Alcuin Blamires
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198186304
- eISBN:
- 9780191674501
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198186304.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have ...
More
Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have tended to concentrate on courtly literature, on female visionary writings, or on attempts to transcend misogyny by major authors such as Christine de Pizan and Chaucer. This book sets out to demonstrate something different: that there existed from early in the Middle Ages a corpus of substantial traditions in defence of women, on which the more familiar authors drew, and that this corpus itself consolidated strands of profeminine thought that had been present as far back as the patristic literature of the 4th century. The book surveys extant writings formally defending women in the Middle Ages; identifies a source for profeminine argument in biblical apocrypha; offers a series of explorations of the background and circulation of central arguments on behalf of women; and seeks to situate relevant texts by Christine de Pizan, Chaucer, Abelard, and Hrotsvitha in relation to these arguments. Topics covered range from the privileges of women, and pro-Eve polemic, to the social and moral strengths attributed to women, and to the powerful models frequently disruptive of patriarchal complacency presented by Old and New Testament women. The contribution made by these emphases (which are not to be confused with feminism in a modern sense) to medieval constructions of gender is throughout critically assessed.Less
Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have tended to concentrate on courtly literature, on female visionary writings, or on attempts to transcend misogyny by major authors such as Christine de Pizan and Chaucer. This book sets out to demonstrate something different: that there existed from early in the Middle Ages a corpus of substantial traditions in defence of women, on which the more familiar authors drew, and that this corpus itself consolidated strands of profeminine thought that had been present as far back as the patristic literature of the 4th century. The book surveys extant writings formally defending women in the Middle Ages; identifies a source for profeminine argument in biblical apocrypha; offers a series of explorations of the background and circulation of central arguments on behalf of women; and seeks to situate relevant texts by Christine de Pizan, Chaucer, Abelard, and Hrotsvitha in relation to these arguments. Topics covered range from the privileges of women, and pro-Eve polemic, to the social and moral strengths attributed to women, and to the powerful models frequently disruptive of patriarchal complacency presented by Old and New Testament women. The contribution made by these emphases (which are not to be confused with feminism in a modern sense) to medieval constructions of gender is throughout critically assessed.
Thorlac Turville-Petre
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122791
- eISBN:
- 9780191671548
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122791.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book pays attention to the earlier fourteenth century in England as a literary period in its own right. It surveys the wide range of writings by the generation before Geoffrey Chaucer, and ...
More
This book pays attention to the earlier fourteenth century in England as a literary period in its own right. It surveys the wide range of writings by the generation before Geoffrey Chaucer, and explores how English writers in the half-century leading up to the outbreak of the Hundred Years War expressed their concepts of England as a nation, and how they exploited the association between nation, people, and language. At the centre of this work is a study of the construction of national identity that takes place in the histories written in English. The contributions of romances and saints' lives to an awareness of the nation's past are also considered, as is the question of how writers were able to reconcile their sense of regional identity with commitment to the nation. A final chapter explores the interrelationship between England's three languages, Latin, French and English, at a time when English was attaining the status of the national language. Middle English quotations are translated into modern English throughout.Less
This book pays attention to the earlier fourteenth century in England as a literary period in its own right. It surveys the wide range of writings by the generation before Geoffrey Chaucer, and explores how English writers in the half-century leading up to the outbreak of the Hundred Years War expressed their concepts of England as a nation, and how they exploited the association between nation, people, and language. At the centre of this work is a study of the construction of national identity that takes place in the histories written in English. The contributions of romances and saints' lives to an awareness of the nation's past are also considered, as is the question of how writers were able to reconcile their sense of regional identity with commitment to the nation. A final chapter explores the interrelationship between England's three languages, Latin, French and English, at a time when English was attaining the status of the national language. Middle English quotations are translated into modern English throughout.
Sheila Delany
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195109887
- eISBN:
- 9780199855216
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195109887.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book breaks important ground in 15th-century scholarship, a critical site of cultural study. The book examines the work of English Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, and explores the relations ...
