Analyzing and Interpreting Literature / Unit 3 AIL 0220 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"Wit" Means Mental Power
Captions available
The idea
Sonnet twenty-six sends its message "To witness duty, not to show my wit", then calls that wit poor. Wit is intelligence or inventive power, not humour. The modern narrowing to joke-making is late, and reading it back turns a poet's modesty about his craft into something else.
In practice
Wit is intellect, not comedy.
Where people slip
The narrowing to jokes came later.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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