Patristic Exegesis in the Criticism of Medieval Literature: The Opposition.
- Author / Editor
- Donaldson, E. Talbot.
Patristic Exegesis in the Criticism of Medieval Literature: The Opposition.
- Published
- Dorothy Bethurum, ed. Critical Approaches to Medieval Literature: Selected Papers from the English Institute, 1958-59 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), pp. 1-26.
- Description
- Challenges patristic criticism for its claim that medieval literature is univocally concerned with asserting Christian "caritas" allegorically, arguing instead that poetry has a right to "say what it means and mean what it says." Illustrates the pitfalls of the critical method by analyzing patristic or exegetical readings of the opening of "Piers Plowman," "Maiden in the Moor Lay," and NPT, maintaining in the case of the latter that its meaning derives from its rhetorical elaborations rather than despite them. See R. E. Kaske, "The Defense."
- Alternative Title
- Critical Approaches to Medieval Literature.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Background and General Criticism
Nun's Priest and His Tale