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A Companion to Medieval Poetry
Corinne Saunders (Edited by)
9781405159630, Wiley
Hardback, published 19 March 2010
704 pages
25.5 x 18.3 x 4.5 cm, 1.379 kg
“It is impossible within the confines of a review article to do justice to every – or, indeed, to any – chapter in this well-thought-out book. As a ‘companion’, it is to be revisited with enjoyment for its many new insights on familiar and well-loved material and its confident handling of new approaches to the study of medieval English poetry.” (Parergon, 2012) "This is, however, a minor quibble; the essays in this book provide very useful introductions to the subjects they cover, and seem well placed to become standard basic reference works on medieval English poetry". (Medium Aevum, 2011) "This Blackwell Companion to Medieval Poetry is a very fine resource for students and teachers alike. It is particularly commendable for its wide scope, ranging from the earliest Old English texts to the poetry of late-medieval England (post-Chaucerian), as well as for its clear attention both to wider context, and to genre, modes and authors, and occasionally to individual texts, such as Chaucer's love visions, Troilus, or The Canterbury Tales (each of which receives its own chapter)." (Routledge ABES, 2011)
MEDIEVAL POETRY In a series of original essays from leading literary scholars, this Companion offers a chronological sweep of medieval poetry from Old English to the great genres of romance, narrative, and alliterative poetry of the 15th century. Beginning in the Anglo-Saxon period, the volume explores the Old English language and its alliterative tradition, before moving on to examine the genres of heroic, devotional, wisdom and epic poetry, culminating in a discussion of arguably the founding text of the English literary canon, the great epic Beowulf. In part two, the Companion moves on to discuss the linguistic and social changes brought about as a result of the Norman Conquest, exploring how this influenced the development of literary genres. Essays probe the shifts and continuities in genres such as lyric, chronicle and dream vision, and the emergence of new genres such as popular and courtly romance, and drama. A particular focus is the continuation of the alliterative tradition from the Anglo-Saxon period to the fifteenth century. A series of chapters on major authors, including Chaucer, Gower, and Langland, provide fresh approaches to reading and studying key texts, such as The Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Finally, the collection examines cultural change at the close of the medieval period and the variety of literature produced in the ‘long fifteenth century’, including writing by and for women, Scots poetry, clerical and courtly works, and secular and sacred drama.
List of Figures x Notes on Contributors xi Acknowledgements xvi Introduction 1 Part I Old English Poetry 11 Contexts 13 1 The World of Anglo-Saxon England 15 2 The Old English Language and the Alliterative Tradition 34 3 Old English Manuscripts and Readers 51 4 Old English and Latin Poetic Traditions 65 Genres and Modes 83 5 Germanic Legend and Old English Heroic Poetry 85 6 Old English Biblical and Devotional Poetry 101 7 Old English Wisdom Poetry 125 8 Old English Epic Poetry: Beowulf141 Part II Middle English Poetry 161 Contexts 163 9 The World of Medieval England: From the Norman Conquest to the Fourteenth Century 165 10 Middle English Language and Poetry 181 11 Middle English Manuscripts and Readers 196 Genres and Modes 217 12 Legendary History and Chronicle: Lazamon’s Brut and the Chronicle Tradition 219 13 Medieval Debate-Poetry and The Owl and the Nightingale 237 14 Lyrics, Sacred and Secular 258 15 Macaronic Poetry 277 16 Popular Romance 289 17 Arthurian and Courtly Romance 308 18 Alliterative Poetry: Religion and Morality 329 19 Alliterative Poetry and Politics 349 Poets and Poems 367 20 The Poet of Pearl, Cleanness and Patience 369 21 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 385 22 Langland’s Piers Plowman 401 23 Chaucer’s Love Visions 414 24 Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde 435 25 Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales 452 26 The Poetry of John Gower 476 Part III Post-Chaucerian and Fifteenth-Century Poetry 497 Contexts 499 27 England in the Long Fifteenth Century 501 28 Poetic Language in the Fifteenth Century 520 29 Manuscript and Print: Books, Readers and Writers 538 Poets and Poems 555 30 Hoccleve and Lydgate 557 31 Women and Writing 575 32 Medieval Scottish Poetry 592 33 Courtiers and Courtly Poetry 608 34 Drama: Sacred and Secular 626 Epilogue: Afterlives of Medieval English Poetry 647 Index 661
Corinne Saunders
Andy Orchard
Richard Dance
Rohini Jayatilaka
Andy Orchard
Hugh Magennis
Daniel Anlezark
David Ashurst
Daniel Anlezark
Conor McCarthy
Simon Horobin
Ralph Hanna
Lucy Perry
Neil Cartlidge
David Fuller
Elizabeth Archibald
Nancy Mason Bradbury
Rosalind Field
John Scattergood
John Scattergood
A. V. C. Schmidt
Tony Davenport
Lawrence Warner
Helen Phillips
Alcuin Blamires
Corinne Saunders
R. F. Yeager
Matthew Woodcock
A. S. G. Edwards
Julia Boffey
Daniel Wakelin
C. Annette Grisé
Douglas Gray
Barry Windeatt
Pamela King
Corinne Saunders
Subject Areas: Literature: history & criticism [DS]
