10/21

I'm still excited about the fact that the word "critic" appears in the mid-1590's. I'd like to tell a story about the beginning of plays about poets, with, say, Cynthia's Revels, and perhaps even about how the development of the neutral position in the humors drama lead to the idea of a neutral critic, as well.

Such a story might take in Poetaster and "Criticus," thinking about how Jonson writes about the relationship between himself and Donne.

One tack: Jonson's Underwood 53 talks about one Renaissance sense of the relationship between artist and spectator. Horseback riding is an art that impresses its viewers with a sense of the nobility of the rider, and Jonson goes one step further and wishes to be the horse. This is natural, given his own sense of the difference in rank between himself and the lord--he wants to take his natural role in the performance.

Meanwhile, the neutral subject of the humors comedy avoids being emmeshed in the schemes of theothers..

How does this work, actually--Donne alone can judge, because Donne alone can write. How is that the same, or different than the lord?

Sidney, too, wishes himself a horse.

The reader, that is, wishes to be mastered, in a particularly graceful and physical sense.


Wishing Myself Your Horse: A change in the erotics of English poetry