The Other Virgil: `Pessimistic' Readings of the Aeneid in Early Modern CultureOUP Oxford, 2007 M10 18 - 252 pages The Other Virgil tells the story of how a classic like the Aeneid can say different things to different people. As a school text it was generally taught to support the values and ideals of a succession of postclassical societies, but between 1500 and 1800 a number of unusually sensitive readers responded to cues in the text that call into question what the poem appears to be supporting. This book focuses on the literary works written by these readers, to show howthey used the Aeneid as a model for poems that probed and challenged the dominant values of their society, just as Virgil had done centuries before. Some of these poems are not as well known today as they should be, but others, like Milton's Paradise Lost and Shakespeare's The Tempest, are; in the latter case, thepoems can be understood in new ways once their relationship to the 'other Virgil' is made clear. |
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Adam Aeneas Aeneas's Aeneid allusion Alonso de Ercilla American Araucana argues Augustan Augustus Barlow beginning Berkeley-Los Angeles Biblioteca Bibliothèque Bottari Caliban Cambridge Carthage century Charles Martindale Classical colonial Columbiad Columbus commentary Craig Kallendorf criticism culture Dido Discourse discussion early modern Empire epic European example Filelfo in Milan Francesco Filelfo Francesco Sforza furor further voices Harvard hero humanist imitation imperial Indians interpretation Italy John John Milton La Araucana Landino Latin literary literature London Maffeo Vegio Milan Milton moral notes Orlando furioso Oxford Paradise Lost pessimistic Petrarca pietas Plat Plat's play poem poet poetry political praise Press Prospero reader reading reference Renaissance republican Revolution Roman Rome Satan scene scholars Shakespeare Sor Juana Spanish Sphortias Studies suggests Tempest traditional Trojan Troy Turnus University Virgil Virgil's Aeneid Virgile en France Virgilian virtue Vision writing York