...Chaucer's genius available to his poetic heirs. "Milton was the poetical son of Spenser, and," says Dryden, "Spenser more than once insinuates that the soul of Chaucer was transfused into his body" (270)." Of course the 24. John Dryden, "Preface to Fables Ancient and Modern," in Of Dramatic Poesy...

...centuries, not only by appearing in 1700, Dryden remarked: Milton was the Poetical son of Spencer, and Mr. Waller of Fairfax; for we have our Lineal Descents and Clans as well as other Families: Spencer more than once insinuates, that the Soul of Chaucer was transfus'd into his Body, and that...

...metaphorical sense to him. He has this remark in Preface to the Fables, Ancient and Modern (1700): "Spenser more than once insinuates that the soul of Chaucer was transfused into his body."5 Dryden insinuates no less. When he translated Chaucer he thought he could do a good job of...

...the direction of its flow can be reversed.35 The ambiguous pronouns in a sentence already quoted — "Spenser more than once insinuates, that the soul...begotten by him two hundred years after his decease" — are the first of many suggestions that tradition is a two-way street on which the flow of poetical...

...Virgil, Horace and Ovid, of course, but as well Chaucer and Spenser, Jonson, Waller, and now Milton. "Milton was the poetical son of Spenser, and Mr. Waller of Fairfax; for we have our lineal descents 43 See the commentary and annotation in vol. 3, edited by Earl Miner, and vol. 6, edited by William...

...Waller of Fairfax; for we [poets] have our lineal descents and clans as well as other families. Spencer more than once insinuates, that the Soul of Chaucer...by him two hundred years after his decease. Milton has acknowledged to me, that Spencer was his original. (2:247) Dryden produces a model of interpoetic...

...constructing a stricdy British canon is well underway: "Milton was the Poetical Son of Spencer .... Spencer more than once insinuates, that the Soul of Chaucer...by him Two hundred years after his Decease. Milton has acknowledged to me, that Spencer was his Original" (CH, 205). Despite Milton's several allusions...

...both of signs and of literary authority in terms of genealogy: Milton was the Poetical Son of Spencer, and Mr. Waller of Fairfax; for we have our Lineal Descents and Clans, as well as other Families. Spencer more than once insinuates, that the Soul of Chaucer was transfus'd into his Body; and that...

...well as other Families. Spencer more than once insinuates, that the Soul of Chaucer was transfus'd into his Body; and that he was begotten by him Two hundred years after his Decease. Milton has acknowledg'd to me that Spencer was his Original. (Preface, 1445) Dryden's genealogy is not a genealogy...

...Dryden, himself a poetical descendant of near and distant founding Bloggses, put the matter clearly: "Milton was the poetical son of Spenser, and Mr. Waller...than once insinuates that the soul of Chaucer was transfus'd into his body, and that he was begotten by him two hundred years after his decease."9 It...