LILLIAN M. BISSON is Professor of English and Chair of the Literature and Languages Department at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia.
Preface PART I: THE POET AND HIS WORLD Double Vision: The Gothic Mind's Eye The Role of the Poet: Minstrel, Maker, or More? PART II: RELIGION The Church in Turmoil: The Hierarchy and Heresy The Quest for Perfection: The Regular Clergy The Road to Canterbury: Pilgrimage, Saints, and Popular Religion PART III: CLASS AND COMMERCE Aristocratic Ideals: Conflicting Chivalric Ideologies The Cry of the Poor: Unrest and Rebellion Among the Peasants All That Glitters: Trade, Industry, and the Money Economy PART IV: GENDER AND SEXUALITY The Face in the Mirror: What Manner Woman? Till Death Due Us Part: Love, Marriage, and Sexuality CONCLUSION A Zone of Freedom: Carnival as the Emblem of an Age Bibliography Index
