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Book Cover for: Reverberating Song in Shakespeare and Milton: Language, Memory, and Musical Representation, Erin Minear

Reverberating Song in Shakespeare and Milton: Language, Memory, and Musical Representation

Erin Minear

Offering a new perspective on two major authors, Minear explores Shakespeare's and Milton's fascination with the idea of language infiltrated by music and reproducing not so much the formal or sonic properties of music as its effects on minds and memories. She reveals that many of the qualities that seem to us characteristically 'Shakespearean' stem from Shakespeare's engagement with how music works-and that Milton was deeply influenced by this aspect of Shakespearean poetics.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Routledge
  • Publish Date: Nov 28th, 2011
  • Pages: 296
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.21in - 6.14in - 0.69in - 1.30lb
  • EAN: 9781409435457
  • Categories: ShakespeareInstruction & Study - TheoryEnglish, Irish, Scottish, Welsh

About the Author

Erin Minear is Assistant Professor of English at the College of William and Mary, USA.

Praise for this book

'Erin Minear's Reverberating Song in Shakespeare and Milton is a major book on a major subject: the central place of music in the work of the greatest poets of the English Renaissance. A subtle, careful, and original scholar, Minear manages to capture the richness and complexity of music in their works-as motif, theme, mood, and inexhaustible aesthetic resource. Her exceptional sensitivity and alertness enable us to hear notes that had been silenced by long familiarity.' Stephen Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor, Harvard University, USA 'This is an elegantly written and thought-provoking book, richly researched yet completely original... an impressive sweep of freshly read details establishes dense networks between [...] individual musical-acoustic metaphors, allusions and descriptions, and sonic effects of language.' Renaissance Quarterly 'Reverberating Song is incredibly well researched, and the variety and scope of critical materials cited is impressive. The footnotes are a fascinating accompaniment to Minear's analysis... Reverberating Song has much to offer scholars interested in the work of Shakespeare and Milton, and in the broader study of the culture of music that informs Renaissance literature and history.' Parergon 'Erin Minear's intense and at the same time discursive review of musical effect in Shakespeare and Milton challenges the reader to re-engage with the position and role of music in early modern English poetry and drama. Minear's lively and sensitive critical stance places her at the centre of this debate.' Review of English Studies '... I must say that the blend of musicology, literary studies and the history of Renaissance culture has produced a fascinating amount of scholarship that is both insightful and detailed.' Sixteenth Century Journal '...make[s] for stimulating reading extending and deepening our understanding of music's place in early modern English culture.' Shakespeare Jahrbuch