Hi Zack,
I suspect it's a reference to the emblem tradition involving oysters,
which is pretty extensive. I think it began with Alciato (see 'Captivus ob
gulam', which is listed as no 86 from the Emblematum libellus collection,
digitised at Glasgow: http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk).
The basic scenario is this: some stupid mammal, usually a mouse, happens
upon an oyster; he licks the shell, believing it to be a bone; then gets
his head trapped inside when the oyster abruptly clams up. The emblems
seem to focus on the way in which the mouse exposes himself to ridicule,
after trapping and immobilizing himself. The Alciato poem makes much of
the mouse's sensitive whiskers and inquisitive tongue. Ouch.
andrew
Andrew Zurcher
Queens' College
Cambridge CB3 9ET
United Kingdom
+44 1223 335 572
hast hast post hast for lyfe
On Tue, 27 Oct 2009, Zackariah Long wrote:
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I'm teaching Wroth's *Pamphilia to Amphilanthus* for the first time this
> week and would like to frame our discussion using Denny's and Wroth's poetic
> back-and-forth over *Urania*. There are some lines in Denny's poem that
> have been puzzling me:
>
> Whose vaine comparison for want of witt
>
> Takes up the oystershell to play with it
>
> Yet common oysters such as thine gape wide
>
> And take in pearles or worse at every tide
>
> Now I'm pretty sure what's going on in the bawdy second two lines but the
> first reference to the oystershell--"Takes up the oystershell to play with
> it"--gives me pause. I understand that in terms of the metaphor Wroth is
> surface without substance, only a "shell" of wit without the "pearl" inside
> (which must be, ummm, "deposited" from without), but is there anything else
> going on here? Does it mean something particular to "take up" or "play with"
> the oystershell? This sounds like a contemporary expression whose meaning
> is lost for me. I've searched the OED, but nothing seems definitive.
>
> Any assistance would be appreciated. Many thanks in advance...
>
> Best,
> Zack Long
>
> --
> Zackariah Long
> 211 Sturges Hall
> Department of English
> Ohio Wesleyan University
> 61 S. Sandusky St.
> Delaware, OH 43015
> Office phone: (740) 368-3596
> [log in to unmask]
>
|