Knowing Poetry , livre ebook
263
pages
English
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2011
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263
pages
English
Ebooks
2011
Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus
Publié par
Date de parution
15 mai 2011
EAN13
9780801460586
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
In the later Middle Ages, many writers claimed that prose is superior to verse as a vehicle of knowledge because it presents the truth in an unvarnished form, without the distortions of meter and rhyme. Beginning in the thirteenth century, works of verse narrative from the early Middle Ages were recast in prose, as if prose had become the literary norm. Instead of dying out, however, verse took on new vitality. In France verse texts were produced, in both French and Occitan, with the explicit intention of transmitting encyclopedic, political, philosophical, moral, historical, and other forms of knowledge.In Knowing Poetry, Adrian Armstrong and Sarah Kay explore why and how verse continued to be used to transmit and shape knowledge in France. They cover the period between Jean de Meun's Roman de la rose (c. 1270) and the major work of Jean Bouchet, the last of the grands rhetoriqueurs (c. 1530). The authors find that the advent of prose led to a new relationship between poetry and knowledge in which poetry serves as a medium for serious reflection and self-reflection on subjectivity, embodiment, and time. They propose that three major works-the Roman de la rose, the Ovide moralise, and Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy-form a single influential matrix linking poetry and intellectual inquiry, metaphysical insights, and eroticized knowledge. The trio of thought-world-contingency, poetically represented by Philosophy, Nature, and Fortune, grounds poetic exploration of reality, poetry, and community.
Voir
Publié par
Date de parution
15 mai 2011
EAN13
9780801460586
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
K n o w i n g P o e t ry
K N O W I N G POETRY Verse in Medieval France from theRoseto theRhétoriqueurs
A D R I A N A R M S T R O N G &K AY S A R A H
with the participation of Rebecca Dixon, Miranda Griffin, Sylvia Huot, Francesca Nicholson, and Finn Sinclair
Cornell University Press Ithaca & London
This book is the outcome of a research project entitled “Poetic Knowledge in Late Medieval France,” funded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The authors gratefully acknowledge this assistance.
Copyright © 2011 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2011 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data
Armstrong, Adrian. Knowing poetry : verse in medieval France from the rose to the rhétoriqueurs /Adrian Armstrong and Sarah Kay ; with the participation of Rebecca Dixon . . . [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780801449734 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. French poetry—To 1500—History and criticism. 2. Knowledge, Theory of, in literature. I. Kay, Sarah. II. Dixon, Rebecca. III. Title. PQ151.A67 2011 841'.109—dc22 2010052646
Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.
Cloth printing 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction
Part I. Situating Knowledge
1. Persistent Presence: Verse after Prose 2. Poetry and History 3. Poetry and Thought
Part II. Transmitting and Shaping Knowledge
4. Knowing the World in Verse Encyclopedias and Encyclopedic Verse 5. Knowledge and the Practice of Poetry 6. Textual Communities: Poetry and the Social Construction of Knowledge
Conclusion Bibliography Index
v
vi vii 1
27 49 71
101 135
165
197 209 239
Illustrations
Fig. 1 Diagram of the disciplines in Brunetto Latini’sLivres dou TresorFig. 2 The “tree of love” in theBreviari d’amorof Matfre Ermengaud Fig. 3 Universal history,Breviari d’amorof Matfre Ermengaud Fig. 4 Diagram representing the interrelation of the elements, humors, and seasons
v i
108 113 123
129
Preface and Acknowledgments
This book is the outcome of a research project on the relationship between poetry and knowledge in France in the period approximately 1270 to 1530. Titled “Poetic Knowledge in Late Medieval France,” the project was funded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) over a total of four and a half years from January 2005 to June 2009. The grant made it possible for us to sustain dialog with other scholars by means of seminars, vis its, and a conference, and, crucially, to employ two fulltime postdoctoral re search associates. During the life of the project we thus benefited from having four coworkers succeed one another in these two positions: Rebecca Dixon, Miranda Griffin, Francesca Nicholson, and Finn Sinclair. Originally led by two senior scholars, Adrian Armstrong and Sarah Kay, at the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge, respectively, the team was fortunate to prevail upon a third senior figure, Sylvia Huot, to represent Cambridge when Sarah Kay moved to Princeton. We warmly thank her for agreeing to join the proj ect and for devoting so much care and time to it at a point when her research plans were poised to move in another direction entirely. As part of their roles, our research associates had the task of editing selected papers from among the project’s seminars and its conference (Princeton, November 2006).Poetry, Knowledge, and Communityappeared in 2009, edited by Rebecca Dixon and Finn Sinclair, whose comments and reflections frame the contributions to our field of inquiry from the wider scholarly community. In addition to articles published by all team members within the general field of “Poetic Knowledge in Late Medieval France,” each of the project’s senior
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v i i i P r e f a c e a n d A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
scholars produced monographs: Kay’sPlace of Thought(2007) was followed by Huot’sDreams of Lovers and Lies of Poets(2010), Armstrong’sVirtuoso Circle(2012), and Kay’sParrots and Nightingales(forthcoming). The present book, written by the original leaders of the project, presents the outcome of our thinking about the role of poetry in transmitting and shaping knowledge in late medieval France. This brief outline is offered by way of explanation for the rather unusual circumstances—at least as far as the humanities are concerned—in which this book was written. Its authors, Adrian Armstrong and Sarah Kay, wrote in close collaboration, and we assume joint responsibility for the whole work. The research associates participated by contributing notes and brief synop ses on their reading, and joining in collective discussions. Their input was then recast by us for integration into the arguments of particular chapters, then submitted back to the entire team for comment. It was an enormous privilege to have Sylvia Huot intimately involved in all these conversations. Participation of all these team members is acknowledged on our title page. When we had drafted an entire typescript, we held a twoday seminar in Cambridge in March 2009 at which it was reviewed and critiqued by a panel of scholars whose expertise overlapped or bordered our own. Fran çois Cornilliat, Noah Guynn, Neil Kenny, JeanClaude Mühlethaler, and David Wallace were unstintingly generous with their time, knowledge, and insight. We thank them all for their collegiality and for their many sugges tions for improvement, which we have sought to implement within the space at our disposal. More broadly, we are indebted to all our many generous interlocutors in our seminars and conference. Our warm thanks go, too, to Peter Potter at Cornell University Press for his consistent support for this volume, even when some of the anonymous reports were less than rhapsodic, and to those readers for so perceptively helping us to identify and rectify some of its shortcomings. We also acknowledge the support of several institutions, first among them the AHRC for providing the funding that not only enabled us to pursue this research but also nurtured the careers of young postdoctoral research ers through several lean years of the job market. The Universities of Man chester and Cambridge have provided administrative support and a collegial environment. Princeton University funded our conference and enabled trans atlantic meetings to take place. The School of Advanced Study at London University conferred on Sarah Kay a visiting research professorship to sup port her research on Occitan. Adrian Armstrong had additional leave from the AHRC for exploratory studies on therhétoriqueursat a vital early stage. We also gratefully acknowledge contributions toward the cost of publication
P r e f a c e a n d A c k n o w l e d g m e n t si x
from Princeton University and the University of Manchester, and help with compiling the index from Sarah Beytelmann. The most exciting feature of working on this book has been realizing that we could achieve collectively a breadth of understanding that neither of us could have arrived at independently, and this volume is genuinely the out come of a team effort.
