Chaucer, Langland, and Fourteenth-Century Literary History (Variorum Collected Studies)

Anne Middleton's essays have been among the most vigorous, learned, and influential in the field of medieval English literature. Their 'crux-busting' energies have illuminated local obscurities with generous learning lightly wielded. Their historically- and theoretically-informed meditations on the nature of poetic discourse traced how the generation of Chaucer and Langland devised a category of the literary that could embody a ethos of engaged, worldly consensus and make that consensus available to imaginative and rational consideration. And their reflections on the enterprise of literary study found a rational way, free of cant, to understand the work of the literary scholar. This volume reprints eight essays: ’The Idea of Public Poetry in the Reign of Richard II,’ ’Chaucer's 'New Men' and the Good of Literature in the Canterbury Tales,’ ’The Physician's Tale and Love's Martyrs: 'Ensamples Mo than Ten' as a Method in the Canterbury Tales,’ ’The Clerk and His Tale: Some Literary Contexts,’ ’Narration and the Invention of Experience: Episodic Form in Piers Plowman,’ ’Making a Good End: John But as a Reader of Piers Plowman,’ ’William Langland's 'Kynde Name': Authorial Signature and Social Identity in Late Fourteenth-Century England,’ ’Life in the Margins, or, What's an Annotator to Do?’ It includes one essay previously unpublished, ’Playing the Plowman: Legends of Fourteenth-Century Authorship.’ Anne Middleton's essays have been among the most vigorous, learned, and influential in the field of medieval English literature. Their 'crux-busting' energies have illuminated local obscurities with generous learning lightly wielded. Their historically- Cover 1 Series Page 3 Title Page 6 Copyright Page 7 Table of Contents 8 Acknowledgments 9 Publications of Anne Middleton 10 Introduction 14 I: The Idea of Public Poetry in the Reign of Richard II 24 II: Chaucer’s “New Men” and the Good of Literature in the Canterbury Tales 50 III: The Physician’s Tale and Love’s Martyrs: “Ensamples Mo than Ten” as a Method in the Canterbury Tales 84 IV: The Clerk and his Tale: Some Literary Contexts 108 V: Playing the Plowman: Legends of Fourteenth-Century Authorship 136 VI: Narration and the Invention of Experience: Episodic Form in Piers Plowman 166 VII: Making a Good End: John But as a Reader of Piers Plowman 196 VIII: William Langland’s “Kynde Name”: Authorial Signature and Social Identity in Late Fourteenth-Century England 222 IX: Life in the Margins, or, What’s an Annotator to Do? 286 Public,Poetry;,The,Clerk;,the,Plowman;,Piers,Plowman;,William,Langland;,Social,Identity Public Poetry,The Clerk,the Plowman,Piers Plowman,William Langland,Social Identity Machine Generated Contents Note: I.the Idea Of Public Poetry In The Reign Of Richard Ii -- Ii.chaucer's New Men And The Good Of Literature In The Canterbury Tales -- Iii.the Physician's Tale And Love's Martyrs: Ensamples Mo Than Ten As A Method In The Canterbury Tales -- Iv.the Clerk And His Tale: Some Literary Contexts -- V.playing The Plowman: Legends Of Fourteenth-century Authorship -- Vi.narration And The Invention Of Experience: Episodic Form In Piers Plowman -- Vii.making A Good End: John But As A Reader Of Piers Plowman -- Viii.william Langland's Kynde Name: Authorial Signature And Social Identity In Late Fourteenth-century England. Anne Middleton ; Edited By Steven Justice. Includes Bibliographical References.