The Shifting Faces of Epic Heroes: Unity and Diversity in Seventeenth-Century English Literary Criticism

Year 2024, Issue: 38, 1387 - 1405, 21.02.2024

Hüseyin Alhas

https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1440032

Abstract

Seventeenth-century England, renowned for its epic poems, stands as one of the most fruitful periods in the history of English literary criticism in terms of epic theory. One of the most significant topics of literary criticism during this era is the evolution of epic heroes. The critics at the time had comprehensive knowledge of the existing pagan and Christian traditions of epic heroes which were varied and interwoven. Moreover, the critics of the period were well acquainted with the literary criticisms of late Renaissance Italy and seventeenth-century France. However, they did not simply absorb influences from Greek, Roman, French, and Italian sources. Instead, English critics engaged in an active dialogue with these traditions, interpreting and adapting their ideas in light of their own cultural, historical, and theological context. This enabled critics to create individual approaches towards epic heroes, thereby making English literary criticism diverse but also too fragmented to form a cohesive group. This aspect of the period makes drawing the contours of the epic heroes immensely challenging. However, despite the overriding eclecticism inherent in the literary criticism of the period, this article indicates that there is a surprising degree of consensus on certain characteristics of epic heroes. Accordingly, this article examines the concept of epic heroes in seventeenth-century English literary criticism, focusing on four key aspects: the didactic role of epic heroes, their depiction as paragons of virtue, the significance of their lineage, and the intricate process of Christianising them.

