Frontmatter -- TABLE OF CONTENTS -- Preface -- A Note on Editions Used -- PART ONE: INTRODUCTION -- I. Time and the Elizabethans -- II. "From Tymes and Moments to Eternitie": the Medieval Tradition -- III. "Subject to Change and Unconquered": the Impact of New Philosophy -- PART TWO: THREE LATE ELIZABETHANS -- IV. "The Pillours of Eternity": Mutability in Spenser -- V. Sir Walter Ralegh and "the consuming disease of time" . -- VI. John Donne's Changing Attitude to Time -- PART THREE: SHAKESPEARE -- VII. "In Divers Paces with Divers Persons" - Time in Shakespeare's Early Works -- VIII. "The Rough Torrent of Occasion" - Mutability in Shakespeare's Political World -- IX. "Things in Motion" - The Time-Worlds of Troilus and Cressida and Antony and Cleopatra -- X. "Time will Venom Breed" - Time and Tragedy in Macbeth and Hamlet -- XI. "The Great Gods" - Time, Tragedy, and Providence in King Lear -- XII. "Both Joy and Terror " - Time and Providence in The Winter's Tale and The Tempest -- Conclusion -- Bibliographical Note -- Index of names