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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Main Author: Abigail Shinn
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" 2023-06-01
Series:Sillages Critiques
Subjects:
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.
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language English
publishDate 2023-06-01
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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