ERIC Number: EJ1150070
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2167-8669
EISSN: N/A
"The Italianate Englishman": The Italian Influence in Elizabethan Literature
Fox, Maureen
International Research and Review, v1 n1 p40-48 Fall 2011
Whether it was thought of positively or negatively, Italy is a popular topic of discussion in Elizabethan literature. Some Elizabethan writers mimic Italian writers and incorporate Italian ideas into their own works, while other writers alter Italian literary conventions and openly attack Italian morals. This range of positive and negative sentiments towards Italy ultimately reveals the existence of a love-hate relationship between England and the Italian Renaissance that became a foundation of Elizabethan literature. My paper illustrates how various Elizabethan writers, including Sir Thomas Wyatt, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare, demonstrate their awe for the Italian Renaissance by imitating Italy's greatest poets and integrating Italian ideas into their texts, reveal their feelings of inferiority and jealously towards Italy's literary and social progress through their efforts to improve upon Italian literature, and show a genuine fear of Italy's negative influence on English morals and values by using their works to warn against Italians' immoral natures.
Descriptors: English Literature, Literary Styles, Literature Appreciation, Literary Criticism, Intellectual History, Foreign Culture, Cultural Influences, Historiography, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Italy; United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A