The Prioress's 'Oratio ad Mariam' and Medieval Prayer Composition

Author / Editor
Spence, Timothy L.

Title
The Prioress's 'Oratio ad Mariam' and Medieval Prayer Composition

Published
Scott D. Troyan, ed. Medieval Rhetoric: A Casebook (New York and London: Routledge, 2004), pp. 63-90.

Description
The Prioress's prayer to Mary shares characteristics with the "genre of prayer known as 'pura oratio'." Spence identifies features of this genre in rhetorical tradition, shows where they are evident in PrP, and suggests that they extend into PrT, undercutting claims that the Tale is satiric.

Alternative Title
Medieval Rhetoric: A Casebook.

Chaucer Subjects
Prioress and Her Tale.