Who the Devil Taught Thee So Much Italian?: Italian Language Learning and Literary Imitation in Early Modern England

Offers a comprehensive account of the methods and practice of learning modern languages (especially Italian) in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century England The first study to suggest a fundamental link between language-learning habits and the techniques for reading and imitating Italian materials employed by poets and dramatists such as Daniel, Drummond, Marston and Shakespeare Emphasises the impact of John Florio’s parallel-text instruction manuals on contemporary habits of literary imitation Provides detailed analysis of Daniel’s sonnet sequence Delia, and his pastoral tragicomedies, and of Shakespeare’s use of Italian materials in Measure for Measure and Othello Uses Shakespeare as an example of a typical language learner of the period, and argues that he clearly develops a competant reading knowledge of Italian during the 1590s and early 1600s