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Latin and Vernacular Poets of the Middle Ages (Collected Studies Series)
Latin and Vernacular Poets of the Middle Ages - Collected Studies Series Author:Peter Dronke This volume presents a series of analyses of particular poems and problems of literary history illustrating the many sides of medieval poetry and the interactions of learned, popular and courtly traditions. The first and longest essay, "Waltharius-Gaiferos", aims to characterize the diverse treatments of one of the major European heroic themes -... more » in modes that include lay and epic, sage and ballad, and range from pre-Carolingian times to the Renaissance. There follow three interrelated essays on the medieval transformations of Ovid, and a larger group devoted to close reading of medieval lyrics. After discussing some brilliant Latin compositions of the 9th-13th centuries, both sacred and profane, and the work of two of the most captivating "goliard" poets, Peter Dronke looks at the earliest formations of love-lyric in two vernaculars, Spanish and English. Finally, he explores the unique symbiosis of Latin and vernacular imagery in two key moments of Dante's "Divine Comedy".« less