The Prioress's Avowal of Ineptitude
- Author / Editor
- Fritz, Donald W.
The Prioress's Avowal of Ineptitude
- Published
- Chaucer Review 9 (1974): 166-81.
- Description
- Examines the Prioress's claim that she is unequal to the task of praising Mary as an example of the inexpressibility topos, used recurrently in the Middle Ages to express the ineffable. Comments on several instances of the topos used by theologians and poets (including Dante and the "Pearl" poet), and explores how its underlying premises are consistent with the clergeon's language-bound recitation of the "Alma Redemptoris" and with the miracle of the grain that is central to the plot of PrT.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Prioress and Her Tale