Bulldozing the Middle Ages : The Case of 'John Lydgate'

Author / Editor
Simpson, James.

Title
Bulldozing the Middle Ages : The Case of 'John Lydgate'

Published
New Medieval Literatures 4: 213-42, 2001.

Description
Surveys the reception of Lydgate, especially his "Dance MachabreĢ", and argues that the poet has been victimized by "'ageist' conceptions of cultural change" that seek to reify "the medieval." Lydgate's stature as the most public of English poets has served him poorly in reception history, but this realization enables us to reclaim him. Recurrent contrast with reception of Chaucer and his works.

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion.