Editing Classics (section)

===Neoclassicism===
The late 17th and 18th centuries are the period in Western European literary history which is most associated with the classical tradition, as writers consciously adapted classical models.<ref name="Kaminski 2007 57">{{harvnb|Kaminski|2007|p=57}}</ref> Classical models were so highly prized that the plays of [[William Shakespeare]] were rewritten along [[Neoclassicism|neoclassical]] lines, and these "improved" versions were performed throughout the 18th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaminski|2007|p=65}}</ref> In the [[United States]], the nation's [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founders]] were strongly influenced by the classics, and they looked in particular to the [[Roman Republic]] for their form of government.<ref>Mortimer N.S. Sellers, ''Founding Fathers in America'' in ''The Classical Tradition'' pp. 367, 368 (Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, & Salvatore Settis, eds. 2010).</ref>

From the beginning of the 18th century, the study of Greek became increasingly important relative to that of Latin.<ref name="Kristeller 1978 591">{{harvnb|Kristeller|1978|p=591}}</ref>
In this period [[Johann Winckelmann]]'s claims for the superiority of the Greek [[visual arts]] influenced a shift in [[Aesthetics|aesthetic]] judgements, while in the literary sphere, [[G. E. Lessing]] "returned [[Homer]] to the centre of artistic achievement".<ref>{{harvnb|Kaminski|2007|p=69}}</ref>
In the [[United Kingdom]], the study of Greek in schools began in the late 18th century. The poet [[Walter Savage Landor]] claimed to have been one of the first English schoolboys to write in Greek during his time at [[Rugby School]].<ref>{{harvnb|Stray|1996|p=79}}</ref> In the United States, [[philhellenism]] began to emerge in the 1830s, with a turn "from a love of Rome and a focus on classical grammar to a new focus on Greece and the totality of its society, art, and culture."<ref>Caroline Winterer, ''The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Cultural Life, 1780–1910'', pp. 3–4 (2002)</ref>