The literary geography of Middle English alliterative long-line poetry

This dissertation provides an analysis of the geographical information (in the form of place name allusions (PNA's)) encoded in the texts of eleven alliterative long-line poems: Patience, Cleanness, The Siege of Jerusalem, St. Erkenwald, Winner and Waster, The Parlement of the Three Ages, Richard the Redeless, Mum and Sothsegger, William of Palerne, The Wars of Alexander, and Morte Arthure. In all eleven, PNA's are used with striking precision. Although over 80% of PNA's occur in alliterative position, the majority in stock collocations, only William of Palerne and The Parlement of the Three Ages contain glaring geographical inaccuracies or tedious repetition. A comprehensive study of the literary geography of alliterative long-line poetry provides useful information about the anonymous authors. PNA's aid in dating and provenancing poems of the "alliterative revival." They also help to establish affinities between the poetry under study and selected comparative material including contemporary maps and travel narratives. Analysis of the literary geography of all eleven poems reveals patterns of common poetic practice. The compression of historical time and the "zoom" technique that characterize St. Erkenwald are also apparent in Winner and Waster and Morte Arthure. The tripartite spiritual space essential to the structure of Patience also occurs in The Wars of Alexander. PNA analysis also reveals the poets' concern with the social significance of dress in such disparate texts as Winner and Waster, The Wars of Alexander, Richard the Redeless, and Cleanness. PNA's reflect the concerns of late medieval Britain. Certain poems are clearly London-based; others express the political tension between the regions during the late Middle Ages. PNA's also evoke the friction between the classes and the religious tension inherent in the debate between those who seek worldly success and those whose principal focus is salvation. The PNA's which underlie much of alliterative long-line poetry reflect a broad range of geographical knowledge and represent the assumptions of the past informed by contemporary political reality. Ultimately, the poets who use PNA's to their full potential create vivid fictional worlds which comprehend all of universal history: the past, the present, and eternity.