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
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Open Access
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Topics
rhetorical criticism discourse analysis voice and style literacy studies
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