The Figural Style and Meaning of 'The Second Nun's Prologue' and 'Tale'

Author / Editor
Clogan, Paul (M.)

Title
The Figural Style and Meaning of 'The Second Nun's Prologue' and 'Tale'

Published
Medievalia et Humanistica 3 (1972): 213-40.

Description
Surveys criticism of SNPT, describes the genre of hagiography, and summarizes the popularity of the St. Cecilia legend. Then argues that SNP heralds SNT in "theme, pattern, and imagery," effectively functioning "to focus and epitomize" its "figural meaning"--the spiritual productivity of chastity in marriage. Includes discussion of paradoxical relations between action and passion, the name etymologies in SNT, and the place of SNPT in the marriage group.

Chaucer Subjects
Second Nun and Her Tale