More
This book breaks important ground in 15th-century scholarship, a critical site of cultural study. The book examines the work of English Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, and explores the relations of history and literature in this particularly turbulent period in English history, beginning with The Wars of the Roses and moving on to the Hundred Years War. The book examines the first collection of all female saints' lives in any language: Legends of Holy Women composed by Bokenham between 1443 and 1447. The book is organized around the image of the body—a medieval procedure becoming popular once again in current attention to the social construction of the body. One emphasis is Bokenham's relation to the body of English literature, particularly Chaucer, the symbolic head of the 15th century. Another emphasis is a focus on the genre of saints' lives, particularly female saints' lives, with their striking use of the body of the saint to generate meaning. Finally, the image of the body politic, the controlling image of medieval political thought is given, and Bokenham's means to examine the political and dynastic crises of 15th-century England. The book uses these three major concerns to explain the literary innovation of Bokenham's Legend, and the larger and political importance of that innovation.Less
This book breaks important ground in 15th-century scholarship, a critical site of cultural study. The book examines the work of English Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, and explores the relations of history and literature in this particularly turbulent period in English history, beginning with The Wars of the Roses and moving on to the Hundred Years War. The book examines the first collection of all female saints' lives in any language: Legends of Holy Women composed by Bokenham between 1443 and 1447. The book is organized around the image of the body—a medieval procedure becoming popular once again in current attention to the social construction of the body. One emphasis is Bokenham's relation to the body of English literature, particularly Chaucer, the symbolic head of the 15th century. Another emphasis is a focus on the genre of saints' lives, particularly female saints' lives, with their striking use of the body of the saint to generate meaning. Finally, the image of the body politic, the controlling image of medieval political thought is given, and Bokenham's means to examine the political and dynastic crises of 15th-century England. The book uses these three major concerns to explain the literary innovation of Bokenham's Legend, and the larger and political importance of that innovation.
Hugh White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187301
- eISBN:
- 9780191674693
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187301.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings ...
More
‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings by Alan of Lille, Jean de Meun, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, showing how — particularly in the erotic sphere — the influences of nature are not always conceived as wholly benign. Though medieval thinkers often affirm an association of nature with reason, and therefore with the good, there is also an acknowledgement that the animal, the pre-rational, the instinctive within human beings may be validly considered natural. In fact, human beings may be thought to be urged, almost ineluctably, by the force of nature within them towards behaviour hostile to reason and the right.Less
‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings by Alan of Lille, Jean de Meun, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, showing how — particularly in the erotic sphere — the influences of nature are not always conceived as wholly benign. Though medieval thinkers often affirm an association of nature with reason, and therefore with the good, there is also an acknowledgement that the animal, the pre-rational, the instinctive within human beings may be validly considered natural. In fact, human beings may be thought to be urged, almost ineluctably, by the force of nature within them towards behaviour hostile to reason and the right.
Andrew King
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187226
- eISBN:
- 9780191674662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187226.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Spenser's reception of the rich and complex imaginative, historical, and political traditions involved in Middle English romance is an aspect of The Faerie Queene which has been grossly neglected. ...
More
Spenser's reception of the rich and complex imaginative, historical, and political traditions involved in Middle English romance is an aspect of The Faerie Queene which has been grossly neglected. Many areas and topics relating to Spenser's interaction with Middle English romance remain untouched, such as his completion in Book IV of Chaucer's Squire's Tale. This book has dealt only with Books I, II, and V because they arguably present a coherent narrative of response to native romance which does not necessitate detailed consideration of the convergent influences of Ariosto and Tasso; opening the door to Italianate romance, necessary in consideration of other books, would have resulted in a much larger, and possibly more diffuse study. The general neglect of interest in Spenser's use of native romance hopefully justifies a focused and single-minded book such as this.Less
Spenser's reception of the rich and complex imaginative, historical, and political traditions involved in Middle English romance is an aspect of The Faerie Queene which has been grossly neglected. Many areas and topics relating to Spenser's interaction with Middle English romance remain untouched, such as his completion in Book IV of Chaucer's Squire's Tale. This book has dealt only with Books I, II, and V because they arguably present a coherent narrative of response to native romance which does not necessitate detailed consideration of the convergent influences of Ariosto and Tasso; opening the door to Italianate romance, necessary in consideration of other books, would have resulted in a much larger, and possibly more diffuse study. The general neglect of interest in Spenser's use of native romance hopefully justifies a focused and single-minded book such as this.
Hugh White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187301
- eISBN:
- 9780191674693
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187301.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter suggests that the unsatisfactoriness of the natural for Chaucer and Gower was inevitable because they were much concerned with nature as promoter of sexual love; and in late medieval ...
