Political Allegory in Late Medieval England - Hardcover

Astell, Ann W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801435609 ISBN 13: 9780801435607

Verlag: Cornell University Press, 1999

Inhaltsangabe

Ann W. Astell here affords a radically new understanding of the rhetorical nature of allegorical poetry in the late Middle Ages. She shows that major English writers of that era—among them, William Langland, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and the Gawain-poet—offered in their works of fiction timely commentary on current events and public issues. Poems previously regarded as only vaguely political in their subject matter are seen by Astell to be highly detailed and specific in their veiled historical references, implied audiences, and admonitions.

Astell begins by describing the Augustinian and Boethian rhetorical principles involved in the invention of allegory. She then compares literary and historical treatments of key events in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century England, finding an astonishing match of allusions and code words, especially those deriving from puns, titles, heraldic devices, and personal cognizances, as well as repeated proverbs, prophecies, and exempla. Among the works she discusses are John Ball's Letters and parts of Piers Plowman, which she presents as two examples of allegorical literature associated with the Peasants' Revolution of 1381; Gower's allegorical representation of the Merciless Parliament of 1388 in Confessio Amantis; and Chaucer's brilliant literary handling of key events in the reign of Richard II. In addition Astell argues for a precise dating of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight between 1397 and 1399 and decodes the work as a political allegory.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ann W. Astell is Professor of English at Purdue University. She is the author of Chaucer and the Universe of Learning; Job, Boethius, and Epic Truth, and The Song of Songs in the Middle Ages, all from Cornell.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Cornell University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1999
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0801435609
• ISBN 13: 9780801435607
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 232
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar