hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2021-12-08

■ #4608. 中英語の叙情詩の "I" [personal_pronoun][literature][me][genre]

　昨日の記事「#4607. 中英語の叙情詩」 ([2021-12-07-1]) で，"Middle English lyric" というジャンルの特徴について見た．特徴の1つとして「"I" が "you" に語りかける」ことが挙げられていた．この点について，昨日も引用した Greentree (388--89) が次のように加えている．

The 'lyric I' who addresses the 'you' implied in Middle English lyrics is a general, typical figure, an 'I' without ego, who may make the reader a participant in the poem. Anonymity helps efface the poets of many medieval lyrics, removing distractions to focus attention on the poem itself. Aspects of style may suggest a particular poet, place or time of composition. Some political verses recount historical events, and some poets describe their situations, but a manuscript's time of compilation does not necessarily reveal the dates when its contents were written, and biographical details may be fictions. These factors can enhance or diminish the reader's appreciation of a work. Acrostics and other devices sometimes reveal a poet's name or the place of composition. However, the lack of details of a poet's life and state of mind spares the reader fruitless speculation, since it is both easier and more profitable to concentrate on the lyric 'I'.

　中英語叙情詩の "I" は詩人本人を指示するというよりも，読み手・聞き手を取り込んで作品の中に同化させた1人称単数代名詞として機能している，という見方だ．これにより，詩人が誰かという問いは背景化し，詩の内容そのものに焦点が当てられることになる．作品への没入を誘う1人称単数代名詞の文体的用法とでも言おうか．
　中英語叙情詩の特徴が少し分かり始めてきた．

　・ Greentree, Rosemary. "Lyric." A Companion to Medieval English Literature and Culture: c.1350--c.1500. Ed. Peter Brown. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. 387--405.

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