IMC 2019: Sessions
Session 1125: The Pearl-Poet and Material Culture
Wednesday 3 July 2019, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | International Pearl-Poet Society |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Jane Beal, Department of English, University of La Verne, California |
| Moderator/Chair: | Catherine J. Batt, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds |
| Paper 1125-a | Medieval Material Culture and the Pearl-Poet's Symbolic Imagination (Language: English) Index terms: Biblical Studies, Language and Literature - Middle English, Rhetoric |
| Paper 1125-b | Sartorial Adornments in the Work of the Pearl-Poet (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - Decorative Arts, Daily Life, Language and Literature - Middle English, Social History |
| Paper 1125-c | What We Know: Understanding the Role of Culture (Material or Other) in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Language: English) Index terms: Heraldry, Language and Literature - Middle English, Social History |
| Abstract | The Pearl-Poet was acutely aware of medieval material culture and incorporated it into the five poems attributed to him: Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and St Erkenwald. His imagination was situated and sourced in his cultural context, and he went to work not only poetically describing material objects, but rendering them thematically and symbolically significant for his anticipated audience. This session will use a variety of interpretive strategies to consider the poet's symbolic use of objects in material culture, descriptions of sartorial adornments, and rhetorical presentation of the pentangle of Sir Gawain's shield, which he calls 'the endless knot'. |