Dreaming of (Self-)Annihilation: Gendered Temporalities in Gavin Douglas’sPalyce of Honour

Abstract

By careful manipulation of narrative tenses, Mark E. Amsler has argued, Douglas’s Palyce of Honour presents a retrospective narrative of becoming a poet, a narrative that juxtaposes two voices in the poem: that of a dreaming, incompetent former self in pursuit of poetic Honour, and that of a fully competent, narrating one. Taking Amsler’s observation further, I show that the two voices, the earlier and the later one, are in almost irresolvable conflict, correlated as they are with gendered temporalities: that of Honour, male and martial in outlook, and that of Venus, amorous and female. The poet-dreamer experiences both temporalities as frightening, as both pose the threat of (self-) annihilation. I argue that this contest of temporalities is part of Douglas’s complex allegorical response to Chaucer’s model of literary renovation as presented in the The House of Fame. Chaucer’s is a model based on the textual challenges the Troy story poses to the poet in attempting his own ‘faithful’ retelling of the material. Misogynist though Douglas’s commentary on Chaucer’s use of the Troy story is, he offers modern readers a historical perspective on female voices that are capable of defending tradition against ‘false’ renewal.