Robert Henryson Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Denton Fox

Critical Essay by Denton Fox

SOURCE: Fox, Denton. “Henryson's ‘Sum Practysis of Medecyne.’” In Studies in Philology LXIX, no. 4 (October 1972): 453-60.

In the essay that follows, Fox examines the context and structure of Henryson's lesser-known “Sum Practysis of Medecyne.”

On folios 141^v-2^v of the Bannatyne MS, which was completed in 1568, there exists a curious and cryptic poem which carries the title, Sum practysis of medecyne, and the colophon, “quod Maister robert Henrysone.”¹ I would like to make here some suggestions about the tradition behind this poem, and about the poem's structure: it seems to me, on the one hand, that the disreputable genre Henryson was working in has some pedigree; and, on the other hand, that although the poem is certainly filled with puzzles, its overall structure is clearer than has been recognized.

The poem has been described as “a parody of the prescriptions of contemporary apothecaries,”² which is accurate enough as...
(read more)