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The genre of Ancrene Wisse

The genre of Ancrene Wisse
The genre of Ancrene Wisse
The chapter addresses the question of whether Ancrene Wisse can be described as a 'rule'. 'There is no doubt that the author drew both his overall structure and much of his content from a medieval tradition of anchoritic and monastic legislation; but these parallels in structure are not matched by a parallel in function. The prescriptions of the "Outer Rule" are advisory, not mandatory, and the "Inner Rule" has only divine, not human, authority'. The 'Outer Rule' could be more accurately described as a 'customary'; the 'Inner Rule' 'shares no distinctive features with the 'rule' as a genre, and could even be seen, to some extent, as defined in opposition to it; its main debt is to other genres of religious writing.'
0859917622
29-44
Boydell & Brewer
Millett, Bella
99523544-2312-4078-97f1-c6d4eb8edd39
Wada, Yoko
Millett, Bella
99523544-2312-4078-97f1-c6d4eb8edd39
Wada, Yoko

Millett, Bella (2003) The genre of Ancrene Wisse. In, Wada, Yoko (ed.) A Companion to Ancrene Wisse. Woodbridge. Boydell & Brewer, pp. 29-44.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

The chapter addresses the question of whether Ancrene Wisse can be described as a 'rule'. 'There is no doubt that the author drew both his overall structure and much of his content from a medieval tradition of anchoritic and monastic legislation; but these parallels in structure are not matched by a parallel in function. The prescriptions of the "Outer Rule" are advisory, not mandatory, and the "Inner Rule" has only divine, not human, authority'. The 'Outer Rule' could be more accurately described as a 'customary'; the 'Inner Rule' 'shares no distinctive features with the 'rule' as a genre, and could even be seen, to some extent, as defined in opposition to it; its main debt is to other genres of religious writing.'

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More information

Published date: 2003

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 28921
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/28921
ISBN: 0859917622
PURE UUID: a385d9af-d8ec-401d-b6e8-66036987438c

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Date deposited: 18 May 2006
Last modified: 11 Dec 2021 15:11

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Contributors

Author: Bella Millett
Editor: Yoko Wada

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