Arthur F. Kinney (1933–2021)
Author of Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments
About the Author
Arthur F. Kinney is Copeland Professor of Literary History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Director of the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies.
Works by Arthur F. Kinney
Rogues, Vagabonds, & Sturdy Beggars: A New Gallery of Tudor and Early Stuart Rogue Literature, Exposing the Lives,… (1973) 73 copies
Titled Elizabethans [first edition] : a directory of Elizabethan state and church officers and knights, with peers of… (1973) 6 copies
Shakespeare and Cognition: Aristotle's Legacy and Shakespearean Drama: Webbing the Invisible (2006) 5 copies
On Seven Shakespearean Comedies 3 copies
Classical, Renaissance, and postmodernist acts of the imagination : essays commemorating O.B. Hardison, Jr. (1996) 1 copy
Oppression and Liberty 1 copy
English literary renaissance 1 copy
Bear, Man & God 1 copy
Associated Works
Pilgrimage for love : essays in early modern literature in honor of Josephine A. Roberts (1999) — Contributor — 1 copy
Soundings of things done : essays in early modern literature in honor of S.K. Heninger, Jr. (1997) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Kinney, Arthur Frederick
- Birthdate
- 1933-09-05
- Date of death
- 2021-12-25
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- professor
- Organizations
- University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Short biography
- Arthur F. Kinney has a B.A. from Syracuse University, an M.S. from Columbia University and a PhD from the University of Michigan. His research interests include Renaissance prose, poetry, and drama and twentieth-century American literature with specialties in William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, and Dorothy Parker. He has published widely in both areas including books on Humanist Poetics; John Skelton, Priest as Poet; and "Lies Like Truth": Shakespeare, Macbeth, and the Cultural Moment; four books on Faulkner's families and a study of Go Down, Moses; Resources of Being: Flannery O'Connor's Library; and Dorothy Parker Revisited; He has also edited a volume of Renaissance Drama and Entertainments, The Witch of Edmonton; the Cambridge Companion to English Literature 1500-1600; the Oxford Handbook to Shakespeare; and Dorothy Parker's Coast of Ilyria. His current project is Shakespeare and the Mind's Eye based on Renaissance and current cognitive studies, revising Titled Elizabethans, and publishing a volume of Selected Essays.
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KINNEY, Arthur F(rederick) 1933-
PERSONAL: Born September 5, 1933, in Cortland, NY; son of Arthur Frederick, Sr. and Gladys Elorsie (Mudge) Kinney. Education: Syracuse University, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1955; Columbia University, M.S., 1956; University of Michigan, Ph.D., 1963. Hobbies and other interests: Photography, jazz.
ADDRESSES: Home—25 Hunter Hill Dr., Amherst, MA 01002. Office—Department of English, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01002. Center for Renaissance Studies, P.O. Box 2300, Amherst, MA, 01004. Agent—McIntosh & Otis, Inc., 475 5th Ave., New York, NY 10017. E-mail—afkinney@english.umass.edu.
CAREER: Yale University, New Haven, CT, instructor in English, 1963-66; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, assistant professor, 1966-68, associate professor, 1968-74, professor of English, 1974, Thomas W. Copeland Professor of Professor of Literary History, 1985—; director, bachelor's degree program in individual studies; director, Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, 1996—; Clark University, Worcester, MA, adjunct professor of English, 1971-83; New York University, adjunct professor of English, 1990—. Visiting professor, Oxford University, 1978, University of Liverpool, 1984, Sir Thomas Browne Institute, University of Leiden, 1984, 1986. Military service: U.S. Army, chaplain, 1966-68.
MEMBER: Modern Language Association of America (chair of Conference of Editors of Learned Journals, 1971-73, 1981-83), National Council of Teachers of English, Shakespeare Society of America, Milton Society, Malone Society, Renaissance English Text Society (vice president, 1983-84; president, 1984—), College English Association, American Studies Association, Renaissance Society of America (Executive Committee, 1990), Northeast Modern Language Association (executive secretary, 1971-73), New England College English Association (member of board of directors, 1971-73), Folger Institute (Executive Committee, 1990—), Sidney Society (president, 2001—), Michigan Academy of Arts and Letters, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Rho Delta Phi.
