Deadly Words, Captive Imaginations: Women and Poetic Creation in Jean Froissart's Prison Amoureuse

[...] the female figures of the Prison are relegated to its margins: the two unnamed ladies whom Ros and Rose love make brief appearances, and a smattering of the book's allegorical and mythological figures are female, but the Prison's main concern would appear to be the male characters and their collaborative literary project. Both Flos's and Rose's ladies compose poetry, and both have the potential to contribute to the success of the men's literary project by adopting the roles of reader and critic.1 However, when these women misread, refuse to read, or adopt independent voices mat run counter to the male poet's, they pose a distinct threat.