'Who the Devil Taught Thee So Much Italian?' : Italian Language Learning and Literary Imitation in Early Modern England

Resource Information

The work 'Who the Devil Taught Thee So Much Italian?' : Italian Language Learning and Literary Imitation in Early Modern England represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in City of Westminster Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

'Who the Devil Taught Thee So Much Italian?' : Italian Language Learning and Literary Imitation in Early Modern England

Title remainder

Italian Language Learning and Literary Imitation in Early Modern England

Statement of responsibility

Jason Lawrence

Creator

• Lawrence, Jason

Subject

• Italian language -- England
• Language teaching & learning (other than ELT) -- Italian -- c 1500 to c 1600 | c 1600 to c 1700 -- England
• Language teaching & learning -- England -- Italian -- 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599 | 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699
• Italian language -- Early modern, 1500-1700
• Language: history & general works -- Italian -- c 1500 to c 1600 | c 1600 to c 1700 -- England
• Languages
• Language: history & general works -- England -- Italian -- 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599 | 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699

Language

eng

Summary

This book offers a comprehensive account of the methods and practice of learning modern languages, especially Italian, in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century England.

Biographical or historical data

Jason Lawrence is Lecturer in English at the University of Hull.

Dewey number

450.710942

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction

Summary expansion

This book offers a comprehensive account of the methods and practice of learning modern languages, particularly Italian, in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century England. It is the first study to suggest a fundamental connection between language-learning habits and the techniques for both reading and imitating Italian materials employed by a range of poets and dramatists, such as Daniel, Drummond, Marston and Shakespeare, in the period. The widespread use of bilingual parallel-text instruction manuals from the 1570s onwards, most notably those of the Italian teacher John Florio, highlights the importance of translation in the language-learning process. This study emphasises the impact of language-learning translation on contemporary habits of literary imitation, in its detailed analyses of Daniel's sonnet sequence 'Delia' and his pastoral tragicomedies, and Shakespeare's use of Italian materials in 'Measure for Measure' and 'Othello'