Includes bibliographical references (pages 177 - 183) and index.
Contents:
Classicizing England -- The uses of prosody -- The sound of classical -- What classical looks like -- From black letter to Roman -- Staging the classical -- Looking backward.
Summary:
"The title Wit's Treasury alludes to Francis Meres's Palladis Tamia: Wits Treasury; Being the Second Part of Wits Commonwealth, published in 1598. The book has become famous for its early appreciation of Shakespeare, but its relevance to this project is its assumption that the way to praise contemporary English literature was by comparing it with that of Greece and Rome through a "comparative discourse," Elizabethan England is declared part of Palladis Tamia, the treasure house of Pallas Athena. Tamia may also include a pun on the name of the river Thames, so an alternative title would be Athena's Thames. The parallel with the classics was repeatedly invoked in the period, but it was neither simple nor without ambivalence. Wit's Treasury examines that parallel and its complexity"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.