<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> The story of Troilus and Criseyde - whether in Chaucer’s or Henryson’s renditions - is not a story about a new beginning, but a story about an end: the end of love, of hope, and finally - the end of life: Troilus’s life in Chaucer’s poem and Cresseid’s life in Henryson’s. The Scottish version of the story, however, not only evokes the end of an individual life, but also the end of the world. The purpose of this paper is to situate Henryson’s poem in the context of apocalyptic fiction - fiction which is concerned with loss, decay and the finality of things. My contention that the poem belongs to the apocalyptic genre is based on a number of its features, such as the elegiac mood and imagery, the contrast between the past and the present, as well as the pattern of sin-redemption-preparation for death, which applies to Cresseid’s life, but also invites reflection on our own.</p></abstract>

The story of Troilus and Criseyde - whether in Chaucer’s or Henryson’s renditions - is not a story about a new beginning, but a story about an end: the end of love, of hope, and finally - the end of life: Troilus’s life in Chaucer’s poem and Cresseid’s life in Henryson’s. The Scottish version of the story, however, not only evokes the end of an individual life, but also the end of the world. The purpose of this paper is to situate Henryson’s poem in the context of apocalyptic fiction - fiction which is concerned with loss, decay and the finality of things. My contention that the poem belongs to the apocalyptic genre is based on a number of its features, such as the elegiac mood and imagery, the contrast between the past and the present, as well as the pattern of sin-redemption-preparation for death, which applies to Cresseid’s life, but also invites reflection on our own.

“Be War in Tyme, Approchis Neir the End”: The Sense of an Ending in the Testament of Cresseid

Jesuit University Ignatianum, Cracow, Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie, ul. Kopernika 26, 31–501 Kraków,

Studia Anglica Posnaniensia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The story of Troilus and Criseyde - whether in Chaucer’s or Henryson’s renditions - is not a story about a new beginning, but a story about an end: the end of...

“Be War in Tyme, Approchis Neir the End”: The Sense of an Ending in the Testament of Cresseid

Publié en ligne: 17 déc. 2016

Pages: 93 - 106

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/stap-2016-0011

Mots clés
apocalypse, dying in the Middle Ages, Robert Henryson, Testament of Cresseid, Troilus and Criseyde, Saturn, poetic closure

© 2016

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

“Be War in Tyme, Approchis Neir the End”: The Sense of an Ending in the Testament of Cresseid

Publié en ligne: 17 déc. 2016

Pages: 93 - 106

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/stap-2016-0011

Mots clésapocalypse, dying in the Middle Ages, Robert Henryson, Testament of Cresseid, Troilus and Criseyde, Saturn, poetic closure

© 2016

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Mots clés
apocalypse, dying in the Middle Ages, Robert Henryson, Testament of Cresseid, Troilus and Criseyde, Saturn, poetic closure