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University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 A Xerox Education Company Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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 THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFLIMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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" Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.