Thomas Hoccleve, The Dialogue With A Friend

Raymond Cummings (Dominican College Fortwilliam, Belfast)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1420

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

The Dialogue with a Friend proceeds from the conclusion of Hoccleve’s Complaint. It establishes a scenario in which the writer of the Complaint has just completed this first poem of the Series when he is visited by one of his oldest and dearest friends (“my good friend / of fern agoon”). The character of the poet, who remains the narrative persona through the course of the Dialogue, reads the Complaint (“my conpleynte”) to the anonymous Friend. What immediately follows is a series of arguments through which the Friend attempts to dissuade the character of “Thomas” from revealing the Complaint to the community around them:

“[…]Hast thow …

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988 words

Citation: Cummings, Raymond. "The Dialogue With A Friend". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 April 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1067, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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