Keywords

Epic hero, epic theory, literary criticism, seventeenth-century England

References

• Anthony, M. E. (1911). The Religious Tendency in The English Literary Criticism of The Seventeenth Century (Doctoral dissertation). University of Illinois.
• Ariosto, L. (1970). Orlando Furioso. (J. Harrington, Trans.). Da Capo Press Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd.
• Bacon, F. (2011). The Works of Francis Bacon (Cambridge Library Collection - Philosophy) (J. Spedding, R. Ellis, & D. Heath, Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139149563
• Blackmore, R. (1696). Prince Arthur: An Heroick Poem: In Ten Books. Retrieved from ProQuest Ebook Central database.
• Boileau-Despréaux, N. (1683). The Art of Poetry Written in French by the Sieur De Boileau. (J. Dryden, Trans.). Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. [URL]
• Bond, C. (2013). Spenser, Milton, and the Redemption of the Epic Hero. University of Delaware Press.
• Brand, C. (1965). Torquato Tasso: A Study of the Poet and of his Contribution to English Literature. Cambridge University Press, 206-209.
• Campbell, A. Y. (1924). Horace: A New Interpretation. Methuen & co., Ltd.
• Cinthio, G. (2014). Giraldi Cinthio on Romances. (H. L. Snuggs, Trans.). University Press of Kentucky.
• D’Avenant, W., & Gladish, D. F. (1971). Sir William Davenant’s Gondibert: (1651). (London).: Oxford UP.
• Davenant, W., & Gladish, D. F. (1971). Sir William Davenant’s Gondibert: (1651). (London).: Oxford UP.
• Denham, S. J., & Howard, E. (1669). “To the Honourable Edward Howard Esq. upon his Poem of The British Princes”. London.
• Dennis, J. (1696). Remarks on a book entitled Prince Arthur, an heroick poem: With some general critical observations and several new remarks upon Virgil. S. Heyrick and R. Sare.
• Dennis, J. (1939). The Critical Works. (E. N. Hooker, Ed.). Vol 1. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Dowlin, C. M. (1934). Sir William Davenant’s ‘Gondibert,’ its Preface, and Hobbes’s Answer: A Study in English Neo-Classicism. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Dryden, J. (1806). “To the Most Honourable John, Lord Marquis of Normandy, Early of Mulgrave”. In J. Carey (Ed.), The Works of Virgil. preface, London.
• Dryden, J. (1808). The Works of John Dryden. (W. Scott, Ed.). London. Retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15349/15349-h/15349-h.htm#page_016
• Dryden, J. (2004). Discourses on Satire and Epic Poetry. Kessinger Publishing.
• Dufresnoy, C.-A. (1695). De arte graphica The art of painting. (J. Dryden, Trans.). I. Heptinstall. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A36766.0001.001
• Ezell, M. J. M. (2017). The King’s Body: Eikon Basilike and the Royalists in Exile at Home and Abroad. In The Oxford English Literary History: Volume V: 1645–1714: The Later Seventeenth Century: Companion Volume. Oxford English Literary History. Oxford Academic. [URL]
• Gath, K. L. (2018). Sir William Davenant, the Senses, and Royalism in the Seventeenth Century (Doctoral dissertation). The University of Sheffield.
• Habib, R. (2008). A History of Literary Criticism: From Plato to the Present. Blackwell Publishing.
• Harbage, A. (1971). Sir William Davenant, poet, Venturer, 1606-1668. Octagon Books.
• Harington, J. (1904). A Briefe Apologie of Poetrie (1591). In G. G. Smith (Ed.), Elizabethan Critical Essays (Vol. II). Clarendon Press.
• Horace, & Fairclough, H. R. (1942). Satires; Epistles and Ars Poetica. Harvard University Press.
• Huntley, F. L. (1947). Dryden’s Discovery of Boileau. Modern Philology, 45(2), 112–117.
• Le Bossu, R. (1695). Monsieur Bossu’s treatise of the epick poem. (W. J, Trans.). Tho. Bennet. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A49887.0001.001
• Le Bossu, R. (1719). Monsieur Bossu's Treatise of the Epick Poem Containing Many Curious Reflexions. Knapton.
• McDayter, M. A. (1997). This Evasive Way of Abuse: Satiric Voices in English Verse Satire, 1640-1700 (Doctoral dissertation).
• Milton, J. (2013). John Milton Prose (D. Loewenstein, Ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
• Puttenham, G., & Doherty, S. J. (1983). George Puttenham's the Arte of English Poesie: A New Critical Edition.
• Rapin, R. (1674). Reflections on Aristotle’s treatise of poesie. (T. Rhymer, Trans.). Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A58068.0001.001
• Reid, J. S. (2013). Englishing the Italian Romance Epic in the Elizabethan Fin-de-Siècle (Doctoral dissertation). University of Kentucky.
• Sambrook, J. (1997). “Poetry, 1660-1740.” In H. Nisbet & C. Rawson (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism (pp. 73-116). Cambridge University Press.
• Schiffer, E. (1992). “Sir William Davenant: The Loyal Scout Lost at Sea”. ELH, 59(3), 553–576.
• Sidney, P. (1973). Apology for Poetry. Barnes & Noble.
• Spenser, E. (1978). The Faerie Queene. (C. P. O’Donnell & T. P. Roche, Eds.). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
• Spingarn, J. E. (1908). Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Spingarn, J. E. (1938). A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance. Macmillan.
• Swedenberg, H. T. (1944). The Theory of the Epic in England. University of California Press.
• Tate, J. (1928). Horace and the Moral Function of Poetry. The Classical Quarterly, 22(2), 65–72.
• The Post Boy (05.02.1718). A Second Edition of Monsier Bossu’s Treatise of the Epic Poem. [Newspaper]. (London, Greater London, England). Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com/image/35675068
• Vickers, B. (2007). English Renaissance Literary Criticism. Clarendon Press.
• Webbe, W. (1904). “William Webbe, A Discourse of English Poetrie” (1586). In G. G. Smith (Ed.), Elizabethan Critical Essays (Vol. I). Clarendon Press.
• Weinberg, B. (1974). A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance. University of Chicago Press.
• Welch, A. K. (2006). Songs of Dido: Epic Poetry and Opera in Seventeenth-Century England (Doctoral dissertation). Yale University.
• Werner, D. C. (1974). The Neoclassic Epic as a Genre (1650-1700), Exemplified by Five Representative Poems (Doctoral dissertation). Bowling Green State University.
• Werner, D. C. (1974). The Neoclassic Epic as a Genre (1650-1700), Exemplified by Five Representative Poems. Bowling Green State University.
• West, M. (1973). “Spenser and the Renaissance Ideal of Christian Heroism”. PMLA, 88(5), 1013–1032.