''Musophilus'' is a long poem by

Samuel Daniel Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) was an English poet, playwright and historian in the late-Elizabethan and early- Jacobean eras. He was an innovator in a wide range of literary genres. His best-known works are the sonnet cycle ''Delia'', the epic ...

, first published in 1599 in his ''Poetical Essays''. Among Daniel's most characteristic works, it is a

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

between a

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...

and a man of letters, and is a general defence of learning, and in particular of poetic learning as an instrument in the education of the perfect courtier or man of action. It is addressed to Fulke Greville.

Textual history

Daniel first published ''Musophilus'' in his ''Poeticall Essayes'' of 1599. The poem was published again in 1601/1602, largely unchanged except in accidentals such as punctuation, and in the deletion of the final three stanzas, reducing the poem from 1002 to 984 lines. However, the text published in 1607 witnessed not only frequent revisions affecting diction and rhythm, but also extensive cuts, deleting nearly 200 lines. A few further alterations were made for the 1611 edition, including a new dedicatory poem to Fulke Greville, replacing the dedicatory sonnet to him in all other editions. Modern editors tend to be critical of these revisions, referring to them as "mutilations" that "all but ruined" the poem, or, more diplomatically, "not always to the poem's advantage". The posthumous ''Whole Works'' of 1623 returned to the 1601 version as its basis. All modern editions use either the 1599 text (Sprague; Hiller & Groves) or the 1623 text (Grosart; Himelick) as their copy-texts.

Versification

The poem is introduced by a dedicatory Spenserian sonnet: 14 lines of

iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter ( ) is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in each line. Meter is measured in small groups of syllables called feet. "Iambi ...

rhyming ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. The poem proper is written entirely in iambic pentameter with rimes forming a variety of stanzas. 118 stanzas (over 2/3 of the poem) are 6-line stanzas riming ABABAB. Interspersed with these are 14

ottava rima Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of mock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio. The ottav ...

stanzas riming ABABABCC, 4 '' Venus and Adonis'' stanzas riming ABABCC, and a single heroic quatrain riming ABAB. These rime schemes might be thought of as the first 4, first 6, last 6, and all 8 lines of an ottava rima stanza. Finally, lines 727-880 form an unbroken series of 51

tercet A tercet is composed of three lines of poetry, forming a stanza or a complete poem. Examples of tercet forms English-language haiku is an example of an unrhymed tercet poem. A poetic triplet is a tercet in which all three lines follow the same r ...

s of

terza rima ''Terza rima '' (, also , ; ) is a rhyming verse form, in which the poem, or each poem-section, consists of tercets (three-line stanzas) with an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme: The last word of the second line in one tercet provides the rh ...

(riming ABA BCB CDC...) with 1 final line to complete the central rime of the final tercet (...YZY Z). Even this quite different structure can be seen as corresponding with the other stanzas: if conceptualized as 6-line stanzas (as modern editions do), the resulting rime scheme ABABCB is only 1 rime removed from the main stanza of the poem, the interloping C providing the rime that links to the next stanza. The relations of these rime schemes are tabulated below as Philocosmus (Musophilus's skeptical interlocutor) begins their dialogue by challenging him as to the practical value of poetry.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

Early editions

Listed are the four editions (with one reissue) published in Daniel's lifetime; plus the ''Whole Works'' of 1623, published posthumously by Daniel's publisher, close friend, and executor, Simon Waterson, with Daniel's brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. * * * * *

Modern editions

* * * *

Other references

* {{cite web , last=Pitcher , first=John , title=Samuel Daniel: New and Future Research , url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935338.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935338-e-88 , website=Oxford Handbooks Online , year=2017 , publisher=Oxford University Press , doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935338.013.88 , isbn=978-0-19-993533-8

External links

"Musophilus" at Renascence Editions
1599 books 1599 poems British poems Works by Samuel Daniel