J.A. Burrow
- Published in print:
- 1984
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198111870
- eISBN:
- 9780191670657
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198111870.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter discusses in detail The Preaching of the Swallow, which is one of the animal fables in the uncompleted collection by Robert Henryson. Some of the features of the fable that are discussed ...
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This chapter discusses in detail The Preaching of the Swallow, which is one of the animal fables in the uncompleted collection by Robert Henryson. Some of the features of the fable that are discussed include present alliterations, parallelisms, and structural significance.Less
This chapter discusses in detail The Preaching of the Swallow, which is one of the animal fables in the uncompleted collection by Robert Henryson. Some of the features of the fable that are discussed include present alliterations, parallelisms, and structural significance.
Jill Mann
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199217687
- eISBN:
- 9780191712371
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217687.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, European Literature
What do stories about animals have to tell us about human beings? This book analyses the shrewd perceptions about human life—and especially human language—that emerge from narratives in which the ...
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What do stories about animals have to tell us about human beings? This book analyses the shrewd perceptions about human life—and especially human language—that emerge from narratives in which the main figures are ‘talking animals’. Its guiding question is not ‘what’ but ‘how’ animals mean. Drawing a clear distinction between beast fable and beast epic, it examines the complex variations of these forms that are to be found in the literature of medieval Britain, in English, French, Latin, and Scots (modern English translations are provided for all quotations). The analytical method of the book combines theoretical and literary‐critical discussion with a constant awareness of the historical development of the tradition. The works selected for study are the fables of Marie de France, the Speculum stultorum of Nigel of Longchamp, the Middle English poem The Owl and the Nightingale, Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls and the tales of the Squire, Manciple and Nun's Priest, the Reynardian tale of The Vox and the Wolf, and the Moral Fabillis of Robert Henryson.Less
What do stories about animals have to tell us about human beings? This book analyses the shrewd perceptions about human life—and especially human language—that emerge from narratives in which the main figures are ‘talking animals’. Its guiding question is not ‘what’ but ‘how’ animals mean. Drawing a clear distinction between beast fable and beast epic, it examines the complex variations of these forms that are to be found in the literature of medieval Britain, in English, French, Latin, and Scots (modern English translations are provided for all quotations). The analytical method of the book combines theoretical and literary‐critical discussion with a constant awareness of the historical development of the tradition. The works selected for study are the fables of Marie de France, the Speculum stultorum of Nigel of Longchamp, the Middle English poem The Owl and the Nightingale, Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls and the tales of the Squire, Manciple and Nun's Priest, the Reynardian tale of The Vox and the Wolf, and the Moral Fabillis of Robert Henryson.
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 ...
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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.
J. H. Burns
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203841
- eISBN:
- 9780191676017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203841.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
In the reign of James V, one major writer emerged—Sir David Lindsay. His works occupy the bulk of this chapter. Before considering him, the chapter also looks at the anonymous Thre Prestis of Peblis ...
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In the reign of James V, one major writer emerged—Sir David Lindsay. His works occupy the bulk of this chapter. Before considering him, the chapter also looks at the anonymous Thre Prestis of Peblis and Robert Henryson's Morall Fabilis, specifically ‘The Taill of the Scheip and the Doig’ and ‘The Taill of the Lyon and the Mous’. These works contain specific references to conditions and problems in the Scotland their authors knew. Lindsay was largely concerned with public issues — with the social and political problems of his native country and the means by which these problems might be solved. The views he expressed, were those of one who was close to the summit of public life from his early manhood until the last decade of his life.Less
In the reign of James V, one major writer emerged—Sir David Lindsay. His works occupy the bulk of this chapter. Before considering him, the chapter also looks at the anonymous Thre Prestis of Peblis and Robert Henryson's Morall Fabilis, specifically ‘The Taill of the Scheip and the Doig’ and ‘The Taill of the Lyon and the Mous’. These works contain specific references to conditions and problems in the Scotland their authors knew. Lindsay was largely concerned with public issues — with the social and political problems of his native country and the means by which these problems might be solved. The views he expressed, were those of one who was close to the summit of public life from his early manhood until the last decade of his life.
