The verse epistle in the reigns of Louis XII and François I er, 1498-1547

The verse epistle, according to Paul Zumthor, is l'une des formes les plus profondernent enracinee dans la pratique des Rhetoriqueurs'. The problem, for Du Bellay in his Deffence et illustration de la langue francoyse, lies in the fact that the epitre contains elements of all the medieval genres from which he was so keen to distance himself. Paradoxically, it belongs at the same time to a classical literary heritage that the Pleiade would strive to imitate and appropriate as its own. Du Bellays is a proscriptive assessment of the form, but the truth is that at this stage the epitre is a form in search of definition, it is bare (poetic) communication underscored by classical influences and Erasmian varietas. Everybody uses it: in both manuscript and print the epitre serves as a filter through which concerns about literary identity and authority, patronage and the politics of propaganda, love, satire, morality and religion are expressed, along with stylistic questions. Poets took sides in ongoing literary debates, 'groups' with specific poetic agendas were formed, and this early form of networking was cemented by the use of the epitre. This study will be structured thematicalIy in an attempt to capture this very sense of variety: we will see how the epitre is often associated and interchangeable with other forms that are defined by their dialogic characteristics; how its language can be high and low, amorous and moralistic, didactic and farcical, intimate and popular. We will see how it is used by kings and princes, doctors and lawyers, poets and philosophers alike. Ultimately, we will see how by the mid-century it would cease to exist in name and would be recast as the ode or the elegie.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo