'Now Holde Youre Mouthe': The Romance of Orality in the 'Thopas'-'Melibee' Section of the 'Canterbury Tales'
- Author / Editor
- Lerer, Seth.
'Now Holde Youre Mouthe': The Romance of Orality in the 'Thopas'-'Melibee' Section of the 'Canterbury Tales'
- Published
- Mark C. Amodio, ed. Oral Poetics in Middle English Poetry (New York and London: Garland, 1994), pp. 181-205.
- Description
- Th and Mel pose an oral-literate opposition. Th is a parody of rambling orality, more concerned with its narrator than with its protagonist; constant interruptions and stereotypical devices direct the audience's attention away from the story. In Mel, however, the narrator recedes behind the action of the story, and Prudence not only reads but also quotes from literary sources, matching quotation to situation appropriately.
- Alternative Title
- Oral Poetics in Middle English Poetry.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Tale of Sir Thopas.
- Tale of Melibee.