Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-260) and index.
Contents
Introduction : lyrics and the issue of meaning -- Pausing in a narrative's march : the interpretation of lyrics within epics -- In ritual and wit : the hermeneutics of the invocational lyric -- Conversing with God : medieval religious lyric and its interpretation -- Confronting convention : reading reception in Shakespeare's use of lyric song -- Attribution and the imagined performer -- Personal meanings in the performance of one man's repertoire.