Thinking with Ferrar Papers 1422: A c. 1681 Verse Miscellany

摘要

IN THIS ARTICLE Ⅰ DESCRIBE A NEW-in the sense of the never-before discussed-late-seventeenth century manuscript verse miscellany containing nineteen poems both well-known and more obscure. By introducing this manuscript and reading it in terms of the contexts of its probable compiler and the larger archive in which it sits, I hope to answer both local questions about the nature and purpose of the miscellany, and, more broadly, to reflect on the kinds of questions we bring to such a text, particularly in the light of recent work on the manuscript transmission and compilation of poetry. That is to say, I hope to offer both a case study of a new manuscript and a consideration of (to misquote Raymond Carver) what we talk about when we talk about miscellanies.