The paperback edition, in four volumes, of this standard work will make it readily available to students.
The scope of the work makes it valuable as a work of reference, connecting one period with another and placing each author clearly in the setting of his time.
Reviewing the first edition, The Times Literary Supplement commented: 'in inclusiveness and in judgment it has few rivals of its kind'.
This first volume covers The Middle Ages (to 1500) in two sections: The Old English Period (to 1100) by Kemp Malone (John Hopkins University), and The Middle English Period (1100-1500) by Albert C. Baugh (University of Pennsylvania).
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Preface to the First EditionNote to Second Edition PART I. THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD (TO 1100) I. Folk, State, and Speech II. Anglo-Latin Writings III. The Old Tradition: Poetic Form IV. The Old Tradition: Popular Poetry V. The Old Tradition: Courtly Poetry VI. Religious Poetry: Cædmon and His School VII. Religious Poetry: Cynewulf and His School VIII. Religious Poetry: Poems on Various Themes IX. Secular Poetry X. Literary Prose PART II. THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD (1100-1500) I. General Characteristics of the Period II. The Survival of the Native Tradition (1100-1250) III. The Ancrene Riwle IV. Anglo-Norman Literature V. Early Latin Writers VI. Wit and Wisdom VII. For Their Soul's Need VIII. The Arthurian Legend to Layamon IX. The Romance: I X. The Romance: II XI. The Omnibus of Religion XII. The Lyric XIII. Richard Rolle and Other Mystics XIV. The Alliterative Revival XV. Piers Plowman and Other Alliterative Poems XVI. Chaucer: I XVII. Chaucer: II XVIII. Other Contemporaries of Chaucer XIX. The Beginnings of the Drama XX. Ebb Tide XXI. Looking Forward
