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Article: Chaucer and Deguileville: the 'ABC' in context.
- Article from:
- Medium Aevum
- Article date:
- March 22, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Georgia Ronan Crampton's article |Chaucer's singular prayer' (MAE, LIX),(1) is a welcome study in detail of the relationships between Chaucer's ABC and its source, Deguileville's ABC prayer in the Pelerinage de la vie humaine.(2) There is, however, still a story to be told, for it is not enough to examine Chaucer's translation only in relation to Deguileville's lyric: the French ABC is part of the vast dramatic allegory of the Pelerinage, and Chaucer's translation incorporates important elements from that larger narrative.
That means that many features of Chaucer's ABC which critics have assumed to be original have an origin in his source. These include its tone ...