What is early English literature “about” if not the artists attempt to express him- or herself?
Modern literature, whether poetry or prose, often seems autobiographical. Many a first novel or early poem originates in the authors’ drive to record in words her/his version of events, feelings, or ideas. The “honesty” of these works often is praised, suggesting that the culture as a whole is so remarkably corrupt that truth-telling needs the shield of literariness to exist. Whatever the truth of this speculation, early English literature was produced by authors who were taught to write in ways that discouraged simple, unadorned declarations of truth and that encouraged highly ornate works that connected to or even imitated, with variations, previous works of literature. Puritan reformers attacked those literary conventions as corrupting lies, but the complex conventions of formal literary style persist even today. Then, as now, literature was understood as “mimesis,” a re-presentation of Nature, but early English literature distinguished itself from ordinary history-writing or legal
Modern literature, whether poetry or prose, often seems autobiographical. Many a first novel or early poem originates in the authors’ drive to record in words her/his version of events, feelings, or ideas. The “honesty” of these works often is praised, suggesting that the culture as a whole is so remarkably corrupt that truth-telling needs the shield of literariness to exist. Whatever the truth of this speculation, early English literature was produced by authors who were taught to write in ways that discouraged simple, unadorned declarations of truth and that encouraged highly ornate works that connected to or even imitated, with variations, previous works of literature. Puritan reformers attacked those literary conventions as corrupting lies, but the complex conventions of formal literary style persist even today. Then, as now, literature was understood as “mimesis,” a re-presentation of Nature, but early English literature distinguished itself from ordinary history-writing or legal
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