Boileau and the Nature of Neo-Classism

Boileau has traditionally be regarded as the spokesman of French neo-classicism, but recent scholarship has discounted the importance of neo-classical doctrine in general and of Boileau's particular contribution to it. Modern critical approaches have stressed instead the liveliness and wit of Boileau's poems, his love of language and his passionate temperament. Mr Pocock uses these new critical approaches to demonstrate in detail how Boileau's verve, love of contrasts, and essentially dramatic imagination animate the major poems. But he also argues that such approaches do not in themselves suffice to explain Boileau's special qualities. Neo-classicism was an important element in the intellectual life of Europe in the most critical period of the decline of Christianity and the rise of rationalism and science. Mr Pocock proposes a reformulation of the traditional view which takes account not only of modern critics but also of Boileau's commitment to neo-classicism and his embodiment of it in his work.Pocock, Gordon is the author of 'Boileau and the Nature of Neo-Classism', published 1980 under ISBN 9780521227728 and ISBN 0521227720.