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Re the three editions of Piers Plowman in the mi-16th century. It is yet to be generally acknowledged that as much as Chaucer, Langland was Spenser's 'original'. It would be interesting to know from students of English literary history just why Langland has never been acknowledged to be as central as Chaucer. My guess is that Spenser critics being very educated and sophisticated find Chaucer congenial, but not the populist and religious Langland. A.C. Hamilton At 01:55 PM 2000-12-02 -0600, you wrote: >Milton was probably referring to the Protestant Plowman's tale, which was >an altered Lollard poem. (Another Plowman's tale is an altered Hoccleve >poem and remains Catholic.) John Leland attributed the former, Protestant >Plowman's Tale to Chaucer, saying that this attribution was commonly held >by those in the know. Godfrey first printed this tale on its own. Thynne >published it in his second editon of Chaucer's works, and he or someone >else forced written copies of it into his first edition. Speght also >included it, and it didn't depart until Whitaker's edition in 1775. As >far as I know, Chaucer was never considered the author of Piers Plowman. >Bale first ascribed it to Wycliffe but later noted it as the work of >Robert Langland, agreeing with Crowley in his preface to the 1550 >printings--the only ones made until more than 250 years later. -Dan >Knauss > >On Sat, 2 Dec 2000 10:28:31 -0500 John Leonard <[log in to unmask]> >writes: >> Is it not the case that renaissance poets and critics attributed >> Langland's >> poetry to Chaucer? Milton in *Of Reformation* refers to "Chaucer's >> Plowman." Maybe this has something to do with Chaucer's reputation >> for >> roughness. >> >> J. Leonard >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Craig A. Berry <[log in to unmask]> >> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> >> Date: December 1, 2000 3:51 PM >> Subject: Re: Chaucer and Homer (was Renaissance editions of Middle >> English >> texts) >> >> >> >Carol, >> > >> >Thanks for passing along Gordon Teskey's comments. The difficulty >> >with the meter and bad editions were certainly part of the mix in >> >Chaucer's perceived crudeness to sixteenth-century poets, but I >> think >> >this was only part of the story. Chaucer's reputation was pretty >> >evenly split; he could be trotted out as the paragon of >> >golden-tongued eloquence who practically invented the English >> >language or as an icon of backwardness and scurrility. A >> "canterbury >> >tale," after all, was a synonym for a dirty story, and it was easy >> >rhetorically to equate moral defects with metrical defects. No >> >wonder Chaucer fit so well into a more general Elizabethan anxiety >> >about cultural backwardness. One wanted to be as sophisticated as >> >the Italians without being as decadent, and one wanted to be an >> icon >> >of Englishness like Chaucer, but without the rough edges. >> > >> >Enter Spenser, the master integrator, who borrows massively from >> >Ariosto but identifies himself with Chaucer and turns Chaucer's >> >roughness, his "warlike numbers and heroic sound," into a virtuous >> >source of spiritual Englishness that he himself has inherited. On >> >the potential source of defilement for the "well of English," I >> have >> >argued elsewhere that one candidate is Ariosto's "Tuscan pen," >> which >> >Spenser seems to diss because it is not aimed at the moral >> >enlightenment of the reader. Lest someone rush to defend Ariosto, >> I >> >am engaging in a conjecture about Spenser's perception and not >> >putting forth my own reading of him :-). >> > >> > >> >At 10:43 AM -0500 12/1/00, Carol V. Kaske wrote: >> > >> >>>>First, Chaucer isn't crude. Renaissance authors thought he was >> because, >> >>>>being ignorant of middle English, they couldn't scan him; and >> the Thynne >> >>>>edition didn't help. >> >-- >> >____________________________________________ >> >Craig A. Berry >> >mailto:[log in to unmask] > >Dan Knauss >Department of English, Marquette University >[log in to unmask] - [log in to unmask] >Faerspel Studios: http://home.earthlink.net/~faerspel > >________________________________________________________________ >GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! >Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! >Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: >http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. > > A.C.Hamilton [log in to unmask] Cappon Professor Emeritus Queen's University, Canada Phone & Fax: 613- 544-6759