Rate My Professor Robert Matz

Matz's research examines Renaissance literary theory, Shakespeare's sonnets, early modern marriage discourses, and poetry's social roles. His books include Defending Literature in Early Modern England: Renaissance Literary Theory in Social Context (Cambridge University Press, 2000), The World of Shakespeare's Sonnets: An Introduction (McFarland, 2008; selected as a 2008 Choice Outstanding Academic Title), and the edition Two Early Modern Marriage Sermons: Henry Smith’s A Preparative to Marriage (1591) and William Whately’s A Bride-Bush (1623) (Routledge, 2016). Key articles feature 'Slander, Renaissance Discourses of Sodomy, and Othello' (ELH, 1999), 'The Scandals of Shakespeare’s Sonnets' (ELH, 2010), 'Theories and Philosophies of Poetry' (Blackwell Companion to Renaissance Poetry, 2018), and contributions to MLA Approaches to Teaching volumes on Romeo and Juliet (2024) and The Taming of the Shrew (2013). He has served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Departments of English (2014-2017) and the Folger Institute (2007-2014), participated in Folger seminars, and received honors including Phi Beta Kappa induction, Johns Hopkins fellowships, and George Mason faculty study leaves. Matz teaches courses on Shakespeare, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century poetry and prose, Spenser, and early modern literature.