More
This chapter suggests that the unsatisfactoriness of the natural for Chaucer and Gower was inevitable because they were much concerned with nature as promoter of sexual love; and in late medieval culture sexual love and reason were inevitably at odds. Nevertheless, they are greatly interested in the natural precisely as it offers the prospect of concord between love and reason, the body and the spirit, the self-oriented and the altruistic, earth and heaven. Dante certainly moved towards it and in England, the Gawain-poet was emphatically affirmative about the goodness of the natural in sex. However, It is also noticeable that Chaucer's great contemporaries Langland, the Gawain-poet, and Julian of Norwich all strongly affirm the mercy of God and celebrate the natural.Less
This chapter suggests that the unsatisfactoriness of the natural for Chaucer and Gower was inevitable because they were much concerned with nature as promoter of sexual love; and in late medieval culture sexual love and reason were inevitably at odds. Nevertheless, they are greatly interested in the natural precisely as it offers the prospect of concord between love and reason, the body and the spirit, the self-oriented and the altruistic, earth and heaven. Dante certainly moved towards it and in England, the Gawain-poet was emphatically affirmative about the goodness of the natural in sex. However, It is also noticeable that Chaucer's great contemporaries Langland, the Gawain-poet, and Julian of Norwich all strongly affirm the mercy of God and celebrate the natural.
Tim William Machan
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199282128
- eISBN:
- 9780191718991
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199282128.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, English Language
This book suggests that many linguistic, literary, and historical considerations of medieval statements on language have significantly failed to take into account the social and linguistic contexts ...
More
This book suggests that many linguistic, literary, and historical considerations of medieval statements on language have significantly failed to take into account the social and linguistic contexts of their production. The book explores not only medieval ideas about language but also the discursive traditions which generated them. The book draws upon a wide range of documentary evidence, including most notably the royal letters issued in 1258 prior to the Barons' War. The book also analyses the language spoken by Chaucer's pilgrims, the conversations in ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, and many other chronicles, poems, and commentaries. The book concludes with a consideration of the post-medieval history of the status of English in law, literature, and education.Less
This book suggests that many linguistic, literary, and historical considerations of medieval statements on language have significantly failed to take into account the social and linguistic contexts of their production. The book explores not only medieval ideas about language but also the discursive traditions which generated them. The book draws upon a wide range of documentary evidence, including most notably the royal letters issued in 1258 prior to the Barons' War. The book also analyses the language spoken by Chaucer's pilgrims, the conversations in ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, and many other chronicles, poems, and commentaries. The book concludes with a consideration of the post-medieval history of the status of English in law, literature, and education.
Dorothy Yamamoto
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198186748
- eISBN:
- 9780191718564
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198186748.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Animals and ‘wild men’ are everywhere in medieval culture, but their role in illuminating medieval constructions of humanity has never been properly explored. This book gathers together a large ...
More
Animals and ‘wild men’ are everywhere in medieval culture, but their role in illuminating medieval constructions of humanity has never been properly explored. This book gathers together a large number of themes and subjects, including the Bestiary, heraldry, and hunting, and examines them as part of a unified discourse about the body and its creative transformations. ‘Human’ and ‘animal’ are terms traditionally opposed to one another, but their relationship must always be characterized by a dynamic instability. Humans scout into the animal zone, manipulating and reshaping ‘animal’ bodies in accordance with their own social imaginings — yet these forays are risky since they lead to questions about what humanity consists in, and whether it can ever be forfeited. Studies of birds, foxes, ‘game’ animals, the wild man, and shape-shifting women fill out the argument of this book, which examines works by Chaucer, Gower, the Gawain-poet, and Henryson, as well as showing that many less familiar texts have rewards that an informed reading can reveal.Less
Animals and ‘wild men’ are everywhere in medieval culture, but their role in illuminating medieval constructions of humanity has never been properly explored. This book gathers together a large number of themes and subjects, including the Bestiary, heraldry, and hunting, and examines them as part of a unified discourse about the body and its creative transformations. ‘Human’ and ‘animal’ are terms traditionally opposed to one another, but their relationship must always be characterized by a dynamic instability. Humans scout into the animal zone, manipulating and reshaping ‘animal’ bodies in accordance with their own social imaginings — yet these forays are risky since they lead to questions about what humanity consists in, and whether it can ever be forfeited. Studies of birds, foxes, ‘game’ animals, the wild man, and shape-shifting women fill out the argument of this book, which examines works by Chaucer, Gower, the Gawain-poet, and Henryson, as well as showing that many less familiar texts have rewards that an informed reading can reveal.
