Transcendental wordplay
Subtitle: America's romantic punsters and the search for the language of nature
By: Michael West.
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Athens
Language: eng
Number of pages: 518
Subjects: Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862 -- Knowledge -- Language and languages; American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Puns and punning in literature; American wit and humor -- History and criticism; English language -- United States -- Rhetoric; English language -- 19th century -- Rhetoric; Transcendentalism (New England); Romanticism -- United States; Nature in literature; Play on words
Description: "Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, America was captivated by a muddled notion of “etymology.” New England Transcendentalism was only one outcropping of a nationwide movement in which schoolmasters across small-town America taught students the roots of words in ways that dramatized religious issues and sparked wordplay."--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 481-506) and index.