SOURCE: Mitchell, Jerome. “The Autobiographical Element in Hoccleve.” Modern Language Quarterly 28, no. 3 (1967): 269-84.

In the essay that follows, Mitchell attempts to distinguish convention from fact in the self-referential passages of Hoccleve's works. While Mitchell suggests that elements such as Hoccleve's extreme poverty and his bout with mental illness may be fictional or exaggerated, he contends that they are convincing and sincere. Also, Hoccleve's detail, loose organization, and conversational style suggest a greater degree of self-revelation than was typical in medieval English poetry.

Many scholars have felt that the autobiographical element is the most interesting feature of Thomas Hoccleve's poetry.¹ This paper re-examines Hoccleve's autobiographical passages in relation to the work of his contemporaries and immediate predecessors and suggests that they reveal a degree of individuality unparalleled in Middle English poetry.

Details presumably relating to the poet's life crop up in many of his works, the most important and...