Imagined Romes : The Ancient City and Its Stories in Middle English Poetry

Benson, C. David

Pennsylvania State University Press（2019/03発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 216 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780271083209
• DDC分類 821.10935837

Full Description

This volume explores the conflicting representations of ancient Rome—one of the most important European cities in the medieval imagination—in late Middle English poetry.

Once the capital of a great pagan empire whose ruined monuments still inspired awe in the Middle Ages, Rome, the seat of the pope, became a site of Christian pilgrimage owing to the fame of its early martyrs, whose relics sanctified the city and whose help was sought by pilgrims to their shrines. C. David Benson analyzes the variety of ways that Rome and its citizens, both pre-Christian and Christian, are presented in a range of Middle English poems, from lesser-known, anonymous works to the poetry of Gower, Chaucer, Langland, and Lydgate. Benson discusses how these poets conceive of ancient Rome and its citizens—especially the women of Rome—as well as why this matters to their works.

An insightful and innovative study, Imagined Romes addresses a crucial lacuna in the scholarship of Rome in the medieval imaginary and provides fresh perspectives on the work of four of the most prominent Middle English poets.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Spelling

Introduction

Part 1: Ancient Rome and Its Objects

1 The Relics of Rome: Christian Mercy and the Stacions of Rome

2 The Ruins of Rome: Pagan Marvels and the Metrical Mirabilia

Part 2: Narratives of Ancient Romans

3 Civic Romans in Gower's Confessio Amantis

4 Heroic (Women) Romans in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and the Legend of

Good Women

5 Virtuous Romans in Piers Plowman

6 Tragic Romans in Lydgate's Fall of Princes

Notes

Bibliography

Index