Rowleian

Rowleian

English

Alternative forms

• Rowleyan

Etymology

Rowley +‎ -ian

Adjective

Rowleian (comparative more Rowleian, superlative most Rowleian)

1. (literature) Of or pertaining to the literary style and characters of plays by William Rowley (ca1585-1626), English playright.
   • 1988, Ann Thompson, The Modern Language Review‎, volume 83, number 4, page 945n:

     The style of which is neither Rowleian nor Shakespearean but a particular blending of both.

   • 1991, Mark Dominik, “William Rowley”, in William Shakespeare and the Birth of Merlin‎^], page 33:

     Tim [Bloodhound] shows many signs of being a typical Rowleian clown; he is a fat clown, judging from his joke about breaking his girdle.

2. (literature) Of or pertaining to the work of (fictional) poet Thomas Rowley, a pseudonym of Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770), English poet.
   • 1782, Horace Walpole, The Letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of Orford‎, page 319:

     Mr. Tyrwhitt's book on the Rowleian controversy, which is reckoned completely victorious, are all the novelties I have seen since I left town.

   • 1898, Henry A. Beers, A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century‎:

     Chatterton... also imparted to Barrett two Rowleian poems, "The Parliament of Sprites," and "The Battle of Hastings" (in two quite different versions).

   • 1898, Henry A. Beers, A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century‎:

     Tyrwhitt pointed out that the Rowleian dialect was not English of the fifteenth century, nor of any century, but a grotesque jumble of archaic words of very different periods and dialects.