medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Oh, dear, mentioning Shakespeare is as
hazardous as mentioning "Essenes" or
"Eponyms" on some lists...
The point is that the line between Medieval
and Renaissance is tenuous at best,
particularly in the religious sphere.... and
this list is devoted to Medieval religion
and various facets of the subject, no?
If the iconography and the politics of
religion during E I's reign is more Medieval
than ""Renaissance" (as the term is generally
applied), then why not bring an example up
out here? VK's example was appropriate...
and that was the point.
This is no place to get into the Shakespeare
factory, but Ben Jonson's comment that he
had "small Latin and less Greek" has become
quite doubtful now that the curriculum of his
school is known.... what he did not have
was an Oxford or Cambridge education. He
just had genius.Of course he wrote in English;
he was a playwright with a demanding English-
speaking audience. What was he supposed
to write in?
No, Shakespeare did not set the standard
for English use.You need an anchor to
permit earlier works to be accessible to
later readers. The KJV was the anchor,
not Shakespeare. If it were not for the
KJV, Shakespeare would be as opaque
today as is Orm. Most of his (constant)
word play was already opaque by Samuel
Johnson's day -- and Johnson was better
than most. The anchor has been generally
replaced now with a plethora of new
translations, and the semantic drift is
increasing. Nor do we have a new anchor.
Incidentally, Chaucer frequently is
considered the first "modern." So,
where do we draw the lines anyway?
Cheerfully yours, risa
From: "Cecil T Ault" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: [M-R] saints of the day 30. August
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of
medieval religion and culture
>
> Just because Shakespeare's religious outlook is
(or may be regarded)
> as medieval does not make him medieval. He was
a Renaisannce man like
> his contemporaries. His writing style as well
as many of the dramatic
> sources he used are from Renaissance Italy.
When at home, his
> histories are thoroughly contemporary in their
outlook of England as
> the greatest place in the world to be,
especially if one is an
> Englishman. Some of my teachers considered him
the first "modern" as
> he set the standard for English usage. Having
had small Latin and
> less Greek, he wrote English. Cheers. yrs, tom
ault
>
> On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 08:19:27 -0400
> "V. Kerry Inman" <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of
medieval religion and
> >culture
> >
> >Quoting Rochelle Altman
<[log in to unmask]>:
> >
> >> > VK, the line between Late Medieval and
Renaissance
> >> is
> >> not as clear as the names bestowed upon them
make
> >> it
> >> appear -- particularly in
England,.Shakespeare,
> >> for
> >> instance, is considered by many to be the
last and
> >> greatest
> >> of the Medieval authors. The religious sphere
is
> >> quite
> >> Medieval in outlook and practice...
> >>
> >> Okay!! Makes it more fun. --V. K.
> >
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