Marion Turner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207893
- eISBN:
- 9780191709142
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207893.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book explores the textual environment of London in the 1380s and 1390s, revealing a language of betrayal, surveillance, slander, treason, rebellion, flawed idealism, and corrupted compaignyes. ...
More
This book explores the textual environment of London in the 1380s and 1390s, revealing a language of betrayal, surveillance, slander, treason, rebellion, flawed idealism, and corrupted compaignyes. Taking a strongly interdisciplinary approach, it examines how discourses about social antagonism work across different kinds of texts written at this time, including Geoffrey Chaucer's House of Fame, Troilus and Criseyde, and Canterbury Tales, and other literary texts such as St. Erkenwald, John Gower's Vox clamantis, Thomas Usk's Testament of Love, and Richard Maidstone's Concordia. Many non-literary texts are also discussed, including the Mercers' Petition, Usk's Appeal, the guild returns, judicial letters, Philippe de Mézières's Letter to Richard II, and chronicle accounts. These were tumultuous decades in London: some of the conflicts and problems discussed include the Peasants' Revolt, the mayoral rivalries of the 1380s, the Merciless Parliament, slander legislation, and contemporary suspicion of urban associations. While contemporary texts try to hold out hope for the future, or imagine an earlier Golden Age, Chaucer's texts foreground social conflict and antagonism. Though most critics have promoted an idea of Chaucer's texts as essentially socially optimistic and congenial, this book argues that Chaucer presents a vision of a society that is inevitably divided and destructive.Less
This book explores the textual environment of London in the 1380s and 1390s, revealing a language of betrayal, surveillance, slander, treason, rebellion, flawed idealism, and corrupted compaignyes. Taking a strongly interdisciplinary approach, it examines how discourses about social antagonism work across different kinds of texts written at this time, including Geoffrey Chaucer's House of Fame, Troilus and Criseyde, and Canterbury Tales, and other literary texts such as St. Erkenwald, John Gower's Vox clamantis, Thomas Usk's Testament of Love, and Richard Maidstone's Concordia. Many non-literary texts are also discussed, including the Mercers' Petition, Usk's Appeal, the guild returns, judicial letters, Philippe de Mézières's Letter to Richard II, and chronicle accounts. These were tumultuous decades in London: some of the conflicts and problems discussed include the Peasants' Revolt, the mayoral rivalries of the 1380s, the Merciless Parliament, slander legislation, and contemporary suspicion of urban associations. While contemporary texts try to hold out hope for the future, or imagine an earlier Golden Age, Chaucer's texts foreground social conflict and antagonism. Though most critics have promoted an idea of Chaucer's texts as essentially socially optimistic and congenial, this book argues that Chaucer presents a vision of a society that is inevitably divided and destructive.
K. P. Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199607778
- eISBN:
- 9780191729546
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199607778.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, European Literature
This book breaks important new ground in the study of Chaucer's various engagements with Italian literary culture, taking a more dynamic approach to Chaucer's Italian sources than has previously been ...
