The senses and their understanding by the medieva l laity is an exciting arena in which many authors of the golden age of Middle English vernacular literature exercised their exegetical ability and literary craftsmanship. This book examines the representation of the divine by the anonymous fourteenth-century Pearl-poet, through a close reading of his three “scriptural” Middle English poems, Cleanness, Patience and Pearl, against the background of the culture of sensorium in late medieva l England.
14世纪中古英语头韵复兴运动中的翘楚诗人“珍珠”的全部作品仅有一份手稿存世(大英图书馆柯顿·尼禄A.x手稿)。本书立足于对《珍珠》手稿中三首基于经文的长诗(《清洁》《坚忍》《珍珠》)之中古英语原文的训诂和细读,研究“珍珠”诗人对神性的理解,并探讨诗人对中世纪感官文化及相关思想史背景的反刍。 The senses and their understanding by the medieva l laity is an exciting arena in which many authors of the golden age of Middle English vernacular literature exercised their exegetical ability and literary craftsmanship. This book examines the representation of the divine by the anonymous fourteenth-century Pearl-poet, through a close reading of his three “scriptural” Middle English poems, Cleanness, Patience and Pearl, against the background of the culture of sensorium in late medieva l England. In this book, individual corporeal senses and general ideas about sensory perception will be investigated, as well as the non-physical senses. By bringing the Pearl-poet’s treatment of the sensorium-both of God and of humans-into the focus of attention, Dr Bao illustrates how human interpretation of sense-perceptible signs, and their decision to regulate sensory experience accordingly, play a significant role in the poet’s “vernacular theology”, and in the spiritual life of late medieva l English laity.