Charles Sears Baldwin’s Medieval Rhetoric and Poetic to 1400 is a scholarly study of the theory and teaching of rhetoric and poetics in the Middle Ages, down to the year 1400. Baldwin traces how the classical traditions of rhetoric were transmitted, adapted, and taught in the medieval schools and universities, shaping the way writing and speaking were understood.
The book examines the major texts and teachers, illuminating an important but often neglected aspect of medieval education and literary culture. Baldwin combines careful analysis with broad knowledge of the sources. For readers interested in the history of rhetoric, medieval education, and the development of literary theory, it offers a thorough and authoritative treatment of how the arts of language were taught and practiced.