Description
Book SynopsisThe imagery of marriage and the family in Piers Plowmanrelated to contemporary social history.Kindly Similitude is the first study to offer a detailed reading of the many passages in
Piers Plowman A, B, and C concerned with marriage and family, and to place them within the frameworks of contemporary social history, law, theology, exegesis, and literature. The author shows how Langland draws on the experiences of familial life both literally and metaphorically to further his expositions of law and love, nature and grace, the image of God in individuals and society, the use of time and material goods, the perversion of right relationships through
covetise, and doing well in the active life. For Langland, an unmistakably public poet, the marital householdis inextricably linked to religious, economic, and political institutions. It reflects and transmits a divine exemplar of community, and plays a fundamental role in creating the society in which he and his audience must live. Thisimportant new critical approach complements the strong current attention to the poem's intellectual and ecclesiological contexts. Professor M. TERESA TAVORMINA is at the Department of English, Michigan State University.
Trade ReviewDiscussion is richly informed by social-historical knowledge... careful and sensitive reading. MEDIUM AEVUM A judicious, as well as an erudite book. NOTES AND QUERIES A book that bears upon the poem in ways both substantive and subtle, and the information, thoughtfulness and eloquence brought to the topic amply succeed in making its relevance apparent. REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIES Great industry and erudition. * STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER *
Table of ContentsPart 1 The marriage of Meed: the marriage-making - Meed's family, fiance, and friends, the marriage ceremony and charter; the marriage-breaking - theology's objection, Meed before the king. Part 2 Do-wel in this world: the interior household - the castle of Caro, Inwit and the image of God; the social family - helping the helpless, standing fast in one's station; Trewe wedded Libbynge folk - the right use of marriage, marriage at mischief, from Cain to Noe, "Filius Non Portabit...", contemporary marriages; that Iche man have a make. Part 3 The trinite hit meneth: the fruits of charity - the fruits of the tree in B, the fruits of the tree in C; one kind, two lives, three degrees - one kind, two lives in three degrees, Ac Bothe two Ben Gode; betokening the trinity - Abraham and the three degrees; Lo, Treys encountre Treys. Part 4 A kind familiarity: childhood; sexuality; the making of marriages; familial affections - conjugal affections; sibling affections; inheritance and old age - inheritance, old age. Part 5 Kindly similitude - marriage and family in "Piers Plowman": patterns of revision; marriage and family as kindly similitude.
