My dissertation examines George Wither’s emblem book, which was printed in 1635 in London, through the prism of a hybrid methodological framework. It provides an extensive contextualisation of the work in the light of political, religious, aesthetic, and symbolic theories of the early Stuart period, so as to show that the work, its almost unanimous critical rejection notwithstanding, is a highly relevant cultural artifact that yields a great deal of information about England during the Caroline period.