LEADER 04873nam 2200865 a 450 001 9910814504103321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-282-15864-3 010 $a9786612158643 010 $a1-4008-2493-1 010 $a1-4008-1463-4 024 7 $a10.1515/9781400824939 035 $a(CKB)111056486507886 035 $a(EBL)457905 035 $a(OCoLC)609845348 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000151732 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11910623 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000151732 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10320171 035 $a(PQKB)10515768 035 $a(OCoLC)52244976 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse36089 035 $a(DE-B1597)446275 035 $a(OCoLC)979741605 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781400824939 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL457905 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10312629 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL215864 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC457905 035 $a(EXLCZ)99111056486507886 100 $a20011211d2002 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aExcess and the mean in early modern English literature /$fJoshua Scodel 205 $aCore Textbook 210 $aPrinceton, N.J. $cPrinceton University Press$dc2002 215 $a1 online resource (375 p.) 225 1 $aLiterature in history 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a1-4008-1799-4 311 $a0-691-09028-9 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [289]-352) and index. 327 $apt. 1. Two early modern revisions of the mean -- pt. 2. means and extremes in early modern Georgic -- pt. 3. Erotic excess and early modern social conflicts -- pt. 4. Moderation and excess in the seventeenth-century symposiastic lyric -- pt. 5. Reimagining moderation: the Miltonic example. 330 $aThis book examines how English writers from the Elizabethan period to the Restoration transformed and contested the ancient ideal of the virtuous mean. As early modern authors learned at grammar school and university, Aristotle and other classical thinkers praised "golden means" balanced between extremes: courage, for example, as opposed to cowardice or recklessness. By uncovering the enormous variety of English responses to this ethical doctrine, Joshua Scodel revises our understanding of the vital interaction between classical thought and early modern literary culture. Scodel argues that English authors used the ancient schema of means and extremes in innovative and contentious ways hitherto ignored by scholars. Through close readings of diverse writers and genres, he shows that conflicting representations of means and extremes figured prominently in the emergence of a self-consciously modern English culture. Donne, for example, reshaped the classical mean to promote individual freedom, while Bacon held extremism necessary for human empowerment. Imagining a modern rival to ancient Rome, georgics from Spenser to Cowley exhorted England to embody the mean or lauded extreme paths to national greatness. Drinking poetry from Jonson to Rochester expressed opposing visions of convivial moderation and drunken excess, while erotic writing from Sidney to Dryden and Behn pitted extreme passion against the traditional mean of conjugal moderation. Challenging his predecessors in various genres, Milton celebrated golden means of restrained pleasure and self-respect. Throughout this groundbreaking study, Scodel suggests how early modern treatments of means and extremes resonate in present-day cultural debates. 410 0$aLiterature in history (Princeton, N.J.) 606 $aEnglish literature$yEarly modern, 1500-1700$xHistory and criticism 606 $aModeration in literature 606 $aLiterature and society$zEngland$xHistory$y16th century 606 $aLiterature and society$zEngland$xHistory$y17th century 606 $aDidactic literature, English$xHistory and criticism 606 $aEnglish literature$xClassical influences 606 $aTemperance in literature 606 $aPolarity in literature 606 $aEthics in literature 615 0$aEnglish literature$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aModeration in literature. 615 0$aLiterature and society$xHistory 615 0$aLiterature and society$xHistory 615 0$aDidactic literature, English$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aEnglish literature$xClassical influences. 615 0$aTemperance in literature. 615 0$aPolarity in literature. 615 0$aEthics in literature. 676 $a820.9/353 700 $aScodel$b Joshua$f1958-$01593889 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910814504103321 996 $aExcess and the mean in early modern English literature$93914225 997 $aUNINA