here - O - Universiteit Leiden
here - O - Universiteit Leiden
here - O - Universiteit Leiden
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CharloteBrewer,HertfordColege,OxfordUniversity(UK)<br />
Poets,grammarsanddictionaries<br />
6erelationshipbetweengreat(or‘great’)literatureandlanguagehaso?enbeenproblematic,andhasnotinfrequentlyraisedquestionsrelatingtoprescriptivism<br />
andco rectnes.<br />
SometimesithasseemedthatcanonicalauthorshavehadadeterminingeJectonthe<br />
Englishlanguage,onewhichotheruserswoulddoweltofolow.6 usHoccleveclaimedin<br />
hisRegementofPrinces(c.1412)thatChaucerwasthe‘!rstefyndere[i.e.inventor]ofour<br />
fairelangage’,andLydgate(LifeofOurLady,c.1416)explained thatthenatureofthis<br />
contributionlayinthespeci!calyliterarycharacteristicsofChaucer’slanguage:<br />
AndekemymaisterChaucerisygrave<br />
6enobleRethor,poeteofBrytayne<br />
6atworthywasthelaurertohaue<br />
Ofpoetrye,andthepalmeateyne<br />
6atmade!rste,todistileandtorayne<br />
6egoldedewe,dropes,ofspecheandeloquence<br />
Intoourtunge,thurghhisexcelence<br />
Andfondethe2oures,!rsteofRhetoryke<br />
OurRudespeche,onlytoenlumyne<br />
6atinourtunge,wasnevrenoonhym like.<br />
Hundredsofyearslater,J.H.Newmanalsoobservedthatgreatwriterscrucialyin2uenced<br />
thelanguageofeveryoneelse,describinghow the‘sayings’of‘agreatauthor.pa sinto<br />
proverbsamonghispeople,andhisphrasesbecomehouseholdwordsandidiomsoftheir<br />
dailyspeech,whichisteselatedwiththerichfragmentsofhislanguage’(Ideaofa<br />
University,1873).<br />
Atthesametime,however,thoseconcernedwithmakinggrammarsanddictionaries<br />
haveo?encriticizedthelanguageofsuchwriters.JohnsonquotedPope,Drydenand<br />
Addisonhundredsoftimesinhisdictionary,butcensoredthem forwhathecaled<br />
‘Barbarous,orim pure,wordsand expre sions’;Lowth repeatedlycited Shakespeare,M ilton,<br />
Pope,Addison,Prior,andDryden(amongothers)inhisGrammarasexamplesofpoor<br />
usage(asdiscu sedinstudiesbyPercyandTieken-BoonvanOstade);andtheOED,<br />
althoughitseditorJ.A.H.M u rayspeci!ed‘althegreatEnglishwritersofalages’asthe<br />
mainsourcesforthatgreatdictionary’sstockofover!vemilionquotations,occasionaly<br />
markedexamplesoftheirusageas‘catachresticoreroneous’,proscribingthem witha<br />
specialsymbol(theparagraphm ark).6 ispaperexam inessom efeaturesofthewaythat<br />
recordersoflanguagehaverespondedprescriptivelyorproscriptivelytotheworksof<br />
creativewriters,lookingbothatwhattheyhavesaidaboutsuchwritersandathow they<br />
haveregisteredthelanguageofpoets,novelistsetcintheirownworks.
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