More
This book breaks important new ground in the study of Chaucer's various engagements with Italian literary culture, taking a more dynamic approach to Chaucer's Italian sources than has previously been available. Most treatments of such influences do not take sufficient account of the material contexts in which these sources were available to Chaucer and his contemporaries. Manuscripts of the major works of Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch circulated in a variety of formats, and often the margins of their texts were loci for extensive commentary and glossing. These traditions of glossing and commentary represent one of the most striking features of fourteenth-century Italian literary culture. Not only that, but the authors themselves were responsible for some of this commentary material, from Dante's own prosimetra Vita nova and Convivio, to the extensive commentary accompanying Boccaccio's Teseida. The startling example of Francesco d'Amaretto Mannelli's glosses in his copy of the Decameron, copied in 1384, is discussed in detail for the first time. His refiguring of Griselda offers an important perspective on the reception of this story that is exactly contemporary with Chaucer. This book offers a new perspective on Chaucer and Italy by highlighting the materiality of his sources, reconstructing his textual, codicological horizon of expectation. It provides new ways of thinking about Chaucer's access to, and use of, these Italian sources, stimulating, in turn, new ways of reading his work. This attention to the materiality of Chaucer's sources is further explored and developed by reading the Tales through their early fourteenth-century manuscripts, taking account not just of the text but also of the numerous marginal glosses. Within this context, then, the question of Chaucer's authorship of some of these glosses is considered.Less
This book breaks important new ground in the study of Chaucer's various engagements with Italian literary culture, taking a more dynamic approach to Chaucer's Italian sources than has previously been available. Most treatments of such influences do not take sufficient account of the material contexts in which these sources were available to Chaucer and his contemporaries. Manuscripts of the major works of Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch circulated in a variety of formats, and often the margins of their texts were loci for extensive commentary and glossing. These traditions of glossing and commentary represent one of the most striking features of fourteenth-century Italian literary culture. Not only that, but the authors themselves were responsible for some of this commentary material, from Dante's own prosimetra Vita nova and Convivio, to the extensive commentary accompanying Boccaccio's Teseida. The startling example of Francesco d'Amaretto Mannelli's glosses in his copy of the Decameron, copied in 1384, is discussed in detail for the first time. His refiguring of Griselda offers an important perspective on the reception of this story that is exactly contemporary with Chaucer. This book offers a new perspective on Chaucer and Italy by highlighting the materiality of his sources, reconstructing his textual, codicological horizon of expectation. It provides new ways of thinking about Chaucer's access to, and use of, these Italian sources, stimulating, in turn, new ways of reading his work. This attention to the materiality of Chaucer's sources is further explored and developed by reading the Tales through their early fourteenth-century manuscripts, taking account not just of the text but also of the numerous marginal glosses. Within this context, then, the question of Chaucer's authorship of some of these glosses is considered.
MARION TURNER
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207893
- eISBN:
- 9780191709142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207893.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book has tried to explore some of the ways in which social antagonism was articulated and addressed in Geoffrey Chaucer's textual environment. It appears that producers of texts in late ...
More
This book has tried to explore some of the ways in which social antagonism was articulated and addressed in Geoffrey Chaucer's textual environment. It appears that producers of texts in late 14th-century London were profoundly concerned with problems of civic dissent and social division. The explosiveness of the climate in which Chaucer lived and wrote is dramatically exemplified in the example of John Constantyn, a cordwainer in the city of London whose hard fate bears witness to the heightened atmosphere of anxiety about rebellion, gossip, and faction in the 1380s. Chaucer's writings suggest that discursive turbulence cannot be tamed, that voices of aggression and dissent will make themselves heard, that societies will repeat the self-destructive behaviour of their predecessors, that people will betray each other, and that social groups will always fragment.Less
This book has tried to explore some of the ways in which social antagonism was articulated and addressed in Geoffrey Chaucer's textual environment. It appears that producers of texts in late 14th-century London were profoundly concerned with problems of civic dissent and social division. The explosiveness of the climate in which Chaucer lived and wrote is dramatically exemplified in the example of John Constantyn, a cordwainer in the city of London whose hard fate bears witness to the heightened atmosphere of anxiety about rebellion, gossip, and faction in the 1380s. Chaucer's writings suggest that discursive turbulence cannot be tamed, that voices of aggression and dissent will make themselves heard, that societies will repeat the self-destructive behaviour of their predecessors, that people will betray each other, and that social groups will always fragment.
K. P. Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199607778
- eISBN:
- 9780191729546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199607778.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, European Literature
This book is concerned with the contexts of Chaucer's Italian sources and how those sources were produced throughout the fourteenth century in ways that offered rich modes of reading material ...
More
This book is concerned with the contexts of Chaucer's Italian sources and how those sources were produced throughout the fourteenth century in ways that offered rich modes of reading material textuality. While dealing with sources in the tradition sense, it has sought to extend the parameters of what constitutes a source to the whole page: margin, gloss, script, support, size and the many other features of a book that exert hermeneutic force on the reader.Less
This book is concerned with the contexts of Chaucer's Italian sources and how those sources were produced throughout the fourteenth century in ways that offered rich modes of reading material textuality. While dealing with sources in the tradition sense, it has sought to extend the parameters of what constitutes a source to the whole page: margin, gloss, script, support, size and the many other features of a book that exert hermeneutic force on the reader.
