The Lost Tradition: Essays on Middle English Alliterative PoetryFour Courts Press, 2000 - 253 pages Four stresses, a line broken in two by a caesura, and a pattern of alliteration linking the two half-lines were features of the staple manner of Anglo-Saxon verse. And this tradition of writing continued into post-Conquest England, sometimes providing a distinctive alternative to rhymed or stanzaic verse, sometimes coexisting with it, occasionally a little uneasily. 'But trusteth wel, I am a Southren man; I kan nat geeste 'rum, ram, ruf', by lettre ...' says Chaucer's Parson, parodying the manner of alliterative verse and hinting at its provinciality. Much of it was, in fact, written in the west and north of England. The late efflorescence of alliterative writing in fourteenth-century and early fifteenth-century England is remarkable for its range and quality, and this is the focus of this collection of essays, five of which have not been published before. There are four essays on some of the lyrics preserved in London, British Library MS Harley 2253, two on Winner and Waster and The Parlement of the Thre Ages, both of which are preserved in London, British Library MS Additional 31042, and two on poems from London, British Library MS Cotton Nero A. x - one on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and contemporary knighthood, and one on Patience and the question of obedience to authority. One essay focuses on an incident in Piers Plowman dealing with the lawlessness of the gentry. Another looks at Pierce the Ploughman's Crede and Lollard attitudes to written texts. And another considers the clerical agenda of St Erkenwald and the writing of history. Two related texts - Richard the Redeles and Mum and the Sothsegger - are analysed, along with Gower's Cronica Tripartita, as verdicts on the reign of Richard II and as expressions of the determination of poets to comment on political affairs in contexts which sought to silence them. Finally, what may have been the last great English alliterative poem, Scotish Ffeilde, is considered in relation to other contemporary poems on the Battle of Flodden of 1513. |
À l'intérieur du livre
Résultats 1-3 sur 24
Page 77
... debate , but significantly it is an inconclusive or ' horizontal ' debate : neither disputant concedes defeat , and the enigmatic , sidestepping judgment of the king is not of the sort to grant victory one way or the other . III The debate ...
... debate , but significantly it is an inconclusive or ' horizontal ' debate : neither disputant concedes defeat , and the enigmatic , sidestepping judgment of the king is not of the sort to grant victory one way or the other . III The debate ...
Page 94
... debate : ' flyte we no lengare ' ( 264 ) . But neither Youthe nor Medill Elde seems to realise why the debate is futile , though it is implicit in what each represents and in what each says . The debate is pointless because they both ...
... debate : ' flyte we no lengare ' ( 264 ) . But neither Youthe nor Medill Elde seems to realise why the debate is futile , though it is implicit in what each represents and in what each says . The debate is pointless because they both ...
Page 101
... debate . Some point out that Morgan le Fay organized the Green Knight's challenge to test the renown of the Round Table ( 2456-8 ) , that the poem is essentially about fame and reputation , and that the pride of Gawain is the main moral ...
... debate . Some point out that Morgan le Fay organized the Green Knight's challenge to test the renown of the Round Table ( 2456-8 ) , that the poem is essentially about fame and reputation , and that the pride of Gawain is the main moral ...
Table des matières
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 9 |
An Old Mans Prayer and Bastard Feudalism | 15 |
A Reading of Satire on | 27 |
Droits d'auteur | |
10 autres sections non affichées
Expressions et termes fréquents
Ages Alliterative appears argued argument associated battle become called Cambridge causes century clear cleric comes concerned context court criticism death debate described earlier Edward England English Studies Erkenwald especially evidence example fact follows frequently friars Gawain give Green Harley Henry idea important indenture interesting interpretation issue James John Jonah king Knight language later Latin letter Library lines literacy Literature Lollard London lords Lyrics means Medieval Middle English moral narrator obedience Oxford particularly passage Patience perhaps poem poet poetry political precise present Press question reading reason record reference relation Richard says seems sense servant sloth social Society sometimes speak story Studies suggests things tradition University Press usually verse vols writing written þat