ABSTRACT
Puttenham’s taxonomy of class stratifi cation closely resembles that of Smith, showing that political and literary categories were thought of in similar ways in the middle years of the sixteenth century, resulting from a common culture of rhetorical argument, perhaps derived from the pioneering work of Peter Ramus and his systems for classifying ideas and arguments.9 As will also be clear from the move from high to low subjects, Puttenham has in mind the great, epic deeds of nations as the proper subject of serious poetry, so that the acts of war and peace are to be represented in heroic, hymnic and the historical style. Class and nation are inextricably bound together. e nation needs serious poets skilled in the high style to narrate its mighty deeds. More homely subjects require more lowly style and do not, in Puttenham’s scheme, represent the nation’s identity.
