| Synopsis: |
This book, first published in 1993 and a celebration of the bimillennium of Horace's death and a successor to Ovid Renewed (Cambridge University Press, 1988), explores in a balanced and comprehensive way, the presence of Horace in English letters and culture from the Renaissance onwards, in the form of a series of critical essays. It shows that there has been a continuous interest in Horace throughout the modern period, whereas it is often supposed that Horace's influence was only of central importance in the eighteenth century. Horace indeed is a major (if often hidden) element in the English poetic tradition, both directly and through the imitation and appropriation of his works by Wyatt, Jonson, Dryden, Pope and others. The book also casts fresh light on the character and interpretation of Horace, things intimately connected with the historical 'reception' of his works, particularly by some of their most influential and sensitive readers, the great English poets. The collection is aimed at a wide and general readership. |