Search

An understanding of the form and function of the couplet to Shakespeare's Sonnet 116--'If this be error and upon me prov'd, / I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd'--depends [...]

E.K.'s gloss for 'neighbour towne' in 'Shorter Poems of Edmund Spenser' has been dismissed by later critics but the socio-cultural context of the time reveals that his reference to Latin equivalents is not indicative of mere pedantry. The word 'neighbour' did not exist before 16th century and its first use as an adjective is traced to 'The Shepheardes Calender' by the Oxford English Dictionary. So, E.K.'s explanation was relevant to an Elizabethan audience. His reference to Latin roots was consistent with Elizabethan efforts to prove English's comparability to Latin and Greek., In his history of sixteenth-century literature, C.S. Lewis writes that 'E.K. is a very ridiculous person. His learning is shaky and his positive contribution to our understanding of the text [...]

Responds to Carmine Di Biase's review of the author's book `The Poetry of Robert Tofte, 1597-1620: A Critical Old Spelling Edition.' Escapist literature; Literary influence; Marginalization of Tofte.

Focuses on E.K.'s gloss on `neighbour towne.' C.S. Lewis' comment that E.K. is a very ridiculous person; `Oxford English Dictionary' on the adjectival use of `neighbour towne'; Consistency of E.K.'s gloss with the Elizabethan program of proving that the English language is the equal of Greek and Latin.