Some Poets' Tours of Medieval London: Varieties of Literary Urban Experience

Author / Editor
Benson, C. David.

Title
Some Poets' Tours of Medieval London: Varieties of Literary Urban Experience

Published
Essays in Medieval Studies 24 (2007): 1-20.

Description
Benson describes the very different views of London produced by Chaucer, Gower, Hoccleve, and Lydgate, as well as the depictions in William FitzStephen's "Description of London" (1174) and "London Lickpenny" (fifteenth-century). These representations suggest that there is "no single medieval view" and that London stimulated poets in various powerful ways, including Chaucer's depiction of a lower level of society in CkT.

Chaucer Subjects
Cook and His Tale