Ovid and the liberty of speech in Shakespeare's England / Heather James, University of Southern California.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

James, Heather, 1961- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 A.D. or 18 A.D--Influence.

Ovid.

Freedom of speech in literature.

Poetic license.

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

English poetry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 287 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

The range of poetic invention that occurred in Renaissance English literature was vast, from the lyric eroticism of the late sixteenth century to the rise of libertinism in the late seventeenth century. Heather James argues that Ovid, as the poet-philosopher of literary innovation and free speech, was the galvanizing force behind this extraordinary level of poetic creativity. Moving beyond mere topicality, she identifies the ingenuity, novelty and audacity of the period's poetry as the political inverse of censorship culture. Considering Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, Milton and Wharton among many others, the book explains how free speech was extended into the growing domain of English letters, and thereby presents a new model of the relationship between early modern poetry and political philosophy.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title page

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Taking Liberties Poetry and the Liberty of Speech

Chapter 1 Flower Power: Political Discontents in Spenser's Flowerbeds

Chapter 2 Loving Ovid: Marlowe and the Liberties of Erotic Elegy

Chapter 3 Shakespeare's Juliet: The Ovidian Girlhood of the Boy Actor

Chapter 4 In Pursuit of Change: The Metamorphoses in A Midsummer Night's Dream

Chapter 5 The Trial of Ovid: Jonson's Defense of Poetic Liberty

Epilogue Ovid in the Hands of Women: Milton's Eve and Wharton's Love's Martyr, Or Witt Above Crowns

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Jun 2021).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: James, Heather, 1961- Ovid and the liberty of speech in Shakespeare's England

ISBN:

1-108-80902-2

1-108-80721-6

1-108-76748-6

OCLC:

1252738183