‘Going through all these things twice’: the repeated phrase and the refrain in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde
Geoffrey Chaucer’s (1343–1400) repeated phrases are a conundrum. Nancy Mason Bradbury has referred to them as ‘formulas’; Derek Brewer has described Chaucer’s poems as having a ‘traditional formulaic style’. But why would a literate poet make use of a device that tends to be associated with orality?...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Manuscript and Text Cultures |
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| Online Access: | https://mtc-journal.org/index.php/mtc/article/view/33 |
| _version_ | 1797229223418527744 |
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| author | H.C. Carter |
| author_facet | H.C. Carter |
| author_sort | H.C. Carter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Geoffrey Chaucer’s (1343–1400) repeated phrases are a conundrum. Nancy Mason Bradbury has referred to them as ‘formulas’; Derek Brewer has described Chaucer’s poems as having a ‘traditional formulaic style’. But why would a literate poet make use of a device that tends to be associated with orality? This paper offers an alternative comparandum for Chaucer’s repeated phrases: the refrain. As well as writing narrative poetry, Chaucer acknowledges at the end of The Canterbury tales that during his career he has written ‘many a song and many a leccherous lay’ (‘many a song and many a lascivious ditty’). Few of these songs survive, but one in particular—a ballade known as ‘To Rosemounde’—shows Chaucer to have a keen facility with the paradoxical potential of the refrain. ‘To Rosemounde’ survives in only one manuscript copy, paired with Chaucer’s narrative poem Troilus and Criseyde. This manuscript pairing, and Chaucer’s frequent presentation of Troilus and Criseyde itself as a ‘song’, invites a comparison of the poem’s repeated phrases to the refrains of a song lyric. In Troilus, phrases that are repeated at crucial moments—such as ‘I can no more’ and ‘without more’—emulate refrains by holding repetition and closure in an unstable synthesis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T15:09:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0b28e154ddfa4a29a6adef2513b52c85 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2752-3462 2752-3470 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T15:09:11Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Manuscript and Text Cultures |
| spelling | doaj.art-0b28e154ddfa4a29a6adef2513b52c852024-04-02T11:41:34ZdeuCentre for Manuscript and Text CulturesManuscript and Text Cultures2752-34622752-34702024-03-012274–9274–9210.56004/v2.2hcc33‘Going through all these things twice’: the repeated phrase and the refrain in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and CriseydeH.C. Carter0Stanford UniversityGeoffrey Chaucer’s (1343–1400) repeated phrases are a conundrum. Nancy Mason Bradbury has referred to them as ‘formulas’; Derek Brewer has described Chaucer’s poems as having a ‘traditional formulaic style’. But why would a literate poet make use of a device that tends to be associated with orality? This paper offers an alternative comparandum for Chaucer’s repeated phrases: the refrain. As well as writing narrative poetry, Chaucer acknowledges at the end of The Canterbury tales that during his career he has written ‘many a song and many a leccherous lay’ (‘many a song and many a lascivious ditty’). Few of these songs survive, but one in particular—a ballade known as ‘To Rosemounde’—shows Chaucer to have a keen facility with the paradoxical potential of the refrain. ‘To Rosemounde’ survives in only one manuscript copy, paired with Chaucer’s narrative poem Troilus and Criseyde. This manuscript pairing, and Chaucer’s frequent presentation of Troilus and Criseyde itself as a ‘song’, invites a comparison of the poem’s repeated phrases to the refrains of a song lyric. In Troilus, phrases that are repeated at crucial moments—such as ‘I can no more’ and ‘without more’—emulate refrains by holding repetition and closure in an unstable synthesis.https://mtc-journal.org/index.php/mtc/article/view/33auralityformulanarrativerefrainrepetitionsong |
| spellingShingle | H.C. Carter ‘Going through all these things twice’: the repeated phrase and the refrain in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde Manuscript and Text Cultures aurality formula narrative refrain repetition song |
| title | ‘Going through all these things twice’: the repeated phrase and the refrain in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde |
| title_full | ‘Going through all these things twice’: the repeated phrase and the refrain in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde |
| title_fullStr | ‘Going through all these things twice’: the repeated phrase and the refrain in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Going through all these things twice’: the repeated phrase and the refrain in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde |
| title_short | ‘Going through all these things twice’: the repeated phrase and the refrain in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde |
| title_sort | going through all these things twice the repeated phrase and the refrain in geoffrey chaucer s troilus and criseyde |
| topic | aurality formula narrative refrain repetition song |
| url | https://mtc-journal.org/index.php/mtc/article/view/33 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hccarter goingthroughallthesethingstwicetherepeatedphraseandtherefrainingeoffreychaucerstroilusandcriseyde |