The Ethical Poetic of the Later Middle Ages: A Decorum of Convenient Distinction
- Author / Editor
- Allen, Judson Boyce.
The Ethical Poetic of the Later Middle Ages: A Decorum of Convenient Distinction
- Published
- Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.
- Description
- Medieval literary commentators uniformly assigned "literary works" to the category of ethics: poetry served as a kind of "enacted ethics" for the medieval audience. The commentators define and describe this material in terms of the "forma tractandi" (usually a "normative array" of socially accepted ethical principles) and the "forma tractatus" (the ways in which a text might be divided).
- CT have as their central ordering principle a normative array of tales that mainly deal with the theme of marriage. Chaucer's interest in revising LGW was related to his concern with the "philosophy of poetic language." It is a "poem about making poems." MilT is briefly described in terms of "consideratio" in comedy--the laughter acts as an assent to the normative. In PardT, Chaucer fully "exploits the power of the folktale atmosphere."
- Chaucer Subjects
- Background and General Criticism.
- Canterbury Tales--General.
- Legend of Good Women.
- Miller and His Tale.