Intertextuality and authorship in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare and the Sonneteers.

Medieval authors were not impressed by originality the way we are nowadays. Since the value of a poem was proved by its author's skills, they focused on the art of writing. Or rewriting, which meant studying and performing profound changes in a previous text in order to emphasise 'social' factors, the personal intentions of the author (entertaining, edifying, advising) and their own sense of literary aesthetics. Sometimes intertextuality becomes original itself. It is astonishing how …

…or vocabulary. Intertextuality may appear to our modern minds as a heavy burden for a writer's personal development. Wyatt, Chaucer and Shakespeare's mastery in the subject demonstrates that intertextuality could become a valid starting point for a new author to develop his own private literary voice. WORK CITED Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. London: Penguin Books, 2003 Course Reading Pack. Literatura dels origens al segle XVIII. Curs 2003-2004, 2003. Shakespeare, William. Midsummer's Night Dream. London: Penguin Books, 1995