Poetry and transformation : the Cistercians (1125-1225)

This thesis examines the production and reception of poetry in the Cistercian Order during the High Middle Ages. Its purpose is to clarify the predominant concerns of this monastic community during the first century of its existence. The investigation is undergirded by relevance theory. This linguistic hypothesis stipulates that a written work must yield significant information regarding the reader's own circumstances to be worthy of interpreting. Poetic works have a special need to relate to the audience's context because they require more interpretive effort than prose texts. Thus, if poetic authors want to be read they must address issues important to their readers. If this is true, one can assert that verse was an important gauge of Cistercian interests in the time period in which it was produced. Study of poetic texts and their contexts reveals that both the form and the function of the poetic genre varied according to the issues that monks faced in their times. Interestingly, while Cistercian monks were fitting poetic works to their particular needs, monastic leaders struggled to regulate production of verse. Yet, because poetic literature was a particularly effective device for communicating and facilitating the distinctive values of the Cistercian Order, even the most draconian legislation against verse was only selectively enforced. Instead of a decline in versification following a complete ban in 1199, the succeeding quarter century saw an increase in poetic production in Cistercian houses as monastic poets continued to celebrate the ideals of their order in verse