Abstract
The article aims to present a critical application of Richard Waswo’s notion of the “cosmetic” aspect of language in the Renaissance, with a special focus on Erasmus' and Milton's language praxis within a framework of two related issues: Questione della Lingua and Imitatio.
Highlights
The present article aims to present a critical application of Richard Waswo’s notion of the “cosmetic” aspect of language in the Renaissance, with a special focus on Erasmus and Milton within a framework of two related issues: Questione della Lingua and Imitatio
No human body part is so cautiously constrained by Nature than our tongue. Erasmus claims in his Lingua [The Tongue] (1525)
For while our eyes are merely covered with “a frail membrane, suited only for sleep”, Nature “buried the tongue virtually in a dungeon, and bound it by many bonds” (1989, 268). Erasmus reminds his readers that, Varro thought the word lingua “tongue” to come from ligare “to bind.”1 And as if this biding were not enough to constrain this protean member, Nature set in its path “the double rampart and barrier of the thirty-two teeth” and, in addition, “the double doors of the lips”
Summary
The present article aims to present a critical application of Richard Waswo’s notion of the “cosmetic” aspect of language in the Renaissance, with a special focus on Erasmus and Milton within a framework of two related issues: Questione della Lingua and Imitatio.
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