’Thyng that was maad of auctours hem beforn’ : Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, its literary antecedents and successors

Despite frequent predictions that a renaissance in Lydgate studies is imminent, there is still a significant lack of critical work on Lydgate's massive oeuvre. The poet once accorded status equal to that of Chaucer and Gower now ranks a distant third in importance. My thesis aims to begin to re...

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Main Author: Lanz, Julie Marie
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: 2009
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15683
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spelling ndltd-UBC-oai-circle.library.ubc.ca-2429-156832018-01-05T17:37:54Z ’Thyng that was maad of auctours hem beforn’ : Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, its literary antecedents and successors Lanz, Julie Marie Despite frequent predictions that a renaissance in Lydgate studies is imminent, there is still a significant lack of critical work on Lydgate's massive oeuvre. The poet once accorded status equal to that of Chaucer and Gower now ranks a distant third in importance. My thesis aims to begin to remedy the critical neglect of Lydgate with a close study of his poem, "The Fall of Princes"; I particularly focus on Lydgate's presentation of questions of Fortune and individual culpability for misfortune. I begin with a brief history of Lydgate's critical reception. I then examine Lydgate's "Fall" in relation to its literary predecessors—notably Boccaccio, Chaucer and Gower—and to Lydgate's dual role as a Benedictine monk and propagandist for the Lancastrians. My third chapter shows how the competing influences that played upon Lydgate as he wrote the "Fall" result in a poem which is indisputably fragmented and inconsistent; however, I argue that Lydgate's own solution to the problem of Fortune is present in the text, in the form of numerous Boethian-influenced musings on the mutability of earthly life and the necessity of focussing on the stability of the next life. I then conclude with a brief look at how later authors used the "Fall" as a encyclopaedic-like source that could be co-opted to support various divergent views and arguments; I pay special attention to Peter Idley's "Instructions to his Son", Wynkyn de Worde's "The Proverbs of Lydgate", George Cavendish's "Metrical Visions", and William Baldwin's "Mirror for Magistrates". Ultimately, I argue that it is the success of these daughter-texts, particularly the "Mirror for Magistrate", that eliminates any need or desire for the "Fall" itself; after the publication of the "Mirror", the "Fall" quickly disappeared from circulation. Arts, Faculty of English, Department of Graduate 2009-11-24T21:39:56Z 2009-11-24T21:39:56Z 2004 2004-11 Text Thesis/Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15683 eng For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. 4227809 bytes application/pdf
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description Despite frequent predictions that a renaissance in Lydgate studies is imminent, there is still a significant lack of critical work on Lydgate's massive oeuvre. The poet once accorded status equal to that of Chaucer and Gower now ranks a distant third in importance. My thesis aims to begin to remedy the critical neglect of Lydgate with a close study of his poem, "The Fall of Princes"; I particularly focus on Lydgate's presentation of questions of Fortune and individual culpability for misfortune. I begin with a brief history of Lydgate's critical reception. I then examine Lydgate's "Fall" in relation to its literary predecessors—notably Boccaccio, Chaucer and Gower—and to Lydgate's dual role as a Benedictine monk and propagandist for the Lancastrians. My third chapter shows how the competing influences that played upon Lydgate as he wrote the "Fall" result in a poem which is indisputably fragmented and inconsistent; however, I argue that Lydgate's own solution to the problem of Fortune is present in the text, in the form of numerous Boethian-influenced musings on the mutability of earthly life and the necessity of focussing on the stability of the next life. I then conclude with a brief look at how later authors used the "Fall" as a encyclopaedic-like source that could be co-opted to support various divergent views and arguments; I pay special attention to Peter Idley's "Instructions to his Son", Wynkyn de Worde's "The Proverbs of Lydgate", George Cavendish's "Metrical Visions", and William Baldwin's "Mirror for Magistrates". Ultimately, I argue that it is the success of these daughter-texts, particularly the "Mirror for Magistrate", that eliminates any need or desire for the "Fall" itself; after the publication of the "Mirror", the "Fall" quickly disappeared from circulation. === Arts, Faculty of === English, Department of === Graduate
author Lanz, Julie Marie
spellingShingle Lanz, Julie Marie
’Thyng that was maad of auctours hem beforn’ : Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, its literary antecedents and successors
author_facet Lanz, Julie Marie
author_sort Lanz, Julie Marie
title ’Thyng that was maad of auctours hem beforn’ : Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, its literary antecedents and successors
title_short ’Thyng that was maad of auctours hem beforn’ : Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, its literary antecedents and successors
title_full ’Thyng that was maad of auctours hem beforn’ : Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, its literary antecedents and successors
title_fullStr ’Thyng that was maad of auctours hem beforn’ : Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, its literary antecedents and successors
title_full_unstemmed ’Thyng that was maad of auctours hem beforn’ : Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, its literary antecedents and successors
title_sort ’thyng that was maad of auctours hem beforn’ : lydgate’s fall of princes, its literary antecedents and successors
publishDate 2009
url http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15683
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