The Classical Legacy in Renaissance Poetry

The formative influence of the Graeco-Roman classics was fundamental to the creation of literary culture in the Renaissance. Through detailed analysis, this book illustrates the classical legacy as it was known in the Renaissance. It then shows how that legacy was received in translation, transformed in imitation and put to creative uses by Renaissance poets working in genres under classical influence.;Key Features: Includes detailed analysis of a wide variety of poems from Wyatt to Dryden. Each chapter focuses on one of the major genres: epic, drama, lyric, pastoral and Georgic, Ovidian genres (the epyllion, the love elegy and the heroic epistle), and satire. Presents the classics in Renaissance translations -wherever possible.;Shows Renaissance perspectives through translations and through judgements made by Renaissance commentators, critics and the poets themselves. Introduces broader themes such as the dominating influence of Latin, the difficulty of Greek, the reception of classical texts in a prevailing Christian. culture, the theory and practice on imitation and the rules of art.;Readership: Students of English studying the Renaissance and the 17th Century and classical students interested in the classical tradition.