The present edition is the first to utilize all the manuscripts, to describe the structure of the poem, and to analyze the textual transmission. [...] Almost as interesting as the poem itself are the many and varied versions in which it appears; I have tried to give full attention to all the variant readings and stanza arrangements, so that the reader can appreciate the many forms in which the poem was read and heard in the Middle Ages. [...] If we were to look for a matching Chaucerian type, it would not be John the merchant or any of the Wife of Bath's luckless husbands (even the fifth), but John the Carpenter or Oswald the Reeve.7 C. NAME OF THE PROTAGONIST Each angel ends his speech (P10/4, £10/4, /22/4) with the exhortation "Let X therefore avoid marriage." The manuscripts are much divided on the identity of X; their variations pr [...] As early as the twelfth century Gawain had acquired a reputation for difficulty with women and in some instances for antifeminist outbursts such as that later seen in the English Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.12 In view of the statement above, that the poem is addressed to "the ordinary working-man," one might question the appropriateness of Gawain as the protagonist. [...] It is not in the least antifeminist, though it does remind Theodore that Hermione's body consists of humours and excrement.21 The letter was translated into Latin early: it is cited by Isidore, and there are manuscripts of the eighth and ninth centuries.22 The angels have been chosen as the Trinity's spokesmen against marriage solely because of their reputation; the poet did not use any of the wri
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 877.03
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 19
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- ISBN
- 9780888440792 9781771100755
- LCCN
- PA8310.D3523
- LCCN Item number
- R5 1986eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOTU
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (xi, 104 p.)
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)slc00215045 (OCoLC)651989663 (CaOOCEL)420473
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Contents 8
- Acknowledgments 10
- Sigla of Manuscripts and Textual Families 11
- 1 The Poem 14
- A. Synopsis 15
- B. Background 16
- C. Name of the Protagonist 17
- D. The Three Angels 20
- E. Style and Metre 22
- F. Date and Author 23
- 2 The Manuscripts 26
- A. Description of the Manuscripts 26
- B. General Remarks 35
- C. The A Tradition 39
- D. The B Tradition 45
- E. An Independent Tradition: R, H and C 52
- F. Difficulties with the Classification System 56
- G. Arrangement of Stanzas 59
- H. Is the Poem Symmetrical? 65
- I. Transmission of the Text from Memory 66
- J. Scribal Intervention and Wit 67
- 3 The Edition 71
- A. Rejection of H 72
- B. Choice of C 74
- C. Presentation of the Text and Apparatus 75
- Gawain on Marriage: De coniuge non ducenda 78
