Synopses & Reviews
This study sheds new light on the relationships between poets and political power.
Synopsis
Robert J. Meyer-Lee examines the tradition of Laureate verse as it develops from the fourteenth century to Tudor times. This study sheds new light on the relationships between poets and political power and reveals the importance of this verse for the course of English literary history.
About the Author
Robert J. Meyer-Lee is Assistant Professor of English at Goshen College.
Table of Contents
Introduction: laureates and beggars; Part I. Backgrounds: 1. Laureate poetics; Part II. The First Lancastrian Poets: 2. John Lydgate: the invention of the English laureate; 3. Thomas Hoccleve: beggar laureate; Part III. From Lancaster to Early Tudor: 4. Lydgateanism; 5. The trace of Lydgate: Stephen Hawes, Alexander Barclay, and John Skelton; Epilogue: Sir Thomas Wyatt: anti-laureate; Works cited.