AWARDS, HONORS: Jules M. and Avery Hopwood Major Award for Writing, 1961; Bread Loaf scholar, 1962; Morse fellow, Yale University, 1964-66; senior fellow, Huntington Library, 1972, 1983; senior fellow, Folger Shakespeare Library, 1973; senior fellow, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1977, 1982-83; Fulbright-Hays fellow, New College, Oxford, 1978; university research fellow, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1983-84.
WRITINGS:
(Editor, with Francis Lee Utley and Lynn Z. Bloom) Bear, Man, and God: Seven Approaches to Faulkner's "The Bear," Random House (New York, NY), 1964, revised edition, 1971.
On Seven Shakespearean Tragedies, Scarab Press (Sterling Junction, MA), 1968.
(Editor, with Kenneth W. Kuiper and Lynn Z. Bloom) Symposium, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1969.
Symposium on Love, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1969.
On Seven Shakespearean Comedies, Scarab Press (Sterling Junction, MA), 1969.
(Author of critical and textual notes) H. R., Mythomystes (1623), Scolar Press (Menston, England), 1972.
(Editor) Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars, Imprint Society, 1973, published as Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars: A New Gallery of Tudor and Early Stuart Rogue Literature Exposing the Lives, Times, and Cozening Tricks of the Elizabethan Underworld, edited, with notes, from quartos of the first editions, illustrations by John Lawrence, University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst, MA), 1990. …
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Statistics
- Works
- 43
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 444
- Popularity
- #55,179
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 84
- Languages
- 1
When approaching a new-to-me poet or author I invariably hesitate between either launching into the novels/poems, or starting with a biography or critical appreciation. Skelton is a well anthologised poet and I have read snippets of his poems from time to time, but Kinney's book initially appeared fairly daunting, however I persevered and after finishing his book I feel I am better prepared to read some of Skelton's longer poems. Skelton is of great interest to lovers of English poetry because he is the first major poet in the canon after Chaucer and Gower and fills a gap until the Elizabethan poetry of [[Thomas Wyatt]] and [[Henry Howard Earl of Surrey]]. Some critics have said that this is his only claim to fame and at first glance this could appear to be the case. Robert Graves imitated his style in providing a summary of his work that many would agree with:
But angrily, wittily,
Tenderly, prettily
Laughingly, learnedly,
Sadly, madly,
Helter-skelter John
Rhymes serenely on,
As English poets should.
Old John, you do me good.
(Robert Graves)
This rather light hearted approach to the poems is challenged by Kinney who says that to appreciate the poetry one must understand that Skelton was first and foremost a priest and a conservative, catholic one at that. His poems contained messages in a code that the courtiers and clerics surrounding Henry VIII would immediately comprehend, but would be lost to the modern reader. Kinney says that in his major poems Skelton incorporates scraps of Church liturgy, a liturgy that was as familiar to him as it would be to many others at the Tudor court, he wrote them as a priest and they were intended to instruct in the catholic religion. Knowing this the modern reader can understand a little of what Skelton was doing, but an in depth appreciation of the many references that Kinney points up is probably beyond most of us who are not scholars of the period.
Skelton was also a political poet at a time when Henry VIII was launching the reformation. He had been tutor to the young Henry but when he became heir to the throne Skelton was dismissed from his post and appointed as rector of Diss, which was a thriving commercial town in East Anglia (England) and not too far from the court at Westminster. Around 1513 he was back in favour and again at court where he became the self styled poet-laureate. He was soon at loggerheads with Cardinal Wolsey and much of his latter poems castigated the Cardinals style of living and his lack of attention to the church liturgy and his bad influence on the King. All of these details can be gleaned from Kinney's book which does in the end provide a good context for the poems.
Arthur Kinney's book does in the end serve both as a critical appraisal of the poetry and provides some background to the life and times of Skelton, it does however, have a nuanced approach to his subject, which some readers might find difficult to grasp. I am glad I read it and am looking forward to getting to grips with some of Skelton's poems. A three star read.… (more)