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Language and Piety in Middle English Romance (review)
- Parergon
- Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.)
- Volume 19, Number 1, January 2002
- pp. 226-228
- 10.1353/pgn.2002.0010
- Review
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
226 Reviews Collett is principally concerned with the Italian movements - to the extent of ignoring some recent work on the French catholic reformers - but his arguments about the position given to the Holy Spirit in the movements, carefully set in its long chronological context, is enlightening. Some of us may not agree that Cosin's translation of Veni Creator is the best, although it is probably the one that best serves his purpose, but this is a minor quibble. The role assigned to the Third Person of the Trinity in the Middle Ages is sometimes overlooked and its relationship to Neoplatonism is rarely made clear as it is here. The role of the Spirit in personal redemption, in revivification, as i t appeared to Marguerite and to Vittoria in their letters and in their writings, is discussed at length in a way which clarifies what is elsewhere a tedious theological discussion of the idea of God's free gift and at the same time illuminates the drive and function of their poetry. The need to focus on the letters makes the discussion of the two ladies' lives somewhat unbalanced and incomplete but it serves its purpose and provides the occasional sharp insight into previously obscure moments in their careers. Collett's survey of the recent historiography would be an excellent introduction for students w h o have a basic knowledge of the concepts involved. His final speculation that the doctrine of the spirit provided the spirituale and the evangeliques with an answer to their problems ofallegiance to a church which seemed to have a dead heart will surely provoke further debate. Sybil M Jack Department ofHistory University ofSydney Dalrymple, Roger, Language and Piety in Middle English Romance, Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 2000; cloth; pp. x, 270; R R P £40.00/US$75.00; ISBN 0-85991 598-0. In the Lay of Havelok, the hero is described as 'the wighteste man at nede/ thurteridenon any stede' (11. 9-10), and shortly thereafter the formula is reiterated: 'He was the wightest man at nede/ That may riden on any stede' (11. 25-6). Then King Athelwold is similarly categorised: 'He was the beste knight at nede/ That evere mighte riden on stede' (11. 87-8). Such repetitive formulae are part and parcel of the metrical romance style. At one time dismissed as mere redundant padding, now, in the light of current thinking about transitional-oral stylistics Reviews 227 and narrative technique, they are regarded more sympathetically as bearing a particular kind of semantic force through cumulative use. In this study, Roger Dalrymple explores one subcategory of such relative-clause formulae - those mat modify references to God - and argues that in fact formulae such as 'Jhesu Crist, that Lazarun / To liue broucte fro dede-bones' (Havelok 331-2) should be examined closely for their contextual appropriateness, and, furthermore, that cumulatively they create resonances, and associative links. Or as John Miles Foley puts it, formulae are 'highly echoic metonyms that comprise a referential code' (p. 27). Dalrymple argues that these pious formulae link audience, narrator and fictional characters in a 'shared devotional consciousness'. Dalrymple's study consists of two parts: five chapters of discussion and analysis, followed by a comprehensive catalogue of the pious formulae that constitute his data, organised according to text, then again by semantic category. The formulae in the catalogue are rigorously limited to references to the Deity (normally noun or pronoun) modified by a relative clause. Thus phrases of the type 'God that made the myddelerd' are included, but appositive phrases of the type 'God, Maker ofthe world' are excluded. Also excluded are pious references to Mary (such as 'Be mary that is mayden floure!' Morte Arthur 2310) or other holy figures, or inversions of some God-formulae (accordingly, Havelok 2404 'Crist that wolde on rode blede' is included, but Havelok 431 'the leve holy rode,/ That God himselve ran on blode' is excluded). Thus the study is focussed on one particular set of pious references, although these typically occur in conjunction with other kinds of Christian reference. In Havelok, for example, assertions of good faith are recurrently sworn by G o d and Saint John, and oaths...