Title: The pale cast of thought
First published: 1998
Description: This book focuses on specific moments of decision-making in the epic poems of Ariosto, Tasso, Spenser, and Milton. In each of the poems, the hero must ultimately confront the choice of Aeneas at the end of the Aeneid - either to kill or to stay his hand. These later epic poems contain reflective heroes who resist the impulses of traditional martial heroism.

As they deliberate, the progress of the narrative is suspended, and elements of comedy, lyric, picaresque, and romance threaten to fragment authority of the epic genre. Each of these moments reveals a particularly rich locus for observing the movement of the epic toward the novel.
Subjects: Characters and characteristics in literature, Comparative Literature, Decision making in literature, English Epic poetry, English and Italian, English poetry, Epic poetry, English, Epic poetry, Italian, Hesitation in literature, History and criticism, Italian Epic poetry, Italian and English, Italian poetry, Literature, Comparative, Poetry, Psychological aspects, Psychological aspects of Poetry, Epic poetry, history and criticism, English poetry, history and criticism, early modern, 1500-1700, Italian poetry, history and criticism, Comparative literature, english and italian, Ariosto, lodovico, 1474-1533, Tasso, torquato, 1544-1596, Spenser, edmund, 1552?-1599, Milton, john, 1608-1674
Time periods: 16th century, Early modern, 1500-1700
LC classification: PR539.E64 S58 1998