Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2021

Publication Title

Anglia

Volume

139

Issue

2

Pages

400-418

Abstract

The Middle English ABC of Aristotle is an alliterative abecedary poem that survives in fifteen manuscript copies dating between the mid-fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The most eccentric copy, bearing the greatest number of unique textual variants, is in London, British Library, Additional 60577, a commonplace book and miscellany of verse and prose known today as the ‘Winchester Anthology’. The Winchester copy of the ABC of Aristotle is distinguished from all others by changes to vocabulary, idiom, and prosody. The result is a unique redaction, illustrating the kind of literary composition that could be expected to grow out of late medieval English grammar schools. The Winchester redaction also expresses a shift in prosodic allegiance. The traditional alliterative line is subtly reshaped into an accentual-syllabic form.

Comments

Author Posting. © DeGruyter, 2021. It is posted here by permission of DeGruyter for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in nglia, vol. 139, no. 2, 2021, pp. 400-418. https://doi.org/10.1515/ang-2021-0026

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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