Scottish Chaucerianism in older Scots literature, c.1424-1513: a re-evaluation
<p>This thesis takes a fresh view of fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Chaucerian literature in Scotland, tracing its development from its earliest beginnings into an independent poetic tradition. In overview, this account provides a broader understanding of this body of writing as cohesi...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
|
| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1826314526690115584 |
|---|---|
| author | Kelly, A |
| author2 | Ghosh, K |
| author_facet | Ghosh, K Kelly, A |
| author_sort | Kelly, A |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>This thesis takes a fresh view of fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Chaucerian literature in Scotland, tracing its development from its earliest beginnings into an independent poetic tradition. In overview, this account provides a broader understanding of this body of writing as cohesive and dynamic, increasingly growing in confidence as it matures and evolves along distinct lines and revealing an awareness of itself as a native tradition in its own right as the later poets of the period respond to the work of the earlier ones.</p>
<p>Chapter 1 begins with <em>The Kingis Quair</em> (c.1424) of James I of Scotland (1394-1437), arguing that James’s poem undertakes the appropriation of an existing vernacular tradition represented by Chaucer. The Quair’s increasingly confident portrayal of the author as one who has access to Christian wisdom intersects with James’s implicit vernacular self-assertion in establishing a Chaucer tradition in Scotland.</p>
<p>Chapter 2 focuses on the mid-fifteenth-century poem, Richard Holland’s (d. in or after 1483) <em>Buke of the Howlat</em> (c.1448), which engages simultaneously with the <em>Parliament of Fowls</em> (c.1380-82) and <em>The House of Fame</em> (c.1375) as well as with the later fourteenth-century Scots poem John Barbour’s <em>Bruce</em> (c.1375). Holland’s narrative and thematic interest in the ugly owl relates to his sense of Scottishness as the Howlat indirectly proclaims the perspective of difference from which it answers the poetry of Chaucer.</p>
<p>Chapter 3 argues that a similar sense of alterity informs Robert Henryson’s <em>Testament of Cresseid</em> (c.1440-1550) where it is made to assume the form of an implicit vernacular self-assertion. Chapter 3 also undertakes an original reassessment of both Henryson’s <em>Orpheus and Eurydice</em>, which it contends represents a reworking of the use of the mixed form in Chaucer’s <em>Troilus and Criseyde</em>, and the <em>Moral Fables</em>, which it argues consists of a response to the storytelling genre in <em>The Canterbury Tales</em>.</p>
<p>Chapter 4 of this thesis considers a selection of texts by William Dunbar (c.1460?-1513x1530) which demonstrate his awareness of an established Chaucer tradition in Scotland. Yet, Dunbar, while explicitly recognizing the existence of this native Scottish Chaucerianism, nevertheless stands at a subversive angle to this body of writing despite drawing on the earlier writers in this thesis in his poetry.</p>
<p>Gavin Douglas’s self-conscious situating of himself within the Scottish Chaucerian tradition is the focus of Chapter 5, which examines the influence of <em>The Kingis Quair</em> on the <em>Palice of Honour</em> (c.1503), before turning to the parallels between his later vernacular translation of Virgil’s <em>Aeneid</em>, the <em>Eneados</em> (c.1513), and the experimental framing of reading experience in the poetry of Robert Henryson.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:33:52Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:a83579d1-d099-488b-b66b-1a324c817389 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:33:52Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:a83579d1-d099-488b-b66b-1a324c8173892024-09-10T10:52:24ZScottish Chaucerianism in older Scots literature, c.1424-1513: a re-evaluationThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:a83579d1-d099-488b-b66b-1a324c817389Scotland -- Intellectual LifeScottish literature - to 1700 -- History and criticismChaucer -- ReceptionScotland -- History -- 1406 - 1513EnglishHyrax Deposit2022Kelly, AGhosh, KMapstone, S<p>This thesis takes a fresh view of fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Chaucerian literature in Scotland, tracing its development from its earliest beginnings into an independent poetic tradition. In overview, this account provides a broader understanding of this body of writing as cohesive and dynamic, increasingly growing in confidence as it matures and evolves along distinct lines and revealing an awareness of itself as a native tradition in its own right as the later poets of the period respond to the work of the earlier ones.</p> <p>Chapter 1 begins with <em>The Kingis Quair</em> (c.1424) of James I of Scotland (1394-1437), arguing that James’s poem undertakes the appropriation of an existing vernacular tradition represented by Chaucer. The Quair’s increasingly confident portrayal of the author as one who has access to Christian wisdom intersects with James’s implicit vernacular self-assertion in establishing a Chaucer tradition in Scotland.</p> <p>Chapter 2 focuses on the mid-fifteenth-century poem, Richard Holland’s (d. in or after 1483) <em>Buke of the Howlat</em> (c.1448), which engages simultaneously with the <em>Parliament of Fowls</em> (c.1380-82) and <em>The House of Fame</em> (c.1375) as well as with the later fourteenth-century Scots poem John Barbour’s <em>Bruce</em> (c.1375). Holland’s narrative and thematic interest in the ugly owl relates to his sense of Scottishness as the Howlat indirectly proclaims the perspective of difference from which it answers the poetry of Chaucer.</p> <p>Chapter 3 argues that a similar sense of alterity informs Robert Henryson’s <em>Testament of Cresseid</em> (c.1440-1550) where it is made to assume the form of an implicit vernacular self-assertion. Chapter 3 also undertakes an original reassessment of both Henryson’s <em>Orpheus and Eurydice</em>, which it contends represents a reworking of the use of the mixed form in Chaucer’s <em>Troilus and Criseyde</em>, and the <em>Moral Fables</em>, which it argues consists of a response to the storytelling genre in <em>The Canterbury Tales</em>.</p> <p>Chapter 4 of this thesis considers a selection of texts by William Dunbar (c.1460?-1513x1530) which demonstrate his awareness of an established Chaucer tradition in Scotland. Yet, Dunbar, while explicitly recognizing the existence of this native Scottish Chaucerianism, nevertheless stands at a subversive angle to this body of writing despite drawing on the earlier writers in this thesis in his poetry.</p> <p>Gavin Douglas’s self-conscious situating of himself within the Scottish Chaucerian tradition is the focus of Chapter 5, which examines the influence of <em>The Kingis Quair</em> on the <em>Palice of Honour</em> (c.1503), before turning to the parallels between his later vernacular translation of Virgil’s <em>Aeneid</em>, the <em>Eneados</em> (c.1513), and the experimental framing of reading experience in the poetry of Robert Henryson.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Scotland -- Intellectual Life Scottish literature - to 1700 -- History and criticism Chaucer -- Reception Scotland -- History -- 1406 - 1513 Kelly, A Scottish Chaucerianism in older Scots literature, c.1424-1513: a re-evaluation |
| title | Scottish Chaucerianism in older Scots literature, c.1424-1513: a re-evaluation |
| title_full | Scottish Chaucerianism in older Scots literature, c.1424-1513: a re-evaluation |
| title_fullStr | Scottish Chaucerianism in older Scots literature, c.1424-1513: a re-evaluation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Scottish Chaucerianism in older Scots literature, c.1424-1513: a re-evaluation |
| title_short | Scottish Chaucerianism in older Scots literature, c.1424-1513: a re-evaluation |
| title_sort | scottish chaucerianism in older scots literature c 1424 1513 a re evaluation |
| topic | Scotland -- Intellectual Life Scottish literature - to 1700 -- History and criticism Chaucer -- Reception Scotland -- History -- 1406 - 1513 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kellya scottishchaucerianisminolderscotsliteraturec14241513areevaluation |