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Philip Sidney was in his early twenties when he wrote his `Old` Arcadia for the amusement of his younger sister, the Countess of Pembroke. The book, which he called `a trifle, and that triflingly handled`, reflects their youthful vitality.
The `Old` Arcadia tells a romantic story in a manner comparable to that of Shakespeare`s early comedies. It is divided into five `Acts`, and abounds in lively speeches, dialogues, and quasi-dramatic tableaux. Two young princes, Pyrocles and Musidorus, disguise themselves as an Amazon and a shepherd to gain access to the Arcadian Princesses, who have been taken into semi-imprisonment by their father to avoid the dangers foretold by an oracle.
As a vehicle for Sidney`s prophetic ideas about English versification, the `Old` Arcadia also includes over seventy poems in a wide variety of metres and genres. In clarity, symmetry, and coherence the `Old` version is greatly superior both to the ambitious but unfinished `New` Arcadia and the amalgamated, `composite` version, a hybrid monster which Sidney himself never envisaged.
ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World`s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford`s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.ISBN - 9780199549849
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Pages : 432
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