Skelton on Greek in Speke Parott

Abstract

ABSTRACT The evidence argued herein belies the notion that the early Tudor laureate John Skelton (d. 1529) was a traditionalist or conservative in respect of the humanist educational movement. For a section of his obscure Speke Parott participates in the controversies over Hellenism occurring in England and elsewhere in northern Europe at the time. In the poem, Skelton's ”Parott” mocks scholastic Greek usage and advocates in favor of the novel humanist Greek philology, in precise parallel with the better-understood polemics of such international humanist luminaries as his familiars Desiderius Erasmus and Thomas More.