Twenty First Century Lydgate

Bale criticizes John Lydgate's poem for Queen Katherine, the widow of Henry V. Lydgate is a difficult poet for nonspecialist readers. He is difficult not because his poetry is complex but because good editions of his poetry are not widely available in modern editions, and the poetry itself is often rooted in the concerns of fifteenth-century politics, piety, and literary conventions. Furthermore, Lydgate's poetry imitates Geoffrey Chaucer's in a poetics of apprenticeship, subjection to hierarchy, flattery, and plagiarism that sits uneasily with modern ideas of creative genius and originality. Finally, Lydgate's poetry gives scant idea of "Lydgate the man" or "Lydgate the personality"; his individuality or subjectivity is buried in conventional poses of monk, political advisor, panegyrist, and laureate.