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Hi, Germaine--just a quick addition (and Ronsard was no meaner than Wyatt imaging the lady old and looking at the moon and with desires that dare not be told): not English, but almost archetypal in being creative when old (worth a subclause?) was Sophocles who, you remember, produced the great ode from Oedipus and Colonnus (spelling?), on which he was working, when his sons took him to court on the grounds he was old and senile and they wanted their inheritance. the judge told them, as I recall, that they'd have to go on waiting. At least that's what I remember. Good luck at the conference. Anne.

On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 10:47 AM, Germaine Warkentin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
In response to Hannibal: no I'm not going to explore the romantic notion of creativity at all. I'm going to be talking about erotic mania defined as a disease of youth. Old men in love are just a subject for laughter -- eg Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Note how Ronsard makes sure somebody else, in this case Hélène herself, gets the pointed end of the stick: "Ronsard me celebroit / Du temps que j'estois belle". G.

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Germaine Warkentin // English (Emeritus), University of Toronto
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http://www.individual.utoronto.ca/germainew/

"May you be given bread and beer"
	-- Ancient Egyptian Prayer for the Dead

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