John Skelton and Poetic Authority Defining the Liberty to Speak [Hardcover]

This is the first book-length study of John Skelton (?1460-1529) for almost twenty years, and the first to link his poetic theory with his practice as a writer and translator. Reassessing Skelton's place in the English literary canon, it suggests the need to reconsider the conventional distinction between Medieval and Renaissance poetics.

Introduction
1. Titular identity:orator regius,poet laureate, andvates
2. Amplifying memory:The Bibliotheca Historica of Diodorus Siculus
3. 'A fals abstracte cometh from a fals concrete': representation and misrepresentation inThe Bowge of CourtandMagnyfycence
4. 'Shredis of sentence': imitation and interpretation inSpeke Parrot
5. Diverting authorities: the glosses toSpeke Parrot,A Replycacion, andA Garlande of Laurell
6. All in the mind: inspiration, improvisation, and the fantasy inMagnyfycenceandA Replycacion
7. Rewriting the record: Skelton's posthumous reputation
Conclusion
Select Bibliography

A patient, scrupulous book.... Griffiths's book admirably joins forces with readers who insist on this power in his work, discovered through its antic motions. --Theresa Krier,Sixteenth Century Journal

Griffiths has achieved admirably what she set out to do. --Deanne Williams,Speculum