SOURCE: Burrow, J. A. “Autobiographical Poetry in the Middle Ages: The Case of Thomas Hoccleve.” Proceedings of the British Academy 68 (1982): 389-412.

In this essay, Burrow responds to critics who interpret Hoccleve's persona as mere convention with no basis in reality, and suggests that ignoring the autobiographical aspects of Hoccleve's poetry denies the reader a useful basis for understanding his works.

Thomas Hoccleve earned his living as a clerk in the office of the Privy Seal, but he also employed his pen in the copying of poetry, his own included. Three autograph copies of his work survive, in fact; and one of these (now Huntington MS HM 744) formerly belonged to Sir Israel Gollancz, the scholar commemorated in this series of lectures. Gollancz edited poems from this manuscript as part of the edition of Hoccleve's works published by the Early English Text Society.¹ I therefore imagine that he would have...