- 1
Why might the poem spend so much time describing the clothing of the various knights?
The poem is intimately interested in the ways in which men (women too, but more specifically fighting men) protect themselves with armor or ornament themselves with finery. As will be revealed as the poem progresses, these protections and ornaments will eventually be treated by the poem as arbitrary, constructions of man that attempt to counteract his weakness but instead betray man's weakness.
- 2
Why does the poem open with a lengthy description of various wars throughout the history of Western civilization?
The author of the poem, as was typical in Middle English...
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