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 |
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Page 59
... unto whatsoever springeth of it ' ( 269–70 ) . If common consent assigns sprezzatura to the talented , and the talented are identified with the scions of noble families , then the purpose of education in sprezzatura is to allow the low ...
... unto whatsoever springeth of it ' ( 269–70 ) . If common consent assigns sprezzatura to the talented , and the talented are identified with the scions of noble families , then the purpose of education in sprezzatura is to allow the low ...
Page 92
... Unto your strength , and long examine it , Upon your shoulders . Prove what they will beare , And what they will not . Him , whose choice doth reare His matter to his power , in all he makes ... ( 53-7 ) This advice grounds artistic ...
... Unto your strength , and long examine it , Upon your shoulders . Prove what they will beare , And what they will not . Him , whose choice doth reare His matter to his power , in all he makes ... ( 53-7 ) This advice grounds artistic ...
Page 150
... unto the sight of them with whom wee live , and so by a reflexion in our selves , brings us a testimonie from others of the good opinion which they have of us , which make us to enjoy great comfort of minde ' ( quoted in C.B. Watson 11 ) ...
... unto the sight of them with whom wee live , and so by a reflexion in our selves , brings us a testimonie from others of the good opinion which they have of us , which make us to enjoy great comfort of minde ' ( quoted in C.B. Watson 11 ) ...
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