What do you think?
Rate this book
The Alliterative Revival
Informative study of the 14th-century revival of alliterative poetry which culminated in the major masterpieces of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Piers Plowman.
The revival of alliterative poetry in the fourteenth century, which culminated in the major masterpieces of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Piers Plowman, poses many problems for the historians of literature. As a result, the poems have tended to be studied in isolation, and their poetic context and use of an established tradition have been largely ignored. This book assesses the alliterative revival as a poetic movement, and restores the poems to their literary context. In particular, it offers an evaluation of the obscure origins of the revival, and on the type of audience for whom the poems were intended.
The revival of alliterative poetry in the fourteenth century, which culminated in the major masterpieces of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Piers Plowman, poses many problems for the historians of literature. As a result, the poems have tended to be studied in isolation, and their poetic context and use of an established tradition have been largely ignored. This book assesses the alliterative revival as a poetic movement, and restores the poems to their literary context. In particular, it offers an evaluation of the obscure origins of the revival, and on the type of audience for whom the poems were intended.
152 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1977
2 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Thorlac Turville-Petre
22 booksThorlac Turville-Petre is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nottingham, England.
Son of academics Gabriel Turville-Petre and Joan Elizabeth Blomfield
Son of academics Gabriel Turville-Petre and Joan Elizabeth Blomfield
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 19, 2012
It introduced me to the world of Thorlac Turville-Petre and his wonderful world of spontanesous revivals of ancient forms of literature. Dry as a bone, it served my purpose admirably: to introduce me to the world of 14th-century alliterative poetry, and in reading it alongside McKisack's THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY, I feel that my first day of class is going to go pretty well. I guess I had no idea that there was an entire group of people studying poetry and novels from the middle ages. I guess, if nothing else, having read the book will keep me from looking the total fool while I meander back to college classes. Hopefully what we'll be reading will have normal letters...
March 21, 2009
I am very disappointed with Turville-Petre, who I thought would be a great scholar, given how much he seems to know. In this book, though, he simply ignores information (even going so far as to claim that there is no evidence of an oral tradition in England!) to make his point. On top of that, he feels the need to insert his rather high-brow, modern opinion a little too often.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews