Syntax and Style in Chaucer's Poetry
Author: Gregory H. Roscow
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Published: 1981
Total Pages: 174
ISBN-13: 0859910806
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe purpose of this book is to give an outline of structural features of Chaucer's poetic syntax that are relevant to the study of style, and to define some general tendencies in his construction of sentences. What emerges is a fondness on Chaucer's part for discontinuity in the order of words and phrases and for certain forms of expression which have a wider application t: han their modern counterparts. In order that Chaucer's usage may be seen in its historical context, comparative material is drawn from the writings of his contemporaries - Langland, Gower, and the Gawain-poet - and from the body of early English rhyming romances now taken to represent an influent: ial native poetic tradition. I In an introductory chapter Dr Roscow questions the familiar description of Chaucer's syntax as colloquial, and argues for attention to a wider range of literary functions in studying the relationship between syntax and style in nedieval poetry