John Skelton and Poetic Authority: Defining the Liberty to Speak

by Jane Griffiths

Overview

This is the first book-length study of John Skelton (?1460-1529) for almost twenty years, and the first to link his poetic theory with his practice as a writer and translator. Reassessing Skelton's place in the English literary canon, it suggests the need to reconsider the conventional distinction between "Medieval" and "Renaissance" poetics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199273607
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/03/2006
Series:	Oxford English Monographs
Pages:	225
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.70(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Titular identity: orator regius, poet laureate, and vates
2. Amplifying memory: The Bibliotheca Historica of Diodorus Siculus
3. 'A fals abstracte cometh from a fals concrete': representation and misrepresentation in The Bowge of Court and Magnyfycence
4. 'Shredis of sentence': imitation and interpretation in Speke Parrot
5. Diverting authorities: the glosses to Speke Parrot, A Replycacion, and A Garlande of Laurell
6. All in the mind: inspiration, improvisation, and the fantasy in Magnyfycence and A Replycacion
7. Rewriting the record: Skelton's posthumous reputation
Conclusion
Select Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"A patient, scrupulous book.... Griffiths's book admirably joins forces with readers who insist on this power in his work, discovered through its antic motions."—Theresa Krier, Sixteenth Century Journal

"Griffiths has achieved admirably what she set out to do."—Deanne Williams, Speculum

From the Publisher