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Synopsis
Seldom in the history of literary criticism does evidence like Jonson's annotations to Spenser's The Faerie Queene emerge to so definitely alter our understanding of the opinion of one major poet, writing as both poet and critic, of another major poet. For centuries, critics have speculated about Jonson's attitude toward Spenser. In recent times, speculation has even led critics to suppose that Jonson's attitude was just the opposite of what new evidence shows it in fact was. Not only do the authors reevaluate the printed record of Jonson's remarks on Spenser, including allusions evident in his own poetry, but they also closely examine all of Jonson's markings and annotations to his copy of the 1617 Folio of The Faerie Queen, The Shepheards Calender and Together With The Other Works. Riddell and Stewart show how consistently these markings and annotations reflect Jonson's understanding and admiration of Spenser's poetic craft. By a careful analysis of the evidence, they show also how Jonson's reactions to Spenser fit into the critical tradition of the seventeenth century surrounding Spenser's greatest poem. That evidence now includes a volume once believed either to have been lost, or perhaps never to have existed. Riddell and Stewart trace the provenance, and then the recovery of this book, and transcribe all of its annotations. (All annotations and representative markings are reproduced in two valuable appendices.) The authors argue that nothing can replace evidence in determining proper answers to intelligible literary questions.
