Medieval & Renaissance Literary Studies: Edmund Spenser in the Early Eighteenth Century: Education, Imitation, and the Making of a Literary Model

A study of 18th-century imitations and adaptations of the works of the poet who had died over a century before. Frushell (English and comparative literature, Pennsylvania State U.) suggests that during the first six decades of the 18th century Spenser was made into a literary model of the highest order, and that this elevation was effected in part through teachers such as the three Wartons, through the schools's regimen of imitation, and through the collateral interest in Spenser by critics and editors. He focuses on the years 1747-762, when a clustering of Spenserian events occurred and when he was established unequivocally as a literary exemplar and inspiration. Appends a comprehensive list of all the imitations and adaptations under discussion. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.