D. W. Yalden and U. Albarella
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199217519
- eISBN:
- 9780191712296
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217519.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Ornithology
In the post-mediaeval period, the history of birds in the British Isles switches from depending largely on the archaeological record to an increasingly well documented literary one. The naming of the ...
More
In the post-mediaeval period, the history of birds in the British Isles switches from depending largely on the archaeological record to an increasingly well documented literary one. The naming of the bird fauna starts in Anglo-Saxon times, with saints and The Seafarer. Chaucer and Shakespeare added to the formal listing of British birds by Turner and John Ray. Gilbert White arguably started the modern pastime of birdwatching. By 1900, the resident and regular birds had all been listed, and many county bird faunas were published. Great bustards, great auks, and cranes became extinct as breeding birds. Drainage of wetlands and legal persecution of ‘pests’ or ‘vermin’ posed serious threats to many species. Gamekeepers and the development of shooting estates played a part in this, as did ‘collectors’.Less
In the post-mediaeval period, the history of birds in the British Isles switches from depending largely on the archaeological record to an increasingly well documented literary one. The naming of the bird fauna starts in Anglo-Saxon times, with saints and The Seafarer. Chaucer and Shakespeare added to the formal listing of British birds by Turner and John Ray. Gilbert White arguably started the modern pastime of birdwatching. By 1900, the resident and regular birds had all been listed, and many county bird faunas were published. Great bustards, great auks, and cranes became extinct as breeding birds. Drainage of wetlands and legal persecution of ‘pests’ or ‘vermin’ posed serious threats to many species. Gamekeepers and the development of shooting estates played a part in this, as did ‘collectors’.
David Manning
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195182392
- eISBN:
- 9780199851485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182392.003.0103
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Just as Johannes Brahms went to the Lutheran Bible to appeal to his fellow countrymen in one mood, so George Dyson in a very different mood goes to the great English classic Geoffrey Chaucer to help ...
More
Just as Johannes Brahms went to the Lutheran Bible to appeal to his fellow countrymen in one mood, so George Dyson in a very different mood goes to the great English classic Geoffrey Chaucer to help him to suggest that side of England which is shrewd and gay. In Dyson's music the brilliant, witty, and sympathetic word pictures of Chaucer receive their musical counterpart, and just as certain phrases stand out in the poet and have become household words, so in Dyson's music in The Canterbury Pilgrims, the Monk, the Nun, the Scholar, the Merchant, the Shipman, the wife of Bath, the poor Parson, and the Host stand in musical notation until at last the procession fades away into silence with the opening words of the Knight's tale. This end is a real inspiration and the theme which accompanies it is of great originality for the very reason that it appears strangely familiar.Less
Just as Johannes Brahms went to the Lutheran Bible to appeal to his fellow countrymen in one mood, so George Dyson in a very different mood goes to the great English classic Geoffrey Chaucer to help him to suggest that side of England which is shrewd and gay. In Dyson's music the brilliant, witty, and sympathetic word pictures of Chaucer receive their musical counterpart, and just as certain phrases stand out in the poet and have become household words, so in Dyson's music in The Canterbury Pilgrims, the Monk, the Nun, the Scholar, the Merchant, the Shipman, the wife of Bath, the poor Parson, and the Host stand in musical notation until at last the procession fades away into silence with the opening words of the Knight's tale. This end is a real inspiration and the theme which accompanies it is of great originality for the very reason that it appears strangely familiar.
John Marenbon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142555
- eISBN:
- 9781400866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142555.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter turns to another pair struggling with the Problem of Paganism: William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer. For Langland, the Problem is an issue addressed directly, with the focus on the ...
