Syntax and Style in Chaucer's Poetry

Gives an outline of structural features of Chaucer's poetic syntax that are relevant to the study of style, and defines some general tendencies in his construction of sentences. This work argues for attention to a wider range of literary functions in studying the relationship between syntax and style in medieval poetry.

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The purpose of this book is to give an outline of structural features of Chaucer's poetic syntax that are relevant to the study of style, and to define some general tendencies in his construction of sentences. What emerges is a fondness on Chaucer's part for discontinuity in the order of words and phrases and for certain forms of expression which have a wider application t:han their modern counterparts. In order that Chaucer's usage may be seen in its historical context, comparative material is drawn from the writings of his contemporaries - Langland, Gower, and the Gawain-poet - and from the body of early English rhyming romances now taken to represent an influent:ial nativepoetic tradition. I In an introductory chapter Dr Roscow questions the familiar description of Chaucer's syntax as colloquial, and argues for attention to a wider range of literary functions in studying the relationship between syntax and style in nedieval poetry