English Literature / Unit 5 ENL 0415 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Telling Medieval Genres Apart
The idea
Many medieval questions turn on naming a genre, and six are easily confused. A romance is a narrative of knights, love and wonders, often Arthurian, in verse or prose: Gawain, Malory. A lai is a short romance from Breton tradition: Marie de France. A dream vision frames its matter as a dream: The Dream of the Rood, the Parliament of Fowls, Piers Plowman. A lyric is a short song-like poem of one feeling: the Cuckoo Song. A popular ballad is an anonymous narrative song transmitted orally, with refrains. A mystery play stages Bible history in a guild cycle; a morality play stands alone and gives abstractions roles: Everyman. To decide, ask three questions in order: is it drama or poetry; does it tell a story or express a feeling; and is the story biblical, chivalric, or allegorical. The sample question describing an anonymous, orally altered narrative with a refrain answers to the popular ballad by this sorting.
In practice
Drama or poem, story or feeling, which kind of story.
Where people slip
Do not confuse mystery and morality plays. The mystery play follows scripture in a cycle; the morality play invents abstract characters and stands alone.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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