John Lydgate and the Poetics of Fame

An examination of the subject of "fame" in Lydgate, showing it as central to his work. John Lydgate is arguably the most significant poet of fifteenth-century England, yet his position as Chaucer's literary successor and his role as a Lancastrian poet have come to overshadow his contributions to English literature.Here, "fame" is identified as the key to Lydgate's authorial self-fashioning in Chaucer's wake. The author begins by situating Lydgatean fame within the literary, cultural and politica