A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance / With special reference to the influence of Italy in the formation and development of modern classicism

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

36245

Title

A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance / With special reference to the influence of Italy in the formation and development of modern classicism

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

Joel Elias Spingarn traces the origins of modern literary criticism, focusing on the Renaissance's revival of classical ideals. This scholarly history examines how Italian humanism shaped French and English thought, establishing the neo-classic principles that dominated seventeenth-century literature while exploring the transition from medieval moralism to aesthetic appreciation.

Summary up to 500 words

In *A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance*, Joel Elias Spingarn traces the evolution of literary thought from the Middle Ages through the seventeenth century, arguing that the Renaissance fundamentally reshaped the justification of poetry. The work centers on the pivotal role of Italy, where humanists confronted the medieval distrust of literature. Medieval critics, influenced by Plato and the Church, viewed poetry as morally suspect, philosophically untrue, and psychologically agitating. They judged it by criteria of reality and morality rather than aesthetics, often dismissing fiction as false and obscenity as inherent to the art. Spingarn details how Italian critics dismantled these objections, re-establishing aesthetic foundations rooted in Hellenic culture. They reintroduced Aristotelian canons, shifting the focus from theological utility to an appreciation of beauty and artistic imitation. The book is structured into three sections covering Italian, French, and English criticism, with the sixteenth century serving as the primary focus. Spingarn prioritizes the origin of principles over individual authors to explain how the 'classic spirit' developed. He illustrates the transmission of these Italian theories to France and England, noting how English writers like Sir Philip Sidney and Ben Jonson consciously sought aid from Italian treatises to defend poetry against Puritan attacks. Sidney's *Defence of Poesy* and Jonson's classical rigor exemplify this indebtedness, marking distinct epochs in English criticism. The text explores theoretical debates surrounding drama, epic, and poetry, analyzing how critics like Scaliger and Castelvetro influenced the formulation of neo-classic rules. Spingarn argues that the history of criticism in this period is not merely a record of literary works but a study of the gradual introduction of ancient ideals into modern letters. He traces the tension between romantic elements and classical rules, showing how the Italian tradition remained a vital inheritance for later thinkers like Lessing and Shelley. By focusing on the formulation of neo-classic principles in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the book demonstrates that the modern world's literary criticism owes a profound debt to the intellectual ferment of the Italian Renaissance, where the element of beauty was finally restored to its rightful place in human life and art.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Criticism
• Renaissance