Preaching the Converted: The Style and Rhetoric of the Vercelli Book Homilies

Description

The Vercelli Book is one of the oldest surviving collections of Old English homilies and poems, compiled in England in the tenth century. 'Preaching the Converted' provides a sustained literary analysis of the book's prose homilies and demonstrates that they employ rhetorical techniques commonly associated with vernacular verse. The study argues that the dazzling textual complexity of these homilies rivals the most accomplished examples of Old English poetry. Highlighting the use of word play, verbal and structural repetition, elaborate catalogues, and figurative language, Samantha Zacher's study of the Vercelli Book fills a gap in the history of English preaching by foregrounding the significance of these prose homilies as an intermediary form. Also analyzing the Latin and vernacular sources behind the Vercelli texts to reveal the theological and formal interests informing the collection as a whole, 'Preaching the Converted' is a rigorous examination of Old English homiletic rhetoric and poetics. Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xiii List of Manuscripts Cited According to Scragg’s Sigla xv List of Tables xvii Preface xix 1. Locating the Vercelli Homilies: Their Place in the Book, and the Book in Its Place 3 2. Reinventing the Past: Originality and the Vercelli Homilies 30 3. Seeing Double: The Repetition of Themes and Text in the Vercelli Book 63 4. 'Where Are They Now?': The Sources and Techniques of Adaptation and Compilation in the Vercelli Book 106 5. The 'Body and Soul' of the Vercelli Book: The Heart of the Corpus 140 6. 'For the Sake of Beauty and Utility': The Place of Figurative Language in the Vercelli Homilies 179 7. At a Crossroads: Generic Ambiguity in the Guthlac Narrative of the Vercelli Book 225 8. Conclusion: Rhetorical Models and Modes of Style 269