THE UNWRITTEN 'DISPOSITIO': PRINCIPLES OF ORDER AND THE STRUCTURES OF LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE.
Item
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Title
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THE UNWRITTEN 'DISPOSITIO': PRINCIPLES OF ORDER AND THE STRUCTURES OF LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE.
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Identifier
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AAI8508738
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identifier
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8508738
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Creator
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TOMASCH, SYLVIA.
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Contributor
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Robert O. Payne
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Medieval
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Abstract
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The principles of order fundamental to medieval culture are demonstrated also in the structures of literary texts. These organizing ideas, unmentioned in discussions of disposition in rhetorical treatises, are evident upon analysis of representative works. For most public oral and written productions, such as letters or sermons, there existed traditional and thoroughly worked-out rules for organization, but for imaginative literature there were none. It is in this latter case that dispositio remained unwritten.;Examination of a variety of late Middle English literary works leads to the conclusion that certain techniques for structuring poems did indeed recur. "Rondel 57" of Charles of Orleans uses the simplest type of disposition, substitution. The replacement of one mode of discourse with another shifts the reader's attention between invented worlds. Although confession and lyric initially seem to make opposing claims on the audience, this type of disposition ultimately produces a synthesis of contrasting views. The Chester Mystery Cycle employs the second type of disposition. Incorporation works to separate particular plays by enclosing them in individual frames while serving to unify the plays by encompassing them within a grand, inclusive framework. The alternation of perspective promotes a dual role for the audience, who must actively participate in the creation of fictions while maintaining and furthering a belief in ultimate religious truths.;Troilus and Criseyde uses the third type of disposition. Related to incorporation but enclosing many smaller units of inserted discourse, interpolation utilizes familiar forms, such as letters, to help establish character, carry action, supply motivation, provide forums for the narrator's arguments concerning the contrasting truths of history and story, and structure the poem. Synthesis here depends upon the awareness of Chaucer's method and participation in his creation. Pearl employs the most complex type of disposition. Variation, especially as punning wordplay, ensures that all aspects of the narrative cohere in an actual demonstration of the lesson of the poem, that everything in the cosmos, including language, is connected. Readers using this mode of disposition are compelled toward the final synthesis, an identification of the literary with the real.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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English
