Archaic style in English literature, 1590-1674 / Lucy Munro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Munro, Lucy, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism.

English literature.

English language--Early modern, 1500-1700--Style.

English language.

English language--Archaisms.

English language--Style.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 308 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ranging from the works of Shakespeare, Spenser, Jonson and Milton to those of Robert Southwell and Anna Trapnel, this groundbreaking study explores the conscious use of archaic style by the poets and dramatists between 1590 and 1674. It focuses on the wide-ranging, complex and self-conscious uses of archaic linguistic and poetic style, analysing the uses to which writers put literary style in order to re-embody and reshape the past. Munro brings together scholarly conversations on temporality, memory and historiography, on the relationships between medieval and early modern literary cultures, on the workings of dramatic and poetic style, and on national history and identity. Neither pure anachronism nor pure nostalgia, the attempts of writers to reconstruct outmoded styles within their own works reveal a largely untold story about the workings of literary influence and tradition, the interactions between past and present, and the uncertain contours of English nationhood.

Contents:

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction : conceptualising archaism

Within our own memory : old English and the early modern poet

Chaucer, Gower, and the anxiety of obsolescence

Archaic style in religious writing: immutability, controversy, prophecy

Staging generations: archaism and the theatrical past

Shepherds' speech : archaism and early Stuart pastoral drama

Archaism and the 'English' epic

Coda : looking backward, looking forward.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-46192-8

1-139-89358-0

1-107-45975-3

1-107-47257-1

1-107-46542-7

1-107-46896-5

1-107-33748-8

OCLC:

862077642