The Model of Poesy [Hardcover]

Shakespeare's first critic: a newly discovered work of literary criticism from the 1590s, the most revolutionary decade in English literary history.A recently discovered treatise on poetics from 1599, the end of the most revolutionary decade in English literary history, including rich discussions of the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. This groundbreaking edition, with introduction and commentary, makes Scott's powerful work newly available to students and scholars of English Renaissance literature.A recently discovered treatise on poetics from 1599, the end of the most revolutionary decade in English literary history, including rich discussions of the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. This groundbreaking edition, with introduction and commentary, makes Scott's powerful work newly available to students and scholars of English Renaissance literature.The Model of Poesy is one of the most exciting literary discoveries of recent years. A manuscript treatise on poetics written in 1599, the end of the most revolutionary decade in English literary history, it includes rich discussions of the works of Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, and their contemporaries. Scott's work presents a powerful and coherent theoretical account of all aspect of poetics, from the nature of representation to the rules of versification, with a commitment to relating theory to contemporary practice. For Scott, any theory of literature must make sense not of the classics but of what English writers are doing now: Scott is at the same time the most scholarly and the most relevant of English Renaissance critics. In this groundbreaking edition, Gavin Alexander presents a text of Scott's Model framed by a detailed introduction and an extensive commentary, which together demonstrate the range and value of Scott's thought.Preface; Introduction: William Scott (c.1571c.1617); The Model in context; Form and method; Textual introduction; The Model of Poesy; Commentary; Appendices: Appendil³Ñ