Chapter I: Before Dante

Characteristics of mediæval literature 372
Its attitude to criticism 373
Importance of prosody 373
The early formal Rhetorics—Bede 374
Isidore 375
Alcuin(?) 375
Another track of inquiry 377
St Augustine a Professor of Rhetoric 377
His attitude to literature before and after his conversion 378
Analysis of the _Confessions_ from this point of view 378
A conclusion from this to the general patristic view of 380
literature
Sidonius Apollinaris 383
His elaborate epithet-comparison 385
And minute criticisms of style and metre 386
A deliberate critique 388
Cassiodorus 389

Boethius 390
Critical attitude of the fifth century 391
The sixth—Fulgentius 392
The Fulgentii and their books 393
The _Super Thebaiden_ and _Expositio Virgiliana_ 394
Venantius Fortunatus 396
Isidore of Seville again 400
Bede again 402
His _Ars Metrica_ 403
The Central Middle Ages to be more rapidly passed over 405
Provençal and Latin treatises 407
The _De Dictamine Rhythmico_ 407
John of Garlandia 408
The _Labyrinthus_ 408
Critical review of poets contained in it 409
Minor rhythmical treatises 411
Geoffrey de Vinsauf: his _Nova Poetria_ 412