Medieval Eloquence: Studies in the Theory and Practice of Medieval Rhetoric ed. by James J. Murphy (review)

REVIEWS As John Gardner stated in The Complete Warks of the Gawain-Poet (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1965), p. 68, Cleanness "comes full circle-as the poems of the Gawain-poet invariably do: Belshazzar is a type of the false priest mentioned in the opening lines." It seems also that Professor Morse overplays, at times, the aspect of penance in Cleanness. For example, she calls the poem "an exhortation to all to return to Christ through penance" (p. 152), which is a statement that echoes one she had made at the start of her book: "The primary message of the poem, that men should repent, is not obscure" (p. 2). Penance is important in the plan of Cleanness, but it appears that the poet's main purpose in composing his verse homily was to warn the mem­ bers of his audience against falling into deadly sin, not to tell them to repent afterthey have succumbed. However, in considering a book as excellenf as Professor Morse's is on an overall scale, one should be wary of probing too deeply for negative aspects. Her Epilogue is a fitting conclusion to a major contribution to medieval literature, made by a scholar who has displayed a wide knowl­ edge of the field in general, full comprehension of the Queste del Saint Graal and Sir Thomas Malory's use of it in his Tale of the Sankgreal, and, most important for those scholars interested in the Age of Chaucer, deep insight into Cleanness. She has shown that both the Queste and Cleanness "belong among the most serious and representative artistic achievements of the High Middle Ages" (p. 207). WlLLIAM VANTUONO Essex County College JAMES J. MURPHY, ed., Medieval Eloquence: Studies in the Theory and Practice of Medieval Rhetoric. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: Uni­ versity of California Press, 1978. Pp. xii, 354. $16. "This volume," writes Professor Murphy, "provides within one cover a survey of basic medieval rhetorical theories, together with some of their applications in various literatures of the Middle Ages" (Preface, p. xi). Part One, "The Theory of Rhetoric in the Middle Ages," consists of six essays: Michael C. Leff, The Logician's Rhetoric: "Boethius' De differentiis topicis, Book IV" (pp. 3-24); John 0. Ward, The Com- STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER mentator's Rhetoric: "From Antiquity to the Renaissance: Glosses and Commentaries on Cicero's Rhetorica" (pp. 25-67); Ernest Gallo, The Grammarian's Rhetoric: "The Poetria nova of Geoffrey of Vinsauf" (pp. 68-84); Charles B. Faulhaber, The Letter-Writer's Rhetoric: "The Summa dictaminis of Guido Faba" (pp. 85-01); Margaret Jennings, C.S.J., The Preacher's Rhetoric: "The Ars componendi sermones of Ranulph Higden" (pp. 02-26); and M. B. Parkes, The Impact of Punc­ tuation: "Punctuation, or Pause and Effect" (pp. 127-42). Part Two, "The Practice of Rhetoric in the Middle Ages," contains eight essays: Calvin B. Kendall, Rhetoric in Early Medieval Latin: "Bede's Historia ecclesiastica: The Rhetoric of Faith" (pp. 145-72; Jackson J. Campbell, Rhetoric in Old English Literature: "Adaptation of Classical Rhetoric in Old English Literature" (pp. 173-97); James J. Murphy, Rhetoric in Early Middle English: "Rhetoric and Dialectic in The Owl and the Nightingale" (pp. 198-230); Douglas Kelly, Rhetoric in French Litera­ ture: "Topical Invention in Medieval French Literature" (pp. 231-51); Aldo Scaglione, Rhetoric in Italian Literature: "Dante and the Rhetorical Theory of Sentence Structure" (pp. 252-69); Robert 0. Payne, Rhetoric in Chaucer: "Chaucer's Realization of Himself as Rhetor" (pp. 270-87); Samuel Jaffe, Rhetoric in German Literature: "Gottfried von Strassburg and the Rhetoric of History" (pp. 288-318); and Josef Purkart, Rhetoric in Later Latin: "Boncompagno of Signa and The Rhetoric of Love" (pp. 319-31). There is an Appendix of Manuscripts Cited (pp. 333-34) and a Concordant Index (pp. 335-54). "While," as Professor Murphy notes (p. 335), "the authors in the volume range over many subjects, covering a vast period of time and a broad geographical area," they all address themselves to "a single central subject-rhetoric-in its varied European manifestations during the Middle Ages." Indeed, this very diversity of authors, works, languages, periods, and places treated points up...