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Article: Signes and Sothe: Language in the Piers Plowman Tradition.
- Article from:
- Medium Aevum
- Article date:
- March 22, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 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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Helen Barr, Piers Plowman Studies 10 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1994). xiv + 188 pp. ISBN 0-85991-419-4. 35.00 [pounds]; $61.00.
Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, Richard the Redeless, Mum and the Sothsegger and The Crowned King are all indebted to Piers Plowman, but should this group be designated `the Piers Plowman tradition? Helen Barr is concerned that the label might imply lack of individuality and damaging derivativeness in the poems. However, her analysis of particular passages demonstrates that the poems are not `slavish imitation' or `mindless pastiche' (p. 170) of Piers Plowman. For example, the deployment of legal terms and of `Lollard sect vocabulary' in Crede ...