Renaissance Literature and Its Formal Engagements
What might a self-conscious turn to formal analysis look like in Renaissance literary studies today, after theory and the new historicism? The essays collected here address this question from a variety of critical perspectives, as part of a renewed willin
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Renaissance Literature and Its Formal Engagements Edit-ed by Mark David Rasmussen
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"Veni Coronaberis," from New and Collected Poems 1952-1992. Copyright © 1994 by Geoffrey HilI. Reprinted by permission of Houghron Mifflin Co. All rights reserved. The Kitchenmaid [De keukenmeidj by Johannes Vermeer. Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. "Veni Coronaberis," from Geo./fey Hill: Collected Poems. Copyright © 1978, 1985 by Geoffrey HilI. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books, Ltd. RENAISSANCE LITERATURE AND ITS FORMAL ENGAGEMENTS
© Copyright Mark David Rasmussen, 2002 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 2002978-0-312-29359-8 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever withour written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published 2002 by PALGRAVETM 175 FifthAvenue, NewYork, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingsroke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Companies and representatives throughour the world. PALGRAVE is the new global publishing imprint of St. Martin's Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-0-312-29360-4 ISBN 978-1-137-07177-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-07177-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Renaissance literature and its formal engagements / edited by Mark David Rasmussen. p. cm.lncludes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-29360-4 (alk. paper) I. English literature-Early modern, 1500-1700-Hisrory and criticism. 2. Renaissance-England. 3. Literary form. I. Rasmussen, Mark David, 19530 PR418.L57 R48 2002 820.9'003-dc21 2001035954 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Letra Libre, Inc. First edition: January 2002 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
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Contents
Introduction: New Formalisms? Mark David Rasmussen
1. TOWARD A HISTORICAL FORMALISM
Between Form and Culture: New Historicism and the Pro mise of a Historical Formalism Stephen Cohen Shakespeare and the Composite Text Douglas Bruster The Politics of Aesthetics: Recuperating Formalism and the Country House Poem Heather Dubrow Marston's Gorge and the Question of Formalism Joseph Loewenstein
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H. RENEWlNG THE LITERARY
Learning from the New Criticism: The Example of Shakespeare's Sonnets PaulAlpers
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Undelivered Meanings: The Aesthetics of Shakespearean Wordplay Mark Womack
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The Poetics of Speech Tags William Flesch
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Flirting with Eternity: Teaching Form and Meter in a Renaissance Poetry Course
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Elizabeth Harris Sagaser
Mterword: How Formalism Became a Dirty Word, and Why We Can't 00 Without It
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Richard Strier Contributors Index
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Introduction
New Formalisms?
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Mark David Rasmussen
T
he aim of this collection is to encourage a shift in the study of English Renaissance literature, a shift toward a fuller and more seIfconseious engagement with questions of form. Why is such a change needed now? Briefly, because the fieId has
