Other Wyse Then Must We Do: Parody and Popular Narrative in The Squyr of Lowe Degre

Abstract

OTHER WYSE T H E N MUST W E DO : P A R O D Y A N D P O P U L A R N A R R A T I V E IN THE SQUYR OF LOWE DEGRE Glenn Wright I d e n t i f y i n g h u m o r , and especially generic parody, i n medieval literary texts is a dicey p r o p o s i t i o n ; one critic's m u r t h e is another's doctryne. A case i n p o i n t is the late M i d d l e English romance, The Squyr of Lowe Degre: [T]here is no ground for regarding [The Squyr of Lowe Degre] as a burlesque. N o line can be pointed out that even hints at such an in­ tention. H u m o r is conspicuously lacking throughout the piece. [T]here is scarcely a line in Undo Your Door [i.e., Tlye Squyr of Lowe Degre] that does not demonstrate the humorous intentions of its poet. Yet w h i l e the authors q u o t e d above c o u l d n o t be farther apart i n their conclusions, they are i n perfect agreement o n the p r i n c i p l e that p a r o d y is a f u n c t i o n o f a u t h o r i a l i n t e n t i o n . A s A . S. G . Edwards (by way o f refuting the parodie i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f The Squyr of Lowe De­ gre) puts i t , [ n ] o t i o n s o f burlesque and p a r o d y rest o n a secure sense o f the text and o f the f i r m relationship between a u t h o r i a l design and audience. I n the absence o f such a secure sense, claims o f p a r o d y are subjective and hence w r o n g . T h e a x i o m is n o t a logical i n e v i t a b i l i t y , t h o u g h , b u t s i m p l y an assertion that where parodie i n t e r p r e t a t i o n is concerned, discretion is the better part o f valor. T h e intentions o f a William Mead, ed., The Squyr of Low Degre : A Middle English Metrical Romance (Boston: G i n n , 1904), xxvii. Kevin S. Kiernan, Undo Your Door and the Order of Chivalry, Studies in Philology A . S. G . Edwards, Middle English Romance: The Limits of Editing, the Limits of Criticism, in Medieval Literature, Texts and Interpretation, ed. T i m W. Machan, Me­ dieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 79 (Binghamton, N Y : Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1991), 103. Comitatus 27 (1996): 14-41

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