Earthly honest things : collected essays on Piers Plowman / by A.V.C. Schmidt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schmidt, A. V. C. (Aubrey Vincent Carlyle)

Contributor:

Albert C. Baugh Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Langland, William, 1330?-1400? Piers Plowman.

Langland, William.

Physical Description:

xviii, 406 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Newcastle upon Tyne, UK : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.

Summary:

Earthly Honest Things brings together the complete shorter writings of a leading international authority on William Langland. Of A.V.C. Schmidt's recent two-volume Piers Plowman: A Parallel Text Edition, Derek Pearsall has said in Speculum that 'By any standards, it is a monumental achievement ... resolute, patient, deeply learned ... magisterial. ... Schmidt ... is always interesting and writes with a controlled passion.' Lawrence Warner in The Medieval Review has called this edition 'nothing short of awe-inspiring' and Andrew Galloway in The Yearbook of Langland Studies has noted how 'under Schmidt's brilliant attention to the poem's scenic and poetic originality, an editorial and literary attentiveness shines luminously throughout.'

Including four that are completely new, these twenty-five pieces cover a wide range of topics, from critical essays on the poem's imagery, structure, themes and intellectual and literary background (including the philosophical, devotional and mystical traditions) to more technical studies of its text and metre.

The previously published essays have been thoroughly revised, updated and cross-referenced, and are provided with a full Bibliography and an Index. Together they represent an indispensable companion to the poem for Langland specialists and an exciting introduction for students to one of the most challenging and rewarding masterpieces of medieval English literature. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 Traditions and Contexts

Chapter I Langland and Scholastic Philosophy 2

Appendix: Five Notes on Langland's Noetic Personifications Ia The Phrase 'Fre Wit' in the C-text of Piers Plowman (Passus X 51) 29

Ib Langland's Conception of 'Anima' and 'Inwit' in the A-Text 31

Ic Conscience in the A-Text of Piers Plowman, Passus X 91-4a 34

Id Two Notes on Piers Plowman: 1. Direct and Indirect Relation, C III 332-405a; 2. The Phrase donum Dei, B XTV 276a 36

Chapter II Langland and the Mystical Tradition 40

Appendix: Two Notes on Langland, Alan of Lille and Bernard IIa Langland's 'Book of Conscience' and Alan of Lille 63

IIb Langland, Chrysostom and Bernard: A Complex Echo 68

Chapter III The Treatment of the Cracifixion in Piers Plowman and in Rolle's Meditations on the Passion 72

Chapter IV 'A Courtesy more than Covenant' (C XIV 216): A Langlandian Phrase in its Contemporary Context 101

Part 2 The Words on the Page

Chapter V Lele Wordes and Bele Paroles: Some Aspects of Langland's Word-play 110

Chapter VI Ars or Scientia? Reflections on Editing Piers Plowman 125

Appendix: VIa A Misattributed Speech in Piers Plowman, A XI 182-218 150

Chapter VII The Authenticity of the Z Text of Piers Plowman: A Metrical Examination 153

Chapter VIII 'Let Copulation Thrive': Some Varieties of Contamination in the Textual Tradition of Piers Plowman 162

Appendix 175

Part 3 Form, Structure and Imagery

Chapter IX The Inner Dreams in Piers Plowman 178

Chapter X Langland's Visions and Revisions 198

Chapter XI Langland's Structural Imagery of Food and Drink 221

Chapter XII 'Elementary' Images in the Samaritan Episode of Piers Plowman 237

Chapter XIII The Four Elements as a Structural Idea in Piers Plowman 255

Chapter XIV The Sacramental Significance of Blood in Piers Plowman 273

Chapter XV 'Feeling is Believing': Faith and the Senses in Vision Seven of Piers Plowman 290

Chapter XVI Medieval Structural Unity: Langland in Context 302

Chapter XVII Unity, Unanimity and Peace: The Mystical Ecclesiology of Piers Plowman 328

Chapter XVIII Formosa Deformitas: Langland's 'Medled' Art 349.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Albert C. Baugh Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781443837910

1443837911

OCLC:

792927798

Publisher Number:

99949519596