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A valuable post, Kim. Thanks. I've just been reading Shelley's Defence for a candidacy exam (I'm an interloper in a Romanticism group), and it's interesting that he'd agree that poetry and politics are inextricable, but flip the two terms. For him, politics is best expressed in poetry, and poets (broadly speaking -- even broader than Sidney) make the best politicians. On a practical note, thinking of Bill Oram's suggestion, if you teach the Viewe, presumably you'd have to include Book 5? Hannibal On Thu, May 30, 2019 at 12:13 PM Kim Coles <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I did think that we need to stop seeing high theory or historicism as > exclusive of aesthetic and formal considerations. I’m not saying that we’re > doing that here (I promise), but the way that this thread is developing, I > see a binary taking shape. I regularly teach form—a lot of it—precisely > because the intended intervention of a work can only be achieved through > its formal execution. Aesthetics are influence in a world where politics > are debated in poetic form. And politics are the arena in which the poem is > shaped, and the form carries the impress of their pressure. > > I’m just throwing that out there because too often these discussions start > to frame politics as antithetical to the aesthetic appreciation of poetry. > But it seems to me that the opposite is true: that its beauty is forged in > the fire of political exigencies. The interests that animate a work—public, > private, ugly or distasteful—are precisely what direct the aesthetic > choices that form it. And, indeed, what make it beautiful, not pretty. > > > > On Wed, May 29, 2019 at 4:52 PM Judith Owens <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > >> Fellow Spenserians--for the first time ever, I am getting to teach an >> entire course (undergraduate, one-term long) on THE FAERIE QUEENE. To my >> abiding regret, i was not able to attend Spenser at K'zoo this year and so >> missed the panel devoted to teaching the FQ. I would love to hear from any >> or all of you about what has worked for you in your teaching! >> >> ######################################################################## >> >> To unsubscribe from the SIDNEY-SPENSER list, click the following link: >> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SIDNEY-SPENSER&A=1 >> > -- > Associate Professor, English > Editorial Board, *Renaissance Quarterly* > 3127 Tawes Hall > University of Maryland > 301-405-9662 > > > > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the SIDNEY-SPENSER list, click the following link: > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SIDNEY-SPENSER&A=1 > -- Hannibal Hamlin Professor of English The Ohio State University Author of *The Bible in Shakespeare*, now available through all good bookshops, or direct from Oxford University Press at http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199677610.do 164 Annie & John Glenn Ave., 421 Denney Hall Columbus, OH 43210-1340 [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the SIDNEY-SPENSER list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=SIDNEY-SPENSER&A=1