DOROTHY YAMAMOTO
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198186748
- eISBN:
- 9780191718564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198186748.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
If birds are of the air, foxes are of the earth: earthy, associated with deceit, with a foul smell, with underground regions, and with Judas, the arch-betrayer. This chapter explores the sort of ...
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If birds are of the air, foxes are of the earth: earthy, associated with deceit, with a foul smell, with underground regions, and with Judas, the arch-betrayer. This chapter explores the sort of ‘body’ that is assigned to the fox, and how it is used in various imaginative constructions. It offers readings of some of Henryson's fables, such as ‘The Fox, the Wolf, and the Husbandman’ and ‘The Fox, the Wolf, and the Cadger’, and of Caxton's translation of the Roman de Renart, Reynard the Fox. In the end, the medieval fox is seen to have far more agency than his despised status might suggest. He is allowed to play across the categories, engineering a Bakhtinian process of continuous change and revivification.Less
If birds are of the air, foxes are of the earth: earthy, associated with deceit, with a foul smell, with underground regions, and with Judas, the arch-betrayer. This chapter explores the sort of ‘body’ that is assigned to the fox, and how it is used in various imaginative constructions. It offers readings of some of Henryson's fables, such as ‘The Fox, the Wolf, and the Husbandman’ and ‘The Fox, the Wolf, and the Cadger’, and of Caxton's translation of the Roman de Renart, Reynard the Fox. In the end, the medieval fox is seen to have far more agency than his despised status might suggest. He is allowed to play across the categories, engineering a Bakhtinian process of continuous change and revivification.
Chris Jones
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780197266144
- eISBN:
- 9780191860027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266144.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Chris Jones provides a unique insight into his involvement with two literary projects: Twitter poems composed with Jacob Polley as well as an Apple app of Seamus Heaney’s version of Robert Henryson’s ...
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Chris Jones provides a unique insight into his involvement with two literary projects: Twitter poems composed with Jacob Polley as well as an Apple app of Seamus Heaney’s version of Robert Henryson’s Fables. These projects allow him to make carefully substantiated observations on the constant mutability inherent in medieval and medievalist poetry, rather than seeing the move to digital versions as the loss of an original. More generally, Jones also observes a significant return to medievalism among British poets in the twenty-first century, challenging the usual narrative that medievalism had its heyday in the nineteenth century.Less
Chris Jones provides a unique insight into his involvement with two literary projects: Twitter poems composed with Jacob Polley as well as an Apple app of Seamus Heaney’s version of Robert Henryson’s Fables. These projects allow him to make carefully substantiated observations on the constant mutability inherent in medieval and medievalist poetry, rather than seeing the move to digital versions as the loss of an original. More generally, Jones also observes a significant return to medievalism among British poets in the twenty-first century, challenging the usual narrative that medievalism had its heyday in the nineteenth century.
Alex Davis
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198851424
- eISBN:
- 9780191886010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198851424.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies
In the late medieval and early modern periods, the last will and testament was not just a legal document; it was also a kind of literature. A range of poems and prose that engaged with the ...
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In the late medieval and early modern periods, the last will and testament was not just a legal document; it was also a kind of literature. A range of poems and prose that engaged with the conventions of the legal last will became a feature of writing in English from the fourteenth century onwards. Sometimes fictional testaments exist as free-standing pieces of writing; often they are found embedded within larger literary texts. They focus on a range of imaginary testators, ranging from figures from myth and history, through notorious contemporaries, and animals, to the devil himself. Bequests were similarly various, including curses, farts, abstract qualities such as peace, and even the body of the testator. This chapter discusses fictional testaments by (amongst others) Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, Robert Henryson, George Gascoigne, and Isabella Whitney.Less
In the late medieval and early modern periods, the last will and testament was not just a legal document; it was also a kind of literature. A range of poems and prose that engaged with the conventions of the legal last will became a feature of writing in English from the fourteenth century onwards. Sometimes fictional testaments exist as free-standing pieces of writing; often they are found embedded within larger literary texts. They focus on a range of imaginary testators, ranging from figures from myth and history, through notorious contemporaries, and animals, to the devil himself. Bequests were similarly various, including curses, farts, abstract qualities such as peace, and even the body of the testator. This chapter discusses fictional testaments by (amongst others) Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, Robert Henryson, George Gascoigne, and Isabella Whitney.
