:Cyclic Form and the English Mystery Plays: A Comparative Study of the English Biblical Cycles and Their Continental and Iconographic Counterparts

Abstract

Cyclic Form and the English Mystery Plays is centred upon the five extant English mystery cycles with a view to examining the cyclic form they share. It is based upon consideration of the differences between the texts and upon the underlying assumptions governing this dramatic form. The cycles are extensively compared with practices in the cyclic dramas of France, the German-speaking areas, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain in the late middle ages and the early modern period. There is also a unique and innovative bridging with iconographical material from a range of artistic modes giving further insight into the structure and organisation of cyclic form. Cyclic Form and the English Mystery Plays should be of interest to undergraduate students and to more experienced researchers in the early drama and the study of visual images and artefacts. Contents: 1. Cyclic Form (I) 2. Cycles and Iconography 3. Continental Analogues: A Review of Allied Forms – France and Germany 4. Continental Analogues: A Review of Allied Forms – Italy. The Netherlands and Spain 5. English Practice 6. Cyclic Form (II)