Overview

The Model of Poesy is one of the most exciting literary discoveries of recent years. A manuscript treatise on poetics written by William Scott in 1599, at the end of the most revolutionary decade in English literary history, it includes rich discussions of the works of Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare and their contemporaries. Scott's work presents a powerful and coherent theoretical account of all aspects of poetics, from the nature of representation to the rules of versification, with a commitment to relating theory to contemporary practice. For Scott, any theory of literature must make sense not of the classics but of what English writers are doing now: Scott is at the same time the most scholarly and the most relevant of English Renaissance critics. In this groundbreaking edition, Gavin Alexander presents a text of The Model of Poesy framed by a detailed introduction and an extensive commentary, which together demonstrate the range and value of Scott's thought.

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9780521196116

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Reviews

'Alexander's editorial skills are dazzling ... All writers should be blessed with such editors.' Russ McDonald, The Times Literary Supplement '... Alexander's edition of William Scott's Model of Poesy is exemplary ... for anyone working in any way with the literature, and the literary scene, of the sixteenth century's last two or three decades, Scott's Model is indispensable, and it is our immense good fortune that its first modern edition has been prepared by someone with the technical expertise ... the capacity for thorough research ... and the stylistic elegance of Gavin Alexander.' Roger Kuin, The Spenser Review 'Scott's manuscript provides critics with fresh access to a comprehensive and well-arranged early modern exegesis on poetic theory and practice ... Scott's treatise, and Alexander's edition, offers perhaps the most exciting literary discovery of recent years.' Hannah Leah Crumme, Renaissance Quarterly 'Gavin Alexander's splendid scholarly edition of William Scott's Model of Poesy (1599) contributes to early modern literary studies in ways that will have lasting effects ... In ambition and comprehensiveness, Alexander's contribution as an editor matches that of Scott as a critic ... So learned in the rhetorical and critical traditions known to the Elizabethans is Alexander's introduction that it stands as a major work of scholarship in its own right.' Donald Stump, Sydney Journal 'The recent discovery of the manuscript of William Scott's previously unknown Model of Poesy (c.1599), with its wealth of allusions to contemporary writers including Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney, and Daniel, represents a major addition to the corpus of Elizabethan literary criticism. And Gavin Alexander's magisterial edition, exemplary in the range and depth of its scholarship, is in every way worthy of its subject.' Stanley Wells, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

'Alexander's editorial skills are dazzling.' Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Gavin Alexander is a University Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of English at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ's College. His publications include Writing after Sidney: The Literary Response to Sir Philip Sidney, 1586–1640 (2006), Sidney's 'The Defence of Poesy' and Selected Renaissance Literary Criticism (2004), a co-edited volume, Renaissance Figures of Speech (2007), and numerous articles and book chapters on literary and musicological topics. He teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level across a wide range of topics, from ancient to modern literature, with a particular emphasis on Renaissance literature, the history and theory of literary criticism, and textual studies. His online Renaissance palaeography course 'English Handwriting' is widely used around the world. In 2008 he was awarded a Pilkington Teaching Prize for excellence in teaching at the University of Cambridge.

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