Carpe Diem Poetry in Seventeenth-Century England

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02323
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Ferris University
• Principal Investigator: Togashi Go フェリス女学院大学, 文学部, 教授 (30326095)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: イギリス / 詩 / ホラティウス / オウィディウス / カルペ・ディエム / 宗教改革 / ルネサンス / 幸せな人

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study has made it clear why poets so often sang of such classical themes as carpe diem (from Horace and Ovid), beatus ille (Horace), sapiens (Seneca), and ataraxia (Epicurus) in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. It was the period in which Christian teaching became more rigorous with the spread of English bibles and prayer books, of the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, and of apocalyptic eschatology attacking the Roman Catholic Church as Antichrist, the Beast, or the Whore of Babylon. Singing classical poetry was then a way to argue against such rigour, to express a preference for this world over the next, for quiet and relaxed life over overspirituality, and for King Charles over Parliament and the Army that criticised and waged war agaist him as Antichrist.

Free Research Field

イギリス文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の意義は、16-17世紀イギリス文学におけるギリシャ・ローマ古典の決定的な重要性を明らかにしたことであり、またイギリスにおいて宗教改革とルネサンス（古典の復興）が同時期におこった理由およびそれらがもたらした特異な結果（17世紀の内乱・王の処刑）を時系列的に説明できるようにしたことである。加えて、当時の重要作の翻訳を多数作成して日本語で読めるようにした。