Divergent Journeys: Devils, Readers, and the Narrator's Art in 'þe Deuelis Perlament'

Authors

Gary D. Schmidt, Calvin College

Publication Date

1993

Keywords

poetry, Wynkyn de Worde

Abstract

In 1509, Wynkyn de Worde published a five-hundred-line poem that he, in defiance of the poet's own suggestion that the piece be called 'þe Deuelis Perlament' (1 490), entitled 'The Parliment of Fyendys'. It would remain known by that title — if it can be said to have been known at all — for the next three centuries, when the Roxburghe Club reprinted de Worde's text about 1820 for private distribution. A wider audience would wait almost another half-century for Furnivall's EETS edition in 1868. But still another century would pass before 'þe Deuelis Perlament' began to be taken seriously as a work of literary moment, becoming the stuff of dissertation and analytical comment.

Recommended Citation

Schmidt, Gary D. (1993) "Divergent Journeys: Devils, Readers, and the Narrator's Art in 'þe Deuelis Perlament'," Quidditas: Vol. 14, Article 7.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra/vol14/iss1/7