphasise the ongoing challenges around the recognition and accommodation of black subjects within British culture and society. The chapter addresses two important blind spots within the literary framing of the Windrush experience: writings that emphasise transnational attachments and cultural mobility, as well as writings by women.