Abstracts 102.4
Thomas D. Hill, “The Imperturbable Judge: An Eschatological Motif in ‘The Judgment of the Damned Homily’”
Some years ago, E. G. Stanley published an edition of an Old English eschatological homily which contained some rhythmic passages and some poetic passages intercalated into conventional Old English prose. This text has been reedited by Christopher A. Jones in his volume Old English Shorter Poems I: Religious and Didactic for the DOML series. Neither Stanley nor Jones comment in any detail on the eschatology of the text—the DOML series does not encourage commentary and Stanley was not interested in eschatology—but the interesting motif of Christ as an impassible, imperturbable Judge who is “read” differently by the damned and the blessed, occurs in the homily and is closely paralleled in the Old English eschatological poem Christ III.
David Sharp, “Chaucer’s Mythology of the Daisy and the Remigian Commentaries”
In Chaucer’s Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, the reader is informed that it was the goddess Cybele who created the daisy in honor of the God of Love’s wife, Alceste. This narrative detail is generally thought to be Chaucer’s own invention with many scholars supporting the theory that it was inspired by Froissart’s vernacular Dittié de la Flour de la Margherite in which the daisy is sprung from the tears of Herès. Another theory is that Chaucer was inspired by mythographers who noted that Cybele’s cognomen, Berecynthia, meant ‘flower of Spring.’ This article builds on the explanatory power of natural allegoresis and, in doing so, submits that Chaucer’s invented mythology of the daisy, particularly lines F.125–129, 183–185 and 531, has an antecedent in the mutualistic figures of Cybele and Attis in section 74.12 of Remigius of Auxerre’s Commentum in Martianum Capellam.
Margaret S. Yoon, “Credits, Debts, and Charity: The Economies of Pride and Prejudice”
Pride and Prejudice is notable for the exquisite harmony achieved at the end of the novel when Elizabeth and Darcy finally are united after resolving their misunderstandings. This article contends that the felicity of this marriage is due to the complex interweaving of motifs of credit and connections that create the powerful foundation for their union. In a novel that contains multiple characters associated with trade, the Gardiners are notable for insuring the felicitous outcome. Their prominence invites readers to revise their first impressions of trade and points to the importance of credit and economy in the novel. This article takes a fresh look at Pride and Prejudice to reveal the ways Jane Austen engages with contemporary attitudes toward trade, particularly the literary stereotype of the cit, to establish a new understanding of the role of merchants in literature and society.