Medieval Grammar and Rhetoric: Language Arts and Literary Theory, Ad 300 -1475

Medieval Grammar and Rhetoric: Language Arts and Literary Theory, AD 300-1475 contributes to two fields, the history of the language arts and the history of literary theory. It brings together essential sources in the disciplines of grammar and rhetoric which were used to understand literary form and language and teach literary composition. Grammar and rhetoric, the language disciplines, formed the basis of any education from antiquity through the Middle Ages, no matter what future career a student would want to pursue. Because literature was also the subject matter of grammatical teaching, and because rhetorical teaching gave great attention to literary form, these were also the disciplines that would prepare students for an understanding of literary language and form. These arts constituted the abiding theoretical toolbox for anyone engaged in a life of letters.

The book brings together more than fifty primary texts from the medieval history of grammar and rhetoric, well over half of them never translated into English before. The volume establishes the ancient traditions on which the medieval arts are based, and gives substantial selections from the late antique source texts. All texts are presented in their historical and theoretical contexts, and carefully annotated in order to make them useful to readers, both specialists and non-specialists. For the first time, the long traditions of grammar and rhetoric are presented together in one historical survey, showing how they related to each other, and are placed in a coherent conceptual structure, their contributions to literary theory.

Rita Copeland is Professor of Classical Studies and English, and Chair of Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. Her field is medieval studies, and she has written extensively on the histories of rhetoric, literary theory, translation, allegory, pedagogy, and intellectuals.

Ineke Sluiter is Professor of Greek at Leiden University. Her field is ancient and medieval ideas on language and their socio-cultural contexts. She has published extensively on ancient grammar, rhetoric, philosophy of language, pedagogy and theories of interpretation.