Richard Bentley: Poetry and Enlightenment

Abstract

Bentley was the most famous classical scholar in Europe at a time when this meant a great deal. But he provoked continual controversy by his bold methods and pugnacious personality. In the world of England, both Bentley and his rivals Swift and Pope apparently wished to be known for classical knowledge as much as personal taste. In the international Latin-speaking realm, Bentley faced the universal opinion that no one could equal the great scholars of the Renaissance. If later generations admire Bentley, then, his life in his own time was uncertain, uncomfortable, and fundamentally experimental.

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