Studies in English historical poetry of the Middle Ages : morality and English historical poetry; romance and English historical poetry [thesis]

247 Pages·1973·10.82 MB·English

by  Thomas Brian Swanzey

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73-15,692
SWANZEY, Thomas Brian, 19111-
STUDIES IN ENGLISH HISTORICAL POETRY OF THE
MIDDLE AGES: MORALITY AND ENGLISH HISTORICAL
POETRY; ROMANCE AND ENGLISH HISTORICAL POETRY.
Rutgers University The State University of New
Jersey, Ph.D., 1973
Language and Literature, general
University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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STUDIES IN ENGLISH HISTORICAL POETRY OF THE
MIDDLE AGES: MORALITY AND ENGLISH HISTORICAL
POETRY; ROMANCE AND ENGLISH HISTORICAL POETRY
by THOMAS BRIAN SWANZEY
A thesis submitted to
The Graduate School
of
Rutgers University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Written under the direction of
Professor Alfred L. Kellogg
of the Department of English
and approved by
New Brunswick, New Jersey
January, 1973
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ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS
Studies in English Historical Poetry of
the Middle Ages: Morality and English Historical
Poetry; Romance and English Historical Poetry
by THOMAS BRIAN SWANZEY, Ph. D.
Thesis director: Professor Alfred L. Kellogg
This work consists of two essays on the poetry of
contemporary English history of the middle ages.
The first is entitled "Morality and English Historical
Poetry." The second is entitled "Romance and English
Historical Poetry."
The first essay begins with a general discussion
of the history of Christian historiography. After this
review, the writer concludes that the medieval writer
who assigned himself the task of writing history found
available to him two alternative and highly reputable
views on the historical process and the meaning of
history. Both were traditionally Christian in their
recognition that in history man finds God revealing
Himself, that human history is providential, and that
all acts have moral meaning. One approach, that iden­
tified with St. Augustine, is marked by a certain
caution concerning the meaning of specific historical
events, by a recognition that the precise import of
any human action or Divine intervention is too often
ii
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beyond the reach of the restricted faculties of
men. The other view, a view associated with Augustine's
contemporary, the Spaniard Orosius, tends to consider
history more dramatically, to interpret more definite­
ly; the Orosian historian is likely to be an historicist
and will often read history in millenarian terms.
The writer then considers the historical poetry—
especially those poems found in the collections of
Thomas Wright and R. H. Robbins— in an attempt to
demonstrate that it frequently is historicist in a
simple way— the poets find in particular historical
events God rewarding the good and chastizing the
wicked— and in a subtle way— the poet employ genres,
motifs, and themes which in the late middle ages are
associated with apocalyptical expression. For example,
the figure of the Ideal King, a millenarian common­
place, is detected in descriptions of historical
personages, especially Henry VI, Edward IV, and Henry
VII.
In the final section of this essay, the writer
attempts to show that the historical poets could be
moral in ways which are more orthodox. The writer
accepts the idea that by the high middle ages the
patristic concept of allegorical interpretation,
originally applied to Scripture, had been expanded
to include literature of any type. It is maintained
iii
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that the writer of historical verse could conceal
within his work higher meanings, doctrinal in content,
and that he was able to accomplish this in several
ways— by his choice of literary form, by the presenta­
tion of symbolic settings, and by iconographic details.
"Summer Sunday" (1327), "The Death of Edward III" (1377),
"The Battle of Northampton" (l/f60), and "God Amend
Wicked Counsel" (Iif6t*) are among the poems used to
demonstrate the methods of the poets.
The second essay is a study of the romantic
elements in historical poetry. After a rehearsal of
of the medieval "confusion" of romance and reality,
the writer considers the romanticization of history
in a few famous historical works. I^Histoire de
Guillaume le Mar£chal, Froissart's Chronicles, and
the Life of the Black Prince are among those histories
and biographies discussed. The writer then turns to
topical poetry— especially that occasioned by the
English-French wars of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries— to show that the conduct of historical
personages was expected to stand comparison with the
conduct of romantic figures, especially those found
in metrical romances.
In the final section, the writer contends that
the hyperbolic portraits of contemporary kings;and
princes found in historical poetry, while partially
iv
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the product of passions inflamed by civil war and
partially in the tradition of millenarian expecta­
tions, is connected with the hope of the romances
that some Perfect Knight, usually Galahad or Arthur
himself, will come to save the land.
v
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
PART ONE
Morality and English Historical
Poetry
I. Christianity and History 14
II. The Progressive Approach 39
III. The Patristic Approach to Literature
and Historical Poetry 78
PART TWO
Romance and English Historical
Poetry
IV. Life Imitates Art 115
V. Romance and Historical Literature 123
VI. Romance and the Occasional Historical
Poem 133
VII. The Perfect Prince in Historical Poetry 153
AFTERWORD 167
NOTES 174
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 225
VITA 237
vi
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1
Introduction
In the tv/o essays which follow this Introduction, essays
on the moral concerns of historical poetry and historical
poetry and romance, a number of terms are used to identi­
fy the body of verse under consideration. No one label
is entirely adequate or satisfactory. Thomas Wright1
gives the name "political" to his collection of songs,
ballads, elegies, and other poems, in English, Latin,
and French. The label serves if we accept C. V. Wedg­
wood's definition of political verse as "poetry direct­
ly inspired by public events and public figures."2 How­
ever, the word "political" suggests those things which
are often the shortcomings of this kind of verse— his­
torical accuracy sacrificed to partisan interests, dis­
tortions, lack of perspective, and unequal praise. Since
there are poems which transcend these limitations, the
label is not always fitting. R. H. Robbins ^ uses the
general term "historical" to describe his collection
of one hundred English poems. This name is not alto­
gether acceptable if we consider the writing of history
as an art or craft which can not be successfully under­
taken without the advantages of perspective only time
can bring. With many of the poems we will be consider­
ing, composition, it seems, followed immediately upon
the breaking of the last lance. The word "occasional"
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