The Foundations Of English Literature Classic Reprint

Author : Ruth Ingersoll Goldmark
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780331734522
Total Pages : 124 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (345 download)

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Download or read book Studies in the Influence of the Classics on English Literature (Classic Reprint) written by Ruth Ingersoll Goldmark and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-11-23 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Studies in the Influence of the Classics on English Literature When the full day of Elizabeth's reign arrived, other triumphs than those of unschooled art were prepared. From the universities came men with the background of humanistic studies, endowed with wit and with poetic talents instinct with the beau tiful or the sublime. With the advent of these and of Shakespeare, the London stage won to its new standard all necessary to make it complete but the constructive critic. Such a man was not only required to supplement the artistic completeness Of Elizabethan drama, but to serve lesser writers with education in fundamental form. So, unmis takably the man for his time was Ben Jonson, in no respect more rare than in his erudition. His intellectual grasp is known to have compre hended even the subtlest knowledge of his times and much mediaeval lore, but it is impressive to con sider only his classic learning. The first of English poets, with the wealth of Greece as well as Rome at his command, he has not, in periods especially animated by the Greek spirit, been surpassed for the profoundness of his literary acquaintance. Others have exhibited more intimate knowledge and de light; but Jonson in his day stood alone in his championship and first in his conscious theory of art based upon scholarship. While a catalogue of Jonson's Greek and Latin reading would fill line after line, the story of his educational advantages can be briefly told. All quality and inspiration in his early training may safely be attributed by Jonson's own grateful acknowledgment to the famous second master of Westminster School, the most learned, and my honored friend, Master Camden,1 to whom Every M an in his Humor was dedicated. Under his instruction was laid the foundation of vast and exact translation. The jottings of idle moments, contained in the Discoveries, are a revelation Of the range at Jonson's command. Incidental anecdote or authority quoted in this memorandum laid under contribution not only the masterpieces of poetry, philosophy, and oratory, but more obscure gram marians, sophists, and historians.2 With his vigor ous scholarship and naturally retentive memory, Jonson could scarcely be surpassed for the richness of his quotation and allusion. He says of his own faculty in the Discoveries. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.