Englands Helicon is about one of the most important features of early modern gardens: the fountain. It is also a detailed study of works by Philip Sidney; Edmund Spenser; and Ben Jonson; and of an influential Italian romance; the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Fountains were "strong points" in the iconography and structure of gardens; symbolically loaded and interpretatively dense; soliciting the most active engagement possible from those who encountered them. These qualities are registered and explored in their literary counterparts. Englands Helicon is not a simple motif study of fountains in English Renaissance literature: it is; rather; an investigation of how each might work; of how literary fountains both inform and are informed by real fountains in early modern literature and culture. While its main focus remains the literature of the late sixteenth century; Englands Helicon recognizes that intertextuality and influence can be material as well as literary. It demonstrates that the "missing piece" needed to make sense of a passage in a play; a poem; or a prose romance could be a fountain; a conduit; a well; or a reflecting pool; in general or even in a specific; known garden; it also considers portraits; textiles; jewelry; and other artifacts depicting fountains. Early modern English gardens and fountains are almost all lost; but to approach them through literary texts and objects is often to recover them in new ways. This is the double project that Englands Helicon undertakes; in so doing; it offers a new model for the exploration of the interconnectedness of texts; images; objects and landscapes in early modern literature and culture.
#743522 in eBooks 2008-12-04 2008-12-09File Name: B001MYA36O
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. An interesting look into a part of Western Mass historyBy J. SkinnerThose who know something about the histories of Hampden and Hampshire Counties in Massachusetts are sure to be familiar with the Mill River disaster of 1874 and how it shaped the destinies of the towns it affected and those it didnt; as well as the people and families who survived that preventable tragedy. This book offers a quick but well-rounded glimpse into the private lives of one family who attained prominence both before and after the flood nearly ruined them. This collection of photographs makes an excellent companion volume to Elizabeth Sharpes "In the Shadow of the Dam".On a more personal note; I would like to thank Ms. Thibodeau for providing me with what are probably the highest-quality pictures of my great-great-grandfather Thomas Skinner I will ever possess.
