For the first time available in paperback, this classic anthology provides readers with important literary works composed during the Middle English period (1100-1500) in England, Scotland, and Ireland. The editors provide glosses for all unfamiliar words and obscure phrases and every selection refers to at least one definitive edition where details of recent scholarship can be found. Modern punctuation and capitalization are used throughout and variant spellings are kept to a minimum to avoid unnecessary confusion. The introduction discusses important literary and linguistic questions; the headnotes and bibliography offer extensive guidance to secondary sources; and the appendixes clarify pronunciation, verb use, and dialect variations.
The Twelfth Century
William the Conqueror (A Peterborough Chronicler) * The Anarchy of King Stephen (The Llast Peterborough Chronicler) * The Proverbs of Alfred * Poema Morale * The Brut (Lawman) * The Owl and the Nightingale: Holy Maidenhood
The Thirteenth Century
The Anchoreses'Rule * King Horn * The Bestiary * Judas * A Love Rune (Thomas of Hailes) * The Sayings of St. Bernard * The Fox and the Wolf * Dame Sirith * The land of Cokayne
The Early Fourteenth Century
Handling Sin (Robert Mannying) * Now Springs the Spray * The Five Joys of mary * Alysoun * Spring * April * Love in Paris * Sir Orfeo * Halidon Hill (Laurence Minot) * The Form of Living (Richard Rolle)
The Age of Chaucer
The Parliament of the Three Ages * Morte Arthure * The Burce (John Barbour) * Piers Plowman (william Langland) * The Pearl * Sir Gawain and the Green Knight * The Lover's Confession (John Gower) * The Wyclyfite Bible * A Defense of Translation (John Purvey[?]) * The Properties of Things (John de Trevisa) * Thomas of Erceldoun
The Fifteenth Century
The Tale of Beryn * The Regiment of Princes (Thomas Hoccleve) * The Siege of Thebes (John Lydgate) * Christ and His Mother * St. Stephen and Herod * Robyn and Gandeleyn * The Blacksmiths
The Scottish REnaissance
The Testament of Cresseid (Robert Henryson) * The Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins (William Dunbar) * On the Resurrection of Christ (William Dunbar) * The Golden Targe (William Dunbar)
Biography
Charles W. Dunn ; Edward T. Byrnes
