Tuesday 25th October  

Gesine Manuwald (University College London), 'A triangular relationship: classical Latin literature in Thomas Campion's Neo-Latin and English short poetry'.

The Elizabethan poet Thomas Campion (1567-1620) is well known for being one of those versatile literary figures who wrote poetry in both Neo-Latin and English and in a variety of literary genres. In Campion's case in particular, since he also reflects on the use of different languages and of ancient precedents, this raises the questions of the connections between his writings in the two languages and of their respective relationship to classical models. Against this background this paper will look at some paradigmatic examples of Campion's Neo-Latin and English elegies and epigrams. It will become obvious that ancient literature is the basis for those poems and that at the same time Campion continues the classical tradition in both Neo-Latin and English poetry by adapting the traditional structures and motifs to new content.