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Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500-1700 book cover
Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500-1700
2000
First Published
4.40
Average Rating
512
Number of Pages
Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500-1700 explores the rich oral culture of early modern England. It focuses upon dialect speech and proverbial wisdom, "old wives' tales" and children's lore, historical legends and local customs, scurrilous versifying and scandalous rumor-mongering. Adam Fox demonstrates the extent to which this vernacular world was fundamentally structured by written and printed sources over the course of the period.
Avg Rating
4.40
Number of Ratings
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4 STARS
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3 STARS
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Author

Adam Fox
Adam Fox
Author · 2 books

Adam Fox (1883 – 1977), Canon, was the Dean of Divinity at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was one of the first members of the "Inklings", a literary group which also included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Between 1938 and 1942 he was Professor of Poetry. Later he became Canon of Westminster Abbey and he is buried there in Poet's Corner. He was also Warden (Headmaster) of the famous Radley College. During his time at Oxford, he wrote his long poem in four books "Old King Coel". It gets its name from King Cole, legendary British father of the Roman Empress Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. As Professor of Poetry, Fox advocated poetry which is intelligible to readers, and gives enough pleasure to be read again. This was important to him because poetry which is not re-read will not be understood properly, and will therefore be irrelevant. This advocacy can be understood as a criticism against some forms of modern poetry. Although not considered one of the most important "Inklings", Fox's works are still of interest, particularly those concerning Christianity and Platonism. In his 1945 Plato for Pleasure, he tried to introduce the general public to Plato. Fox wished to make Plato well known among the English Classics once again and hoped that people would study the platonic dialogues, as well as the plays of Shakespeare. His biography of William Ralph Inge, the famous theologian, philosopher and Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, is still regarded as an important text and was awarded the 1960 James Tait Black Memorial Prize soon after its publication.

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