Spenser’s Popular Pastoral: Hodgepodges and Genre Trouble in The Shepheardes Calender
The article explores the role played by popular culture in Edmund Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender (1579). Highlighting references to almanacs, ballads and festival culture, alongside the poem’s use of regional and colloquial language, I argue that Spenser’s distinctly English pastoral includes a comm...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
2023-06-01
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Series: | Sillages Critiques |
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Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/14227 |
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author | Abigail Shinn |
author_facet | Abigail Shinn |
author_sort | Abigail Shinn |
collection | DOAJ |
description | The article explores the role played by popular culture in Edmund Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender (1579). Highlighting references to almanacs, ballads and festival culture, alongside the poem’s use of regional and colloquial language, I argue that Spenser’s distinctly English pastoral includes a commingling of classical precedent with popular motifs. The result is a cultural hodgepodge in which disparate literatures and voices combine to produce new effects, but whose constituent parts significantly remain legible to the reader. The Calender thus offers a playful, and provocative, reimagining of pastoral which advertises Spenser’s roving cultural palate and solidifies his claim to be England’s new poet. |
format | Article |
id | doaj-art-cad9d76b5f2d4bcba08cfcef3919de24 |
institution | Kabale University |
issn | 1272-3819 1969-6302 |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
publisher | Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" |
record_format | Article |
series | Sillages Critiques |
spelling | doaj-art-cad9d76b5f2d4bcba08cfcef3919de242025-01-30T13:47:47ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022023-06-013410.4000/sillagescritiques.14227Spenser’s Popular Pastoral: Hodgepodges and Genre Trouble in The Shepheardes CalenderAbigail ShinnThe article explores the role played by popular culture in Edmund Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender (1579). Highlighting references to almanacs, ballads and festival culture, alongside the poem’s use of regional and colloquial language, I argue that Spenser’s distinctly English pastoral includes a commingling of classical precedent with popular motifs. The result is a cultural hodgepodge in which disparate literatures and voices combine to produce new effects, but whose constituent parts significantly remain legible to the reader. The Calender thus offers a playful, and provocative, reimagining of pastoral which advertises Spenser’s roving cultural palate and solidifies his claim to be England’s new poet.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/14227pastoralpopular cultureSpenser (Edmund)The Shepheardes Calender |
spellingShingle | Abigail Shinn Spenser’s Popular Pastoral: Hodgepodges and Genre Trouble in The Shepheardes Calender Sillages Critiques pastoral popular culture Spenser (Edmund) The Shepheardes Calender |
title | Spenser’s Popular Pastoral: Hodgepodges and Genre Trouble in The Shepheardes Calender |
title_full | Spenser’s Popular Pastoral: Hodgepodges and Genre Trouble in The Shepheardes Calender |
title_fullStr | Spenser’s Popular Pastoral: Hodgepodges and Genre Trouble in The Shepheardes Calender |
title_full_unstemmed | Spenser’s Popular Pastoral: Hodgepodges and Genre Trouble in The Shepheardes Calender |
title_short | Spenser’s Popular Pastoral: Hodgepodges and Genre Trouble in The Shepheardes Calender |
title_sort | spenser s popular pastoral hodgepodges and genre trouble in the shepheardes calender |
topic | pastoral popular culture Spenser (Edmund) The Shepheardes Calender |
url | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/14227 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT abigailshinn spenserspopularpastoralhodgepodgesandgenretroubleintheshepheardescalender |