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Kynde innocence: Children in Old French and Middle English romance by Nicole Clifton is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

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Medieval children were not simply miniature adults, as is sometimes asserted. The Middle Ages appreciated childhood as a special phase of life. Adults might find children amusing; but they also recognized and cherished such qualities as innocence, pitiableness, loyalty, and perseverance, which are frequently associated with children in medieval romances. These qualities, and the value placed upon them, allowed authors to use child characters both to entertain and to illustrate moral lessons. French and English romances circulating in the fourteenth century display somewhat different views of childhood. In English poems, children's positive qualities are widely accepted, whereas in French tales, admirable children are more likely to be presented as exceptions to a less pleasant norm. I examine two romances, Amis and Amiloun and Floris and Blauncheflor, which enjoyed considerable popularity in the Middle Ages and circulated in both Old French and Middle English texts. I also consider two apparently less popular romances, which show no signs of having been translated: the Middle English Athelston and the Old French Roman de Silence. All these romances have important characters who are

Who reads Kynde innocence: Children in Old French and Middle English romance?

Author

Nicole Clifton

Publisher

Cornell University

Published

1993

Language

EN

Category

nonfiction