This Dissertation Has Been 65—3886 Microfilmed Exactly As Received
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This dissertation has been 65—3886 microfilmed exactly as received MALONEY, Jean, 1917- FLYTING: SOME ASPECTS OF POETIC INVECTIVE DEBATE. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1964 Language and Literature, general University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Copyright by- Jean Maloney- 1965 FLYTING: SOME ASPECTS OF POETIC INVECTIVE DEBATE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jean Maloney, M.A. ****** The Ohio State University 1964 Approved by ___________ < L & L ______ Adviser Department of English ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful to Professor Francis Lee Utley for his aid, counsel, and encouragement while I was endeavoring to complete this dissertation; his patience and kindness have been boundless. I have learned much from my association with Mr. Utley, especially from his invaluable criticism of the work in progress. I am also indebted to Professor Robert M. Estrich, Chairman of the Department, who has taken time from his manifold duties to discuss the thesis, offering many valuable suggestions. The study was initiated in a seminar conducted by Professor Robert C. Elliott, who has generously given guidance in the vast area of satire. The staff of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California and the Librarian of the Society of Antiquaries, London, have graciously co-operated in locating and putting material at my disposal. ii VITA April 3, 1917 Born - Glasgow, Scotland November, 1931 M. A. University of Glasgow June, 1938 Teacher's Diploma, Notre Dame College, Glasgow 191(0 - 19^7 Teacher in public schools, Scotland 19V7 - 195^ Instructor, Department of English, Morris Harvey College, Charleston, West Virginia 1954 _ i960 Teaching Assistant, Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio i960 - 196^ Assistant Professor, Department of English, California State College at Los Angeles, California FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English Studies in Late-Medieval Literature and Linguistics. Professor Francis Lee Utley Studies in Restoration Drama. Professor John Harold Wilson. Studies in History of Ideas. Professor Roy Harvey Pearce. iii CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................. 1 CHAPTER ONE THE FLYTING OF DUNBAR AND KENNEDIE.............. 2k TWO THE BARDIC TRADITION AND THE DUNBAR-KENNED IE FLYTING . kl THREE SKELTON: "POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE" ................ <jk FOUR LYNDESAY: "AN ANSWER TO THE KINGIS FLYTING".... 78 FIVE BROADSIDE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN GRAY AND S M Y T H .... 89 SIX "THE CONTENTION BETWYXTE CHURCHARD AND CAMELL" .... 109 SEVEN POLWART AND MONTGOMERIE F L Y T I N G ................ 130 EIGHT CONCLUSION............................... '......... 151 APPENDIX A ......................................................... 157 B ......................................................... 208 c ...................................................... 278 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................. 28l iv IHTRGDUCTIOH In this study, I have attempted to make an analysis of certain contests in poetic invective between authors. My central concern has been those verse controversies which appeared in Scotland and England in the sixteenth century. In these can be seen the interplay of two national traditions and the contrast of two distinct tempers in poetic. I have applied the term "flyting" to this type of verse altercation simply because the Scottish poets referred to their contests as "flytings."1 It is true, however, that the term may denote any kind of scolding, and perhaps further clarification is necessary at this stage. The verb "to flyte" is derived from the Old English flitan meaning "to strive." The Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary lists the noun - 2 flltcraeft as the "art of disputing in logic." The Hew English Dictionary suggests four strands of meaning for the verb "to flyte": to strive, scold, debate, or pray in the language of complaint or remonstrance. As we shall see, some of the verse contentions manage to include all four strands. 1 King James VI used the term as a genre name in The Essayes of A Prentlse in the Divine Arte of Poesie (1585), discussing the metric conventions of the genre in the essay, "Beulis and Cautells to be Observlt and Eschewed in Scottish Poesy." 2 Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Based on the Manuscript Collections of the Late Joseph Bosworth by T. H. Toller (Oxford, 1882-92;, with Supplement Tl908-l6). 