Rhetorical Iconoclasm: The Heresy of Lollard Plain Style

Rhetoric Review Mar 2008

Rhetorical Iconoclasm: The Heresy of Lollard Plain Style

Rebecca Wilson Lundin Pennsylvania State University

Abstract

In this essay I analyze the plain style as conceived of and used by the Lollards, a late fourteenth-century religious group. I argue that the same practices that set Lollard reading and writing apart from orthodox discourse were foundational to the Lollards' departures from orthodox belief, theorizing language and style in such a way that meaning was free from priestly mediation. This demonstrates the importance of the Lollard plain style as both a marker of heresy and a precursor to subsequent notions of plainness.

Journal: Rhetoric Review
Published: 2008-03-25
DOI: 10.1080/07350190801921743
Open Access: Closed
Topics: voice and style

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Also cites 7 works outside this index ↓

Aston, Margaret. “Were the Lollards a Sect?”. 163–92. Biller and Dobson.

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Sacred Rhetoric: The Christian Grand Style in the English Renaissance

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