Abstract
To take us into the sixteenth century I have chosen a piece of stanzaic poetry (its formal versification may show us which syllables are to be sounded, and whether -e has any metrical function), verse of a homely and unsubtle sort, by an old-fashioned man who never came to terms with the Reformation and was successively monk, friar, and London city rector: ALEXANDER BARCLAY (who died old in 1552). His Life of St George (1515), being ordinary and not courtly, may best illustrate how the language sounded to undemanding readers; here are lines 1114–1127 and 1163–1169:
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© 1985 Basil Cottle
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Cottle, B. (1985). Grammar on the Eve of the Reformation. In: The Language of Literature. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17989-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17989-3_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-37207-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-17989-3
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