A Companion to Old and Middle English LiteratureLaura Lambdin, Robert Thomas Lambdin Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2002 M06 30 - 448 pages Old and Middle English literature can be obscure and challenging. So, too, can the vast body of criticism it has elicited. Yet the masters of medieval literature often drew on similar texts, since imitation was admired. For this reason, recent scholarship has often focused on the importance of genre. The genre in which a work was written can illuminate the author's intentions and the text's meaning. Read in light of a genre's parameters, a given work can be considered in relation to other works within the same category. This reference is a comprehensive overview of Old and Middle English literature. Chapters focus on particular genres, such as Allegorical Verse, Balladry, Beast Fable, Chronicle, Debate Poetry, Epic and Heroic, Lyric, Middle English Parody/Burlesque, Religious and Allegorical Verse, and Romance. Expert contributors define the primary characteristics of each genre and discuss relevant literary works. Chapters provide extensive reviews of scholarship and close with detailed bibliographies. A more thorough bibliography of major scholarly studies closes the book. |
Contents
1 | |
2 Religious and Allegorical Verse | 26 |
3 Alliterative Poetry in Old and Middle English | 37 |
4 Balladry | 50 |
5 The Beast Fable | 69 |
6 Breton Lay | 86 |
7 Chronicle | 98 |
8 Debate Poetry | 118 |
13 The Fabliau | 255 |
14 Hagiographic Homiletic and Didactic Literature | 277 |
15 Lyric Poetry | 299 |
16 The Middle English Parody Burlesque | 315 |
17 Riddles | 336 |
18 Romance | 352 |
19 Visions of the Afterlife | 376 |
Selected Bibliography | 399 |
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A Companion to Old and Middle English Literature Laura Lambdin,Robert Thomas Lambdin No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
Ælfric allegory alliteration alliterative poetry alliterative verse Anglo-Saxon Arthur Arthurian audience ballads battle Beowulf bestiary Breton lay Brut Canterbury Tales century Chaucer Review Chauntecleer Christ Christian Chronicle courtly critical culture Cynewulf D.S. Brewer Dame death debate dream vision Early English edition Encyclopedia of Medieval English Romance English Studies epic example Exeter Book fabliau French Friar genre Greenwood Press hell hero heroic homilies Jesus John king knight Lambdin and Laura language Latin Laura Cooner Lambdin Legend literary London manuscript Mary Medieval English Medieval Literature Middle Ages Middle English Middle English Literature Middle English lyric Miller's Tale moral narrative narrator nightingale Oxford University Press parody Pearl Piers Plowman plays poem poet poetic popular prologue prose purgatory religious riddler Robert Thomas Lambdin saints scholars Sir Gawain Sir Orfeo Sir Thopas song soul story Studies tradition trans translation Westport wife Writings in Middle York þat