
Metaphysical Wit
A. J. Smith(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 14. December 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
284 pages
978-0-521-03529-3 (ISBN)
Description
English metaphysical poetry, from Donne to Marvell, is notoriously witty. In this 1992 book, A. J. Smith seeks the reason for the central importance of wit in the thinking of the metaphysical poets and argues that metaphysical wit is essentially different from other modes of wit current in Renaissance Europe. Formal theories and rhetorics of wit are considered both for their theoretical import and their appraisals of wit in practice. Prevailing fashions of witty invention are scrutinized in Italian, French and Spanish writings, so as to bring out the nature and effect of various forms of wit: conceited, hieroglyphic, transformational and others from which the metaphysical mode is distinguished. He locates the basis of Renaissance wit in the received conception of the created order and a theory of literary innovation inherent in Humanist belief, which led to novel couplings of time and eternity, body and soul, man and God.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
3 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
404 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-03529-3 (9780521035293)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
A. J. Smith is Associate Pastor for Worship and Administration at Seven Springs Baptist Church, Calera, Alabama, and an Adjunct Professor of Church History for Liberty Theological Seminary's Distance Learning Program. He taught at Simmons College of Kentucky from 2004 to 2006 and has spoken before professional societies on Baptist history, systematic theology, and patristic theology. He has authored an article that appears in the new Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
Content
Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Drastic devices; 2. Mirror of creation; 3. Courtly conceits; 4. Intelligible images; 5. Arts of ingenuity; 6. Metaphorical wit; 7. Metaphysical wit; 8. Sacred earth; Notes; Index.