Singing the Study of Sound: Literary Engagement with Natural Philosophy in the Act and Tripos Verses of Oxford and Cambridge

William M. Barton

Jump to Content

Chapter 6 Singing the Study of Sound: Literary Engagement with Natural Philosophy in the Act and Tripos Verses of Oxford and Cambridge

in Early Modern Disputations and Dissertations in an Interdisciplinary and European Context

Autor:in:

William M. Barton

William M. Barton
Search for other papers by William M. Barton in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Art:: Kapitel

Seiten:: 164–187

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004436206_007

Über Institut einloggen

Sofortzugang erwerben (PDF-Download und unbegrenzter Online-Zugang):

42,00 €35,00 € excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Token einlösen

Summary

In early modern Oxford and Cambridge the practice of disputation was, as in all contemporary university contexts, among the most common methods of educating and evaluating students throughout their careers. Despite their frequency and popularity, however, disputations at Oxbridge rarely came to print as dissertations, in stark contrast to the practice developed in universities elsewhere in Europe. Nonetheless, the topics under dispute among students in early modern Oxford and Cambridge (England’s only universities in the period) did find their way to publication, albeit in a form somewhat different to the continental dissertatio: Short poems known as ‘Act’ or ‘Tripos’ verses (composed mainly in Latin but sometimes in Greek or Hebrew) were produced regularly to commemorate and publicise disputation events from at least the mid-sixteenth century onwards.

This contribution offers a study of a group of nine act and tripos verses marking disputation events on the science of sound in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. After an overview of the poetic genre in general and an introduction to contemporary study of sound (selected as one of the most frequently disputed topics in the period for which this poetry survives), this article focuses on the important evidence offered by the poems for their role in receiving and disseminating new ideas in early modern science. As we shall see, the verses’ blend of classical and contemporary literary themes suggests an atmosphere at the disputation events not simply of dry, occasional versification in ancient languages, but rather of lively alertness to popular cultural themes and their active employment to properly entertain an audience. The poems’ clever and often humorous engagement with their disputation themes reflects, moreover, the intense interest in questions of contemporary natural philosophical research in Oxford and Cambridge. The contribution finishes by suggesting that act and tripos verse may even have contributed to a growing curiosity around questions of natural philosophy among educated circles in the period.

Zitierungsangaben

Save
Cite
Inhalt per Mail versenden

Link teilen

Sie können einen Link zu dieser Seite per E-Mail senden:
Inhalt per Mail versenden
oder den Link direkt kopieren:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/edcoll/9789004436206/BP000015.xml
Der Link wurde nicht kopiert. Ihr aktueller Browser unterstützt das Kopieren über diese Schaltfläche möglicherweise nicht.

Link wurde kopiert

Reduzieren
Erweitern
Nach oben

Early Modern Disputations and Dissertations in an Interdisciplinary and European Context

Reihe: Intersections, Band: 71

ISBN:: 9789004436206

Verleger:: Brill

Print-Publikationsdatum:: 13 Nov 2020

Fachgebiete

Front Matter

Back Matter

Kennzahlen

	Insgesamt	Letzte 365 Tage	In den letzten 30 Tagen
Aufrufe von Kurzbeschreibungen	478	198	31
Gesamttextansichten	27	5	1
PDF-Downloads	54	7	1

Afrikanistik	Internationale Beziehungen	Nahost- und Islamwissenschaften
Altorientalistik und Ägyptologie	Internationales Recht	Pädagogik
Amerikanistik	Judaistik	Philosophie
Asienwissenschaften	Klassische Altertumswissenschaft	Religionswissenschaft
Bibelauslegung	Kunstgeschichte	Slawistik und Eurasienkunde
Biologie	Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften	Sozialwissenschaften
Biowissenschaften	Medienwissenschaft	Sprachen und Linguistik
Buchgeschichte und Kartographie	Menschenrechte und humanitäres Völkerrecht	Theologie und Christentum
Geschichte	Musikwissenschaft

Fachgebiete

Autor:innen

Open Access

Produkt-Informationen

Über uns

Kontakt

Chapter 6 Singing the Study of Sound: Literary Engagement with Natural Philosophy in the Act and Tripos Verses of Oxford and Cambridge

Summary

Zitierungsangaben

Link teilen

Early Modern Disputations and Dissertations in an Interdisciplinary and European Context

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Kennzahlen

Kennzahlen