Platonism and the English Imagination

by Anna Baldwin, Sarah Hutton

Overview

This is the first compendious study of the influence of Plato on the English literary tradition, showing how English writers used Platonic ideas and images within their own imaginative work. Established experts and new writers have worked together to produce individual essays on more than thirty English authors, including Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, Wordsworth, T. S. Eliot, Auden and Iris Murdoch; and the book is divided chronologically, showing how every age has reconstructed Platonism to suit its own understanding of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521403085
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/24/1994
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 4.40(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Part I. Antiquity: 1. Plato and the neoplatonists Anne Shepard; Part II. The Early Christian Period and the Middle Ages: 2. Introduction Anna Baldwin; 3. The Christian Platonism of St. Augustine Janet Coleman; 4. Boethius and King Alfred Janet Bately; 5. Chaucer's use of neoplatonic traditions Yasunari Takada; 6. Platonism in the middle english mystics Andrew Louth; Part III. The Renaissance and the Seventeenth Century: 7. Introduction Sarah Hutton; 8. The transformation of Platonic love in the Italian Renaissance Jill Kraye; 9. Uses of Plato by Erasmus and more Dominic Baker-Smith; 10. Italian neoplatonism and the poetry of Sidney, Spenser, Chapman and Donne John Doe; 11. Shakespeare on beauty, truth and transcendence Stephen Medcalfe; 12. Platonism in Spenser's mutability cantos Thomas Bulger; 13. Reason, recollection and the Cambridge Platonists Dominic Scott; 14. Platonic ascents and descents in Milton Anna Baldwin; 15. Platonism in some metaphysical poets Sarah Hutton; Part IV. The Eighteenth Century: 16. Introduction Pat Rogers; 17. Blake and Platonism Edward Larrissy; Part V. The Nineteenth Century: 18. Introduction Richard Jenkyns; 19. Recollection and recovery: Coleridge's Platonism Keith Cunliffe; 20. Wordsworth's Ode on the Intimations of Immortality Anthony Price; 21. Shelley, Plato and the political imagination Jennifer Wallace; 22. Matthew Arnold and the spirit of Plato Mark Rowe; 23. Flow, rest and number: Pater's Plato Anne Varty; Part V. The Twentieth Century: 24. Introduction Angela Elliott; 25. Yeats and Platonism Brian Arkins; 26. Virginia Woolf and Plato Brenda Lyons; 27. Plato and Eliot's earlier verse Dennis Brown; 28. The Cantos of Ezra Pound: 'to build light' David A. Moody; 29. Platonism in Auden Daphne Turner; 30. Platonism in Iris Murdoch Peter Conradi.

Editorial Reviews

"With essays on more than 30 English authors from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, this original and important book will appeal to a wide readership." M.S. Johnston, Choice

"...a fascinating introduction to the variety and richness of the tradition Plato inspired." Penelope Murray, Times Literary Supplement

"...these essays are meticulous in their use of historical research, providing a sense of the climate and medium in which Plato's ideas were received....it is a valuable and a much needed survey of an important topic and deserves to become a standard reference for those looking for an overview of Platonism in English literature." Jonathan Gross, Albion

From the Publisher