SOURCE: Strozier, Robert M. “Theory and Structure in Roger Ascham's The Scholemaster.” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 74 (1973): 144-162.

In the following essay, Strozier attempts to place Ascham in the Renaissance intellectual tradition, highlighting Ascham's concept of imitation as a method for learning and for action. Strozier examines the structure of The Scholemaster as it supports the development of that theme, arguing that the organization of the work is more coherent and purposeful than early commentators have allowed.

Scholars of the sixteenth century have always been grateful to men like Sir Thomas Elyot and Roger Ascham. They move with a stolid glow that separates them from the violent brilliance of Shakespeare or the destructive laser of Donne. Scholars consequently write biographies of Elyot and Ascham, edit their works, excerpt the works in college editions of sixteenth-century prose, and draw on their multitudinous arguments for discussions of the commonplaces of the thought of...