From Literacy to Literature: England, 1300-1400

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Medieval, Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts
Cover of the book From Literacy to Literature: England, 1300-1400 by Christopher Cannon, OUP Oxford
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Christopher Cannon ISBN: 9780191084836
Publisher: OUP Oxford Publication: October 6, 2016
Imprint: OUP Oxford Language: English
Author: Christopher Cannon
ISBN: 9780191084836
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication: October 6, 2016
Imprint: OUP Oxford
Language: English

The first lessons we learn in school can stay with us all our lives, but this was nowhere more true than in the last decades of the fourteenth century when grammar-school students were not only learning to read and write, but understanding, for the first time, that their mother tongue, English, was grammatical. The efflorescence of Ricardian poetry was not a direct result of this change, but it was everywhere shaped by it. This book characterizes this close connection between literacy training and literature, as it is manifest in the fine and ambitious poetry by Gower, Langland and Chaucer, at this transitional moment. This is also a book about the way medieval training in grammar (or grammatica) shaped the poetic arts in the Middle Ages fully as much as rhetorical training. It answers the curious question of what language was used to teach Latin grammar to the illiterate. It reveals, for the first time, what the surviving schoolbooks from the period actually contain. It describes what form a 'grammar school' took in a period from which no school buildings or detailed descriptions survive. And it scrutinizes the processes of elementary learning with sufficient care to show that, for the grown medieval schoolboy, well-learned books functioned, not only as a touchstone for wisdom, but as a knowledge so personal and familiar that it was equivalent to what we would now call 'experience'.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The first lessons we learn in school can stay with us all our lives, but this was nowhere more true than in the last decades of the fourteenth century when grammar-school students were not only learning to read and write, but understanding, for the first time, that their mother tongue, English, was grammatical. The efflorescence of Ricardian poetry was not a direct result of this change, but it was everywhere shaped by it. This book characterizes this close connection between literacy training and literature, as it is manifest in the fine and ambitious poetry by Gower, Langland and Chaucer, at this transitional moment. This is also a book about the way medieval training in grammar (or grammatica) shaped the poetic arts in the Middle Ages fully as much as rhetorical training. It answers the curious question of what language was used to teach Latin grammar to the illiterate. It reveals, for the first time, what the surviving schoolbooks from the period actually contain. It describes what form a 'grammar school' took in a period from which no school buildings or detailed descriptions survive. And it scrutinizes the processes of elementary learning with sufficient care to show that, for the grown medieval schoolboy, well-learned books functioned, not only as a touchstone for wisdom, but as a knowledge so personal and familiar that it was equivalent to what we would now call 'experience'.

More books from OUP Oxford

Cover of the book World Population & Human Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book The Position of Heads of State and Senior Officials in International Law by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book Myositis by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book Photography: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book After the Crisis by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book Fleeing Hitler by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book Culture and Anarchy by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book An Introduction to Model-Based Survey Sampling with Applications by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of the Sources of International Law by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book Principles of Corporate Finance Law by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book Sentimental Education by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy Volume 5 by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book Lost Glory by Christopher Cannon
Cover of the book The Law of Targeting by Christopher Cannon
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy