Chapter I: Front Matter

Rhetoric and Poetry in the Renaissance

A Study of Rhetorical Terms in English Renaissance Literary Criticism

By

Donald Lemen Clark, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of English in Columbia University

1922

To my Father and Mother

Preface

In this essay I undertake to trace the influence of classical rhetoric on the criticisms of poetry published in England between 1553 and 1641. This influence is most readily recognized in the use by English renaissance writers on literary criticism of the terminology of classical rhetoric. But the rhetorical terminology in most cases carried with it rhetorical thinking, traces of whose influence persist in criticism of poetry to the present day.

The essay is divided into two parts. Part First treats of the influence of rhetoric on the general theory of poetry within the period, and Part Second of its influence on the renaissance formulation of the purpose of poetry. This division is called for not by the logic of the material, but by history and convenience. A third phase of the influence of rhetorical terminology I have already touched on in an article on _The Requirements of a Poet[1]_, where I have shown that historically the renaissance ideal of the nature and education of a poet is in part derived from classical rhetoric.

No writer today, who would treat of the criticism of the renaissance, can escape his deep indebtedness to Dr. Joel Elias Spingarn, whose _Literary Criticism in the Renaissance_ has so carefully traced the debt of English criticism to the Italians. In going over the ground surveyed by him and by many other scholars I have been able to add but slight gleanings of my own. In this field it is my privilege only to review and to supplement what has already been discovered. But whereas others have called attention to the classical and Italian sources for English critical ideas, I am able to show that in addition to these sources, the English critics were profoundly influenced by English mediaeval traditions. That these mediaeval traditions derived ultimately from post-classical rhetoric and that they were for the most part later discarded as less enlightened and less sound than the critical ideas of the Italian Aristotelians does not lessen their importance in the history of English literary criticism.

In so far as the text of quoted classical writers is readily accessible in modern editions, I offer my readers only an English translation. For quotations difficult of access I add the Latin in a footnote. In the case of those English critics whose writings are incorporated in the _Elizabethan Critical Essays_ edited by Mr. Gregory Smith, or in the _Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century_, edited by Dr. J.E. Spingarn, I have made my citations to those collections in the belief that such a practice would add to the convenience of the reader.

The greatest pleasure that I derive from this writing is that of acknowledging my obligations to my friends and colleagues at Columbia University who have so generously assisted me. Professor G.P. Krapp aided me by his valuable suggestions before and after writing and generously allowed me to use several summaries which he had made of early English rhetorical treatises. Professor J.B. Fletcher helped me by his friendly and penetrating criticism of the manuscript. I am further indebted to Professor La Rue Van Hook, Dr. Mark Van Doren, Dr. S.L. Wolff, Mr. Raymond M. Weaver, and Dr. H.E. Mantz for various assistance, and to the Harvard and Columbia University Libraries for their courtesy. My greatest debt is to Professor Charles Sears Baldwin, whose constant inspiration, enlightened scholarship, and friendly encouragement made this book possible.

Contents

Part First: The General Theory of Rhetoric and of Poetry

I. Introductory
1. The Distinction between Rhetoric and Poetic

II. Classical Poetic
1. Aristotle
2. "Longinus"
3. Plutarch
4. Horace

III. Classical Rhetoric
1. Definitions
2. Subject Matter
3. Content of Classical Rhetoric
4. Rhetoric as Part of Poetic
5. Poetic as Part of Rhetoric

IV. Classical Blending of Rhetoric and Poetic
1. The Contact of Rhetoric and Poetic in Style
2. The Florid Style in Rhetoric and Poetic
3. The False Rhetoric of the Declamation Schools
4. The Contamination of Poetic by False Rhetoric

V. The Middle Ages
1. The Decay of Classical Rhetorical Tradition
2. Rhetoric as Aureate Language

VI. Logic and Rhetoric in the English Renaissance
1. The Content of Classical Rhetoric Carried over into Logic
2. The Persistence of the Mediaeval Tradition of Rhetoric
3. The Recovery of Classical Rhetoric
4. Channels of Rhetorical Theory

VII. Renaissance Poetic
1. The Reestablishment of the Classical Tradition
2. Rhetorical Elements

VIII. Theories of Poetry in the English Renaissance
1. The Rhetorical Period of English Criticism
2. The Influence of Horace
3. The Influence of Aristotle
4. Manuals for Poets 5. Rhetorical Elements in Later English Classicism

Part Second: The Purpose of Poetry

I. The Classical Conception of the Purpose of Poetry
1. General
2. Moral Improvement through Precept and Example
3. Moral Improvement through Allegory
4. The Influence of Rhetoric

II. Medieval Ideas of the Purpose of Poetry
1. Allegorical Interpretations in the Middle Ages
2. Allegory in Mediaeval England

III. Rhetorical Elements in Italian Renaissance Conceptions of the Purpose
of Poetry
1. The Scholastic Grouping of Poetic, Rhetoric and Logic
2. The Influence of the Classical Rhetorics

IV. English Renaissance Ideas of the Purpose of Poetry
1. Allegory and Example in Rhetoric
2. Allegory and the Rhetorical Example in Poetic
3. The Displacement of Allegory by Example

Index of Names

Part One

The General Theory of Rhetoric and of Poetry