More
This chapter turns to another pair struggling with the Problem of Paganism: William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer. For Langland, the Problem is an issue addressed directly, with the focus on the salvation of virtuous pagans. But, despite the explicit doctrinal discussion, Langland is not simply doing the same thing in vernacular verse as the university theologians: the complex form of his poem makes the positions he takes less clearly defined, but allows him to adumbrate daring ideas outside the range of the scholastic discussions. By contrast, Chaucer avoids the theological problems almost entirely; more perhaps than any other medieval writer, he explores the Problem of Paganism by imagining himself within a pagan world, whilst aware, as his readers too would be, that there is an external Christian perspective on it, which is only partly accessible from his viewpoint on the inside.Less
This chapter turns to another pair struggling with the Problem of Paganism: William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer. For Langland, the Problem is an issue addressed directly, with the focus on the salvation of virtuous pagans. But, despite the explicit doctrinal discussion, Langland is not simply doing the same thing in vernacular verse as the university theologians: the complex form of his poem makes the positions he takes less clearly defined, but allows him to adumbrate daring ideas outside the range of the scholastic discussions. By contrast, Chaucer avoids the theological problems almost entirely; more perhaps than any other medieval writer, he explores the Problem of Paganism by imagining himself within a pagan world, whilst aware, as his readers too would be, that there is an external Christian perspective on it, which is only partly accessible from his viewpoint on the inside.
Edward I. Condren
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032412
- eISBN:
- 9780813038339
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032412.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
While covering all the major work produced by Geoffrey Chaucer in his pre-Canterbury Tales career, this book seeks to correct the traditional interpretations of these poems. The author provides new ...
More
While covering all the major work produced by Geoffrey Chaucer in his pre-Canterbury Tales career, this book seeks to correct the traditional interpretations of these poems. The author provides new interpretations of the three “dream visions” — Book of the Duchess, Parliament of Fowls, and House of Fame — as well as Chaucer's early masterwork Troilus and Criseyde. He draws a series of portraits of Chaucer as glimpsed in his work: the fledgling poet who is seeking to master the artificial style of French love poetry, the passionate author attempting to rebut critics of his work, and, finally, the master of a naturalistic style entirely his own.Less
While covering all the major work produced by Geoffrey Chaucer in his pre-Canterbury Tales career, this book seeks to correct the traditional interpretations of these poems. The author provides new interpretations of the three “dream visions” — Book of the Duchess, Parliament of Fowls, and House of Fame — as well as Chaucer's early masterwork Troilus and Criseyde. He draws a series of portraits of Chaucer as glimpsed in his work: the fledgling poet who is seeking to master the artificial style of French love poetry, the passionate author attempting to rebut critics of his work, and, finally, the master of a naturalistic style entirely his own.
D. Gary Miller
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199285051
- eISBN:
- 9780191713682
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285051.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This chapter looks at nouns derived from verbs, e.g., state, result, event, instrument, actor/agent, and activity nouns — many first occurring in Chaucer. Various kinds of compounds, including ...
More
This chapter looks at nouns derived from verbs, e.g., state, result, event, instrument, actor/agent, and activity nouns — many first occurring in Chaucer. Various kinds of compounds, including synthetic, are also discussed.Less
This chapter looks at nouns derived from verbs, e.g., state, result, event, instrument, actor/agent, and activity nouns — many first occurring in Chaucer. Various kinds of compounds, including synthetic, are also discussed.
Christopher Fletcher
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199546916
- eISBN:
- 9780191720826
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546916.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter examines the process by which Richard II's youth, which had been absent from acceptable public discourse since January 1380, made its return in the Appeal lodged by the ‘Lords Appellant’ ...
More
This chapter examines the process by which Richard II's youth, which had been absent from acceptable public discourse since January 1380, made its return in the Appeal lodged by the ‘Lords Appellant’ in February 1388. It examines how Richard's resistance to the activities of the new Continual Council, commonly known as the ‘Commission’, ultimately led his opponents to take recourse to the contestable assertion of his continuing youth. It compares this tactic with the way certain texts compiled around the same time, by Geoffrey Chaucer and the Dominican preacher, Thomas Wimbledon, associated the faults of youth, not with the malleability invoked by the Appellants, but with the ‘manly’ violence and attention to honour which the king's obstinacy more readily suggested. It places these developments in the context of related strategies pursued by Richard's opponents to excuse their actions, notably the invention of the supposed secret peace policy of 1387.Less
This chapter examines the process by which Richard II's youth, which had been absent from acceptable public discourse since January 1380, made its return in the Appeal lodged by the ‘Lords Appellant’ in February 1388. It examines how Richard's resistance to the activities of the new Continual Council, commonly known as the ‘Commission’, ultimately led his opponents to take recourse to the contestable assertion of his continuing youth. It compares this tactic with the way certain texts compiled around the same time, by Geoffrey Chaucer and the Dominican preacher, Thomas Wimbledon, associated the faults of youth, not with the malleability invoked by the Appellants, but with the ‘manly’ violence and attention to honour which the king's obstinacy more readily suggested. It places these developments in the context of related strategies pursued by Richard's opponents to excuse their actions, notably the invention of the supposed secret peace policy of 1387.
