One of the chief functions of poetry in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was to praise gods, people and things. Heroes and kings were glorified in many varieties of praise, and the arts of encomium and panegyric were codified by classical rhetoricians and later by writers on poetry. J. A. Burrow's study spans over two thousand years, from Pindar to Christopher Logue, but its main concern is with the English poetry of the Middle Ages, a period when praise poetry flourished. He argues that the 'decline of praise' in English literature since the seventeenth century, which has meant that modern readers and critics find it hard to appreciate this kind of poetry. This erudite but accessible account by a leading scholar of medieval literature shows why the poetry of praise was once so popular, and why it is still worth reading today.
Author(s): J. A. Burrow
Series: Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 208
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 4
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 9
Introduction: from Pindar to Pound......Page 11
CHAPTER 1 The poetics of praise......Page 16
CHAPTER 2 Old English, especially Beowulf......Page 39
CHAPTER 3 Middle English......Page 71
CHAPTER 4 Geoffrey Chaucer......Page 111
CHAPTER 5 The decline of praise: two modern instances......Page 160
panegyric: praise of kings......Page 161
heroic: praise of warriors......Page 166
CHAPTER 6 Praise and its purposes......Page 183
TEXTS......Page 190
STUDIES......Page 194
Index......Page 202
