Strategies of Poetic Narrative: Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, Eliot

Itisremarkablethatsometheoreticaldevelopmentsinnarratologyhavebypassedpoeticnarratives,concentratingalmostexclusivelyonprosefiction.ClareKinney'soriginalstudyaimstoredressthebalancebyexploringthedistinctivenarrativestrategiesoffictionswhichunfoldintheartificialandself-consciousschemesoflanguageboundbypoeticform.Kinney'sclosereadingsofthreesophisticatedpoeticnarratives,Chaucer'sTroilusandCriseyde,BookVIofSpenser'sTheFaerieQueene,andMilton'sParadiseLost,suggestthatthesediverseworksareunitedbyacommontendencytoexploitthealternativepatternsoflyricinordertodeferundesirableconclusionsandoffersubversivecounterplots.Finally,anexplorationofEliot'sTheWasteLandaspoetic'anti-narrative'leadsintoaconsiderationofthewaysinwhichpoeticfictionsemploytheirvarious,inherentlydoubledesigns-inparticulartheirabilitytoinvoketheresourcesoflyric-topre-emptunhappyendingsbytellingatleasttwostoriesatthesametime.