One Hundred Middle English Lyrics

Stevick's classic work remains the only text of its kind aimed at fostering the linguistic competence necessary to understand its poems in Middle English. The wide range of lyric poems in the book are normalized to a Chaucerian dialect. The introduction has been revised to take into account the scholarship and criticism published since the first edition appeared in 1964. It gives the background for the poetry, explains how and why the texts are normalized, and reviews significant critical scholarly studies of the works. Included is a section on morphology and grammar that introduces students to the language of the lyrics, and a section on the evolving meter of Middle English. "A fine piece of work. . . . Learned, wide-ranging, and judicious." -- John B. Friedman, author of The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought "An impressive collection. Stevick's decision to normalize the texts makes it highly accessible." -- Ralph Hanna III, University of California, Riverside

This collection presents fresh evidence and new perspectives on the diverse ways in which women created and interacted with cultures of song between c. 600 and c. 1500.

This rich and lively anthology offers a broad selection of Middle English poetry from about 1200 to 1500 C.E., including more than 150 secular and religious lyrics and nine complete or extracted longer works, all translated into Modern English verse that closely resembles the original forms. Five complete satires and narratives illustrate important conventions of the period: Athelston, a historical romance; The Cock and the Fox, a beast fable by Robert Henryson; Sir Orfeo, a Breton lai; Saint Erkenwald, an alliterative saint's life; and The Land of Cockayne, a fantasy. The book concludes with substantial excerpts from longer narratives such as Piers Plowman and Confessio Amantis. The poems are accompanied by introductions, notes, marginal glosses, source notes, and appendixes, including a bibliography and a list to help readers locate the lyrics in current original-language editions.

In this companion to his previous book, The Bible in Early English Literature, David Fowler completes his stimulating and broad-ranging study of medieval English literature in the light of biblical tradition. As in the first volume, he both provides a broad general view of literary trends and closely examines representative works that illustrate these trends. The author begins by discussing medieval drama in England--with special attention to the Cornish drama-- as revealed in the cycle plays that enacted the entire history of the world from Creation to Doomsday. He demonstrates how the drama grew out of the liturgy of the Church and developed into a parallel fashion with other kinds of vernacular literature in the later Middle Ages, and he offers a possible explanation of the origin of the morality play in England. This is followed by an examination of representative shorter medieval lyrics. Fowler shows that many of these lyrics were composed to memorialize particular "secular' and "religious" elements blended subtly and distinctively in Middle English lyrics, often with a complete harmony of sacred and sexual significance. A special section deals with Mary Magdalene in popular tradition, comparing her description in the Bible with her treatment in legend, drama, lyric poetry, and the ballad. The final three chapters focus on particular literary works which the author believes to be outstanding examples of poems composed in the biblical tradition. "The Parliament of Fowls" is selected as the best example of biblical influence in all of Chaucer. The work is seen as a Creation poem with its organizing principles derives from commentaries on the first chapter of Genesis--a new theory of the poem's structure which the author feels resolves many of the difficulties previously encountered by scholars. Fowler than treats several works of the "Pearl" poet--"Cleanness," "Patience," "Saint Erkenwald," and the "Pearl"--in their particular blend of humor, seriousness, and Christian serenity. In stark contrast, "Piers the Plowman," the final work dealt with, reflects the agony of the turmoil of late fourteenth-century England. The emphasis is on the historical significance of the poem: the importance of the A text as an ideological influence on the leadership of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, and the exschatological implications of the later versions (B and C texts). "It is my hope," the author states, "that future studies of 'Piers' will increasingly take history into account and likewise study the versions of the poem separately. Until we learn to walk from this text out into history, we run the risk of missing the important message that this profound and troubling poem offers to twentieth-century man." This book will be of value both to scholars and students of medieval literature and religion and to general readers interested in the varied and intriguing ways that the Bible has influence vernacular literature.

From Tottel's Miscellany (1557) to the last twentieth-century Oxford Book of English Verse (1999), anthologies have been a prime institution for the preservation and mediation of poetry. The importance of anthologies for creating and re-creating the canon of English poetry, for introducing ‘new' programmes of poetry, as a record of changing poetic fashions, audience tastes and reading practices, or as a profitable literary commodity has often been asserted. Despite its impact, however, the poetry anthology in itself has attracted surprisingly little critical interest in Britain or elsewhere in the English-speaking world. This volume is the first publication to explore the largely unmapped field of poetry anthologies in Britain. Essays written from a wide range of perspectives in literary and cultural studies, and the point of view of poets, editors, publishers and cultural institutions, aim to do justice to the typological, functional and historical variety with which this form of publication has manifested itself - from early modern print culture to the postmodern age of the world wide web.

What was the medieval English lyric? Moving beyond the received understanding of the genre, The Voices of Medieval English Lyric explores, through analysis, discussion, and demonstration, what the term "lyric" most meaningfully implies in a Middle English context. A critical edition of 131 poems that illustrate the range and rich variety of lyric poetry from the mid-twelfth century to the early sixteenth century, The Voices of Medieval English Lyric presents its texts - freshly edited from the manuscripts - in thirteen sections emphasizing contrasting and complementary voices and genres. As well as a selection of religious poetry, the collection includes a high proportion of secular lyrics, many on love and sexuality, both earnest and humorous. In general, major authors who have been covered thoroughly elsewhere are excluded from the edited texts, but some, especially Chaucer, are quoted or mentioned as illuminating comparisons. Charles d'Orléans and the Scots poets Robert Henryson and William Dunbar add an extra-national dimension to a single-language collection. Textual and thematic notes are provided, as well as versions of the poems in Latin or French when these exist. Adopting new perspectives, The Voices of Medieval English Lyric offers an up-to-date, accessible, and distinctive take on Middle English poetry.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.

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.