Jonsonian Discriminations: The Humanist Poet and the Praise of True NobilityUniversity of Toronto Press, 1992 - 306 pages "At the heart of all Ben Jonson's nondramatic poetry, argues Michael McCanles, lies the concept of true nobility. Jonson sought to transform the inherited aristocracy of England into an aristocracy of humanist virtue in which he could claim a place through his achievement of true nobility by the merits of his own intellectual labours. In this survey of all Jonson's non-dramatic poetry, McCanles identifies a range of dialectical and contrastive forms through which this concern was rendered poetically." "He analyses the contrastive forms in discussions of Jonson's prosody, his use of homonymy and synonymy, and of metaphor. He coins the term 'contrastivity' to encompass the play of semantic choices directed by Jonson's use of suprasegmentals at the local level of poetic technique, and the reader's process of reading wherein he or she confirms the validity of a poem's statements by recreating the process of selection/rejection that went into its creation." "Thematically, McCanles suggests that the vera nobilitas argument is in fact four distinct arguments in various ways mutually contradictory, collectively both supporting and subverting aristocratic and monarchical hierarchies. Thus he finds Jonson constrained to employ this argument in addressing aristocratic friends, patrons, and the monarch himself, with careful diplomacy in order to negate the subversive dimensions of his own advice and praise." "Employing the resources generated by the theoretical analysis of contrastivity in the first chapter, McCanles demonstrates the considerable complexity of Jonson's poetry, generally underestimated in current scholarship."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
From inside the book
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Page 89
... things that are not there , and missing things that are ' ( 116 ) . Depending on where one starts and the uses to which one wants to put the Ars poetica , it can be seen as a discussion of decorum , verisimilitude , au- dience reception ...
... things that are not there , and missing things that are ' ( 116 ) . Depending on where one starts and the uses to which one wants to put the Ars poetica , it can be seen as a discussion of decorum , verisimilitude , au- dience reception ...
Page 136
... things seen and not seen , things visible only to purified sight , things visible only in heaven after the last judgment , things seen in meditation . The poet's opening lament gives way to envisioning her in heaven ' where Love is all ...
... things seen and not seen , things visible only to purified sight , things visible only in heaven after the last judgment , things seen in meditation . The poet's opening lament gives way to envisioning her in heaven ' where Love is all ...
Page 256
... things he does not need include the poet's praise . Jonson makes this identical point in E131 ' To the Same ... thing to fall into flattery in aiming to please , and a shameful thing also , in trying to avoid flat- tery , to destroy the ...
... things he does not need include the poet's praise . Jonson makes this identical point in E131 ' To the Same ... thing to fall into flattery in aiming to please , and a shameful thing also , in trying to avoid flat- tery , to destroy the ...
Contents
Chapter One The Poetics of Discrimination | 3 |
Upgraded Coordinates Disjunctive Sequences | 21 |
Boundary Crossing and Negative Definition | 30 |
Copyright | |
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Jonsonian Discriminations: The Humanist Poet and the Praise of True Nobility MCCANLES No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
achieved addressed appears areté argues aristocratic establishments aristocratic status attacks becomes Ben Jonson capacity chapter Charis Cicero classical clothes context countess of Bedford court courtier courtly credibility criticism Cynthia's Revels defined dialectical discloses discourse discriminations disjunctive sequence dissimulation distinction Donne doth English enjambment epideictic rhetoric epideixis epigram ethical false flattery friends homonymy honour Horace Horace's humanist implies inherited Inigo Jones inner virtue insists Isocrates James Jonson says Jonson's poems Jonson's poetry Jonsonian judgment king labour lack Lady literal loue lover masques meaning merit metaphor metrical moral nobilitas argument noble status patronage Penshurst phrase Pindar play Pliny poem's poet poet's Poetaster poetic political possess true nobility praise prince prosodic punctuation reader Renaissance satire semiosis semiotic Seneca Shakespeare signify social sprezzatura synonymy syntactical thee thou tion titles Trajan Trans translation truth turn vera nobilitas argument verbal verse vertue vice Volpone writing