SOURCE: Gopen, George D. “The Essential Seriousness of Robert Henryson's Moral Fables: A Study in Structure.” Studies in Philology LXXXII, no. 1 (winter 1985): 42-59.

In the following essay, Gopen suggests that the true gravity and cynicism of the Fables can only be appreciated through the structure of the poetry.

I. the Seriousness of the Moral Fables

The Moral Fables has long been underrated, even by its foremost proponents. Lord Hailes, in 1770, thought enough of several of the Moralitates to print them, but he left out the corresponding fables.¹ H. Harvey Wood, in his editions of Henryson's complete works (1933, 1958), called the Fables “the greatest, and the most original, of Henryson's works,” but still referred to it as a “translation,” rejoicing that “the moralising, which is admittedly dull, is confined to the postscript.”² Older criticism tended to confine its praise to the work's charming humor, detailed realism, level-headedness, and careful maintenance...