Title: The Renaissance epic and the oral past /
Authors: Welch, Anthony, 1975-
Publisher: Yale University Press,
Year: 2012
Subjects: Epic poetry, European History and criticism.; Epic literature, European Classical influences.; European poetry History and criticism.; European literature History and criticism.
Abstract: This volume explores why Renaissance epic poetry clung to fictions of song and oral performance in an age of growing literacy. 16th- and 17th-century poets, Anthony Welch argues came to view their written art as newly distinct from the oral cultures of their ancestors.
Contents: Tasso's silent lyre -- The oldest song: Ronsard and Spenser -- Interchapter: The lutanist and the nightingale -- Harps in Babylon: Cowley, Davenant, Butler -- Milton's lament -- Epic opera -- Coda: The singer withdraws.