Peter Mack
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691194004
- eISBN:
- 9780691195353
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691194004.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
In literary and cultural studies, “tradition” is a word everyone uses but few address critically. In this book, the author offers a wide-ranging exploration of the creative power of literary ...
More
In literary and cultural studies, “tradition” is a word everyone uses but few address critically. In this book, the author offers a wide-ranging exploration of the creative power of literary tradition, from the middle ages to the twenty-first century, revealing in new ways how it helps writers and readers make new works and meanings. The book argues that the best way to understand tradition is by examining the moments when a writer takes up an old text and writes something new out of a dialogue with that text and the promptings of the present situation. The book examines Petrarch as a user, instigator, and victim of tradition. It shows how Chaucer became the first great English writer by translating and adapting a minor poem by Boccaccio. It investigates how Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser made new epic meanings by playing with assumptions, episodes, and phrases translated from their predecessors. It then analyzes how the Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell drew on tradition to address the new problem of urban deprivation in Mary Barton. And, finally, it looks at how the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, in his 2004 novel Wizard of the Crow, reflects on biblical, English literary, and African traditions. Drawing on key theorists, critics, historians, and sociologists, and stressing the international character of literary tradition, the book illuminates the not entirely free choices readers and writers make to create meaning in collaboration and competition with their models.Less
In literary and cultural studies, “tradition” is a word everyone uses but few address critically. In this book, the author offers a wide-ranging exploration of the creative power of literary tradition, from the middle ages to the twenty-first century, revealing in new ways how it helps writers and readers make new works and meanings. The book argues that the best way to understand tradition is by examining the moments when a writer takes up an old text and writes something new out of a dialogue with that text and the promptings of the present situation. The book examines Petrarch as a user, instigator, and victim of tradition. It shows how Chaucer became the first great English writer by translating and adapting a minor poem by Boccaccio. It investigates how Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser made new epic meanings by playing with assumptions, episodes, and phrases translated from their predecessors. It then analyzes how the Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell drew on tradition to address the new problem of urban deprivation in Mary Barton. And, finally, it looks at how the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, in his 2004 novel Wizard of the Crow, reflects on biblical, English literary, and African traditions. Drawing on key theorists, critics, historians, and sociologists, and stressing the international character of literary tradition, the book illuminates the not entirely free choices readers and writers make to create meaning in collaboration and competition with their models.
G. Geltner
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199639458
- eISBN:
- 9780191741098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199639458.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines the literature associated with the medieval antifraternal tradition, a corpus of texts supposedly inspired by the Parisian theologian William of St Amour (d. c.1273) and united ...
More
This chapter examines the literature associated with the medieval antifraternal tradition, a corpus of texts supposedly inspired by the Parisian theologian William of St Amour (d. c.1273) and united in its call to eradicate the mendicant orders. By looking at both doctrinal and literary texts composed during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it demonstrates that few authors actually adhered to William’s ecclesiology, rendering his magnum opus something of a false start. While theologians mostly shied away from rejecting the orthodoxy of religious mendicancy, authors of poetry and prose fiction appropriated themes and ideas from William’s works in ways far removed from his reactionary writings. Thus, insofar as there was a medieval literary antifraternal tradition, it is comprised predominantly of theological treatises that criticized but did not abhor the friars and works belonging to the polyvalent realm of estates satire.Less
This chapter examines the literature associated with the medieval antifraternal tradition, a corpus of texts supposedly inspired by the Parisian theologian William of St Amour (d. c.1273) and united in its call to eradicate the mendicant orders. By looking at both doctrinal and literary texts composed during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it demonstrates that few authors actually adhered to William’s ecclesiology, rendering his magnum opus something of a false start. While theologians mostly shied away from rejecting the orthodoxy of religious mendicancy, authors of poetry and prose fiction appropriated themes and ideas from William’s works in ways far removed from his reactionary writings. Thus, insofar as there was a medieval literary antifraternal tradition, it is comprised predominantly of theological treatises that criticized but did not abhor the friars and works belonging to the polyvalent realm of estates satire.
