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Title: Poetry and Authority

Poetry and Authority

Chaucer, Vernacular Fable and the Role of Readers in Fifteenth-Century England

by David Nisters (Author)
©2018 Thesis 184 Pages
English Studies
Series: Münsteraner Monographien zur englischen Literatur / Münster Monographs on English Literature, Volume 39

Summary

This study argues that the vernacular fable constituted a productive site for negotiating scholastic poetics in late medieval England. On the basis of a close reading of Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale and Manciple’s Tale, the book analyses how the concept of textual authority came to be both challenged and vindicated in the face of the growing importance of an empowered vernacular readership. Thus, the fables of John Lydgate and the presentation of Chaucer’s texts in some of the earliest printed editions of the Canterbury Tales indicate the development of a Chaucerian poetics that was grounded in Chaucer’s own critical reflection on the scholastic account of poetic fiction.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • Citability of the eBook
  • Acknowledgments
  • Contents
  • Abbreviations
  • Manuscripts and Early Printed Books
  • Classical, Medieval and Early Modern Sources
  • Series Information
  • Introduction
  • I The Scholastic Concept of Poetry and the Authorisation of the Poetic Fable
  • I.1 Questions of Truth and Falsehood: The Scholastic Concept of Poetry
  • I.2 Constructing Poetic Authority: The Authorisation of the Poetic Fable
  • I.2.1 The Explicit Authorisation of Poetic Fiction
  • I.2.2 The Implicit Authorisation of Poetic Fiction
  • I.2.3 Scholastic Authorisation and Vernacular Poetry
  • II Finding the Truth Behind Chaucer’s Fables and Empowering the English Reader
  • II.1 Authorising Chaucer in Fifteenth-Century England: Finding the Truth Behind Chaucer’s Fables
  • II.1.1 The Explicit Authorisation of Chaucer’s Poetry
  • II.1.2 The Implicit Authorisation of Chaucer’s Poetry
  • II.2 Chaucer’s Doubts and Lydgate’s Worries: Empowering the English Reader
  • II.2.1 Poetic Authority in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale
  • II.2.2 Poetic Authority in The Manciple’s Tale
  • II.2.3 Poetic Authority in Isopes Fabules
  • II.2.4 Poetic Authority in The Churl and the Bird
  • III Poetic Authority, Vernacular Fable and the Empowered Reader in Early Printed Editions of the Canterbury Tales
  • III.1 Poetic Authority, Vernacular Fable and the Empowered Reader in William Caxton’s Canterbury Tales
  • III.2 Poetic Authority, Vernacular Fable and the Empowered Reader in Wynkyn de Worde’s Canterbury Tales
  • Conclusion
  • Appendix A: Poetic Authority and Chaucer’s Fables
  • Appendix B: Paraphs and Initials as Additions to The Nun’s Priest’s Tale and The Manciple’s Tale in MSS Hengwrt (Hg), Ellesmere (El), Arch. Selden. B.14 (Se) and in de Worde’s 1498-edition of the Canterbury Tales (Wn)
  • Appendix C: The Presentation of The Nun’s Priest’s Tale and The Manciple’s Tale in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Arch. Selden. B.14
  • Bibliography

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I would like to thank Prof Elmar Schenkel (Leipzig University) and Prof Simon Horobin (University of Oxford) for supervising this work as a doctoral thesis. I am particularly grateful to Elmar Schenkel for allowing me to develop my own individual approach to studying literature and to Simon Horobin for fostering my interest in late medieval manuscript culture. Dr Andrew King (University College Cork) and Dr Christoph Mackert (Leipzig University Library) also were of great help to me when dealing with medieval literature and culture since their remarks and critical attention strongly encouraged me in my academic pursuits. I am, moreover, indebted to all former or current members of the Interdisciplinary Medieval Study Group at Leipzig University (MiLE) for their constructive criticism and for making me engage with the Middle Ages much more deeply. In addition, I am grateful to Joachim Schwend, retired professor of British Cultural Studies at Leipzig University, for assisting me with all things academic in his genuinely kind and open-minded way. The financial and moral support that I received from Leipzig’s Department of English and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is greatly appreciated, as is the Bodleian Library’s permission to reproduce two images of MS Arch. Selden. B. 14. My parents, Marlies Iglauer-Nisters and Prof Thomas Nisters, as well as my wonderful Karoline deserve more heartfelt thanks than I can express here if I wish to adhere to the advice that Chaucer’s Manciple received from his mother: “The firste vertu, sone, if thou wolt leere, / Is to restreyne and kepe wel thy tonge”.

Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

IThe Scholastic Concept of Poetry and the Authorisation of the Poetic Fable

I.1Questions of Truth and Falsehood: The Scholastic Concept of Poetry

I.2Constructing Poetic Authority: The Authorisation of the Poetic Fable

I.2.1The Explicit Authorisation of Poetic Fiction

I.2.2The Implicit Authorisation of Poetic Fiction

I.2.3Scholastic Authorisation and Vernacular Poetry

IIFinding the Truth Behind Chaucer’s Fables and Empowering the English Reader

II.1Authorising Chaucer in Fifteenth-Century England: Finding the Truth Behind Chaucer’s Fables

II.1.1The Explicit Authorisation of Chaucer’s Poetry

II.1.2The Implicit Authorisation of Chaucer’s Poetry

II.2Chaucer’s Doubts and Lydgate’s Worries: Empowering the English Reader

II.2.1Poetic Authority in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale

II.2.2Poetic Authority in The Manciple’s Tale

II.2.3Poetic Authority in Isopes Fabules

II.2.4Poetic Authority in The Churl and the Bird

IIIPoetic Authority, Vernacular Fable and the Empowered Reader in Early Printed Editions of the Canterbury Tales

III.1Poetic Authority, Vernacular Fable and the Empowered Reader in William Caxton’s Canterbury Tales

III.2Poetic Authority, Vernacular Fable and the Empowered Reader in Wynkyn de Worde’s Canterbury Tales

Conclusion

Appendix A: Poetic Authority and Chaucer’s Fables

Appendix B: Paraphs and Initials as Additions to The Nun’s Priest’s Tale and The Manciple’s Tale in MSS Hengwrt (Hg), Ellesmere (El), Arch. Selden. B.14 (Se) and in de Worde’s 1498-edition of the Canterbury Tales (Wn)

Appendix C: The Presentation of The Nun’s Priest’s Tale and The Manciple’s Tale in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Arch. Selden. B.14

Bibliography

Unpublished Manuscripts Cited

Published Manuscripts and Early Printed Books Cited

Primary Works Cited (Classical, Medieval & Renaissance)

Secondary Works Cited

Abbreviations

Manuscripts and Early Printed Books

Ad

Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Additional A.171

Ash

Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Ashmole 59

Auct1

Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Auctarium F.1.17

Auct2

Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Auctarium F.2.14

Auct3

Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Auctarium F.5.6

Cx1

William Caxton, ed. The Canterbury Tales, first edition (STC 5082)

Cx2

William Caxton, ed. The Canterbury Tales, second edition (STC 5083)

Dg

Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Digby 230

El

San Marino, Huntington Library MS Ellesmere 26 C.9

Gg

Cambridge, Cambridge University Library MS Gg.4.27

Hg

Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS Peniarth 392D

La

London, British Library MS Lansdowne 851

Ry

London, British Library MS Royal 18 D.ii

Se

Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Archivum Seldenianum B.14

Tc

Cambridge, Trinity College MS R.3.19

Wn

Wynkyn de Worde, ed. The Canterbury Tales (STC 5085)

WnCoL

Wynkyn de Worde, ed. The Conforte of Louers, second edition (STC 12942.5)

WnEoV

Wynkyn de Worde, ed. The Example of Vertu (STC 12945)

Classical, Medieval and Early Modern Sources

Ad Her.

Rhetorica Ad Herennium

Ars

Horace, Ars Poetica

Av.

Avianus, The Fables of Avianus

BoC

John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte

Details

Pages
184
Publication Year
2018
ISBN (PDF)
9783631773093
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631773109
ISBN (MOBI)
9783631773116
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783631761137
DOI
10.3726/b14864
Language
English
Publication date
2018 (December)
Keywords
scholastic poetics Chaucerianism poetic fiction
Published
Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2018. 184 S., 2 farb. Abb., 4 Tab.

Biographical notes

David Nisters (Author)

David Nisters studied English at Leipzig University (Germany) and University College Cork (Rep. Ireland). His academic interests include Middle English poetry, the history of the book and late medieval cultures of reading.

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Title: Poetry and Authority