1 2 The Nev English Dictionary cites, as the earliest use of the term, line 916 of Beowulf: Hvilum flltende fealve straete mearum maeton. (Racing intermittently, they paced their horses on the dust-pale road). Although the vord flitende is used in the poem in the sense of "racing," the act of flyting as interpreted hy "scolding match" is usually associated with the Unferth episode. Scholars have dehated the significance of this altercation because Unferth's insulting attack on Beowulf is at such variance with the courteous welcome accorded the warrior at Hrothgar's court. Perhaps out of the vast area of Beowulf scholarship we may select a few opinions regarding the role of the flyting which have some relevance: It was a maxim of the Old Teutonic poetry, as it is of the British Constitution, that the king could do no wrong ... it was the work of an evil counsellor .... Now we have seen that there was mischief brewing at Heorot— and we are introduced to a counsellor Unferth, the thyle or official spokesman and adviser of King Hrothgar. And Unferth is evil. His jealous temper is shown by the hostile and inhospitable reception which he gives to Beowulf.3 Brodeur is less concerned with the character of Unferth than with the incident: We can hardly regard this interchange as a mere flyting: flytings are either exchanges of rude wit, rough games, or invective preceding a fight. Here no fight can conceivably occur, since Beowulf is the honored guest of the King; and the encounter between Beowulf and Unferth is no game. Both men mean what they say; both men speak in anger .... The function of the debate 3r. W. Chambers, Beowulf: With a Supplement by C. L. Wrenn (3rd ed.; Cambridge, 1959), P* 2 7 . between Unferth and Beowulf la obvious: it ia intended to convince the Banes ... that Beowulf has sufficient strength, as well as sufficient courage, to deliver them from Grendel .... Unferth's misrepresentation of the adventure with Breca gave Beowulf a priceless opportunityvto establish beyond question his superlative strength and valor. Norman Eliason differs from Brodeur in regarding the exchange as a flyting in which abuse and boast are not to be taken seriously; he considers the episode as an artistically appropriate example of the 5 ’’heroic taunt.' Although the Scottish and Tudor flytings do not function as narrative devices, like the "Unferth Intermexzo" (KLaeber's phrase), yet all relate to king or court; it will be interesting to see whether any reveal the jealous counsellor or provide a milieu for a display of superlative skill. Even the realm of the gods did not lack flyters: the "Lokasenna" or "Flyting of Loki" has formed part of the Poetic Edda of Norway since the end of the tenth century. In this poem, some clever "skald" or bard tries to show the less glorious side of the Norse gods. The interlocutor is Loki, god of evil, who appears as the uninvited guest at a banquet of the gods: In I shall, though, to Aegir's hall— Fain would I see that feast; Brawls and bickering I bring the gods, Their mead I shall mix with evil. Odin bids the other gods make peace with Loki: Arise then, Vithar, let the Wolf’s father ^toki/ Be benched at our banquet; ^Arthur Brodeur, The Art of Beowulf (New York, 1953), P* 129* 5 Norman E. Eliason, "The Thyle and Scop in Beowulf." Speculum. XXXVIII, 270. Lest that Loki fling lewd words at us In Aegir's ale-hall. Loki does "fling lewd words" at Bragi, taunting him with cowardice. When Bragi's wife, Ithun, comes to her husband’s defense, Loki turns on her: Hush thee, Ithun: of all women Thou are most mad after men, For thy shining arms on the shoulder lay Of thy brother's slayer. Gefion, virgin goddess, begs the gods to ignore Loki's words, and becomes the next victim: Hush thee, Gefion, I have in mind Who did lure thee to lust; The fair-haired swain /~Heimdall_7 sold thee the necklace Ere thou threwest about him thy thighs. Loki continues with his vilification. He accuses Odin of poor strategy in warfare; he calls Odin's wife, Freya, a whore; he reproaches Niorth with low birth, and with having committed incest with a sister. The gods are able to make but a feeble defense against the assault. Byggvir, ale-server to the gods, loses patience and asks why the noble guests tolerate this, adding if he were a god he would "crush to marrow this crow of evil and break his every bone." Loki savagely sneers that Byggvir is incapable of doing battle with anyone for he is usually to be found among the straw on the floor, in a drunken stupor. Finally,-the altercation ceases with the arrival of Thor: Hush thee, ill wight, or my hammer of might, Miolnir, shall shut thy mouth; I shall shatter thy shoulder-diff, No longer then wilt thou live. The "Lokasenna," while not an example of flyting between poets, does define the object of attack and indicates a pattern of abuse that we shall come upon in the contentions between poets. Loki, outlining the "genealogy" of his victims, or flinging charges of drunkenness, immoral behavior, cowardice, or incest, is a fitting forerunner to the Scottish flyters. Contests within poems, such as the Beowulf-Unferth episode, the "Lokasenna," or dialogues of the type of the "Owl and Nightingale," the "Tailyeour and the Soutar," or those verses classified as amoebean, while they are within the general tradition of poetic debate, are beyond the scope of this study.