Poetics: Theory and Practice in Medieval English Literature (J.A.W. Bennett memorial lectures)

The theme of the 1990 Bennett Memorial Lectures in Perugia, Poetics: Theory and Practice, invites a variety of approaches: for instance, the search for a late-medieval poetics in texts by commentators and philosophers; the study of an internal, implicit theory of poetry in the poetic texts themselves; and the application of modern literary theories to medieval works. The principle emphasis is on Chaucer: eight of the eleven contributors focus on aspects of his poetics, from his appropriation of the reader's role to the symbolism of his landscape; there is material for Arthurians (is there a basic English Arthurian verse romance?); and the Christian version of the Platonic ideal in Pearl and a discussion of the interaction of poetic and civil authority in poets from Chaucer to Spenser complete this collection of essays.