"Thynk on God, as we doon, men that swynke": The Cultural Locations of "Meditations on the Supper of Our Lord" and the Middle English Pseudo-Bonaventuran Tradition.

Author / Editor
Perry, Ryan.

Title
"Thynk on God, as we doon, men that swynke": The Cultural Locations of "Meditations on the Supper of Our Lord" and the Middle English Pseudo-Bonaventuran Tradition.

Published
Speculum 86 (2011): 419-54.

Description
Describes the cultural landscape that underlies John's exhortation to Nicholas in MilT to "Awak, and thenk on Cristes passioun!" (1.3478 ff.), showing that John's extended and naïve address resonates with the "affective piety" encouraged in the Pseudo-Bonaventuran tradition rooted in the Latin "Meditationes vitae Christi." Chaucer pokes fun at his working-class carpenter, associating him with emotion-ridden "meditative modes" that had recently become popular among lay ("lewed") audiences in Chaucer's day, as is detailed here at length.

Chaucer Subjects
Miller and His Tale