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.

MEDIEVAL POETRYIn 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 xNotes on Contributors xiAcknowledgements xviIntroduction 1Corinne SaundersPart I Old English Poetry 11Contexts 131 The World of Anglo-Saxon England 15Andy Orchard2 The Old English Language and the Alliterative Tradition 34Richard Dance3 Old English Manuscripts and Readers 51Rohini Jayatilaka4 Old English and Latin Poetic Traditions 65Andy OrchardGenres and Modes 835 Germanic Legend and Old English Heroic Poetry 85Hugh Magennis6 Old English Biblical and Devotional Poetry 101Daniel Anlezark7 Old English Wisdom Poetry 125David Ashurst8 Old English Epic Poetry: Beowulf141Daniel AnlezarkPart II Middle English Poetry 161Contexts 1639 The World of Medieval England: From the Norman Conquest to the Fourteenth Century 165Conor McCarthy10 Middle English Language and Poetry 181Simon Horobin11 Middle English Manuscripts and Readers 196Ralph HannaGenres and Modes 21712 Legendary History and Chronicle: Lazamon's Brut and the Chronicle Tradition 219Lucy Perry13 Medieval Debate-Poetry and The Owl and the Nightingale 237Neil Cartlidge14 Lyrics, Sacred and Secular 258David Fuller15 Macaronic Poetry 277Elizabeth Archibald16 Popular Romance 289Nancy Mason Bradbury17 Arthurian and Courtly Romance 308Rosalind Field18 Alliterative Poetry: Religion and Morality 329John Scattergood19 Alliterative Poetry and Politics 349John ScattergoodPoets and Poems 36720 The Poet of Pearl, Cleanness and Patience 369A. V. C. Schmidt21 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 385Tony Davenport22 Langland's Piers Plowman 401Lawrence Warner23 Chaucer's Love Visions 414Helen Phillips24 Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde 435Alcuin Blamires25 Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales 452Corinne Saunders26 The Poetry of John Gower 476R. F. YeagerPart III Post-Chaucerian and Fifteenth-Century Poetry 497Contexts 49927 England in the Long Fifteenth Century 501Matthew Woodcock28 Poetic Language in the Fifteenth Century 520A. S. G. Edwards29 Manuscript and Print: Books, Readers and Writers 538Julia BoffeyPoets and Poems 55530 Hoccleve and Lydgate 557Daniel Wakelin31 Women and Writing 575C. Annette Grisé32 Medieval Scottish Poetry 592Douglas Gray33 Courtiers and Courtly Poetry 608Barry Windeatt34 Drama: Sacred and Secular 626Pamela KingEpilogue: Afterlives of Medieval English Poetry 647Corinne SaundersIndex 661