Readings in Medieval Texts: Interpreting Old and Middle English LiteratureDavid Frame Johnson, Elaine M. Treharne Readings in Medieval Texts offers a thorough and accessible introduction to the interpretation and criticism of a broad range of Old and Middle English canonical texts from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. The volume brings together 24 newly commissioned chapters by a leading international team of medieval scholars. An introductory chapter highlights the overarching trends in the composition of English Literature in the Medieval periods, and provides an overview of the textual continuities and innovations. Individual chapters give detailed information about context, authorship, date, and critical views on texts, before providing fascinating and thought-provoking examinations of crucial excerpts and themes. This book will be invaluable for undergraduate and graduate students on all courses in Medieval Studies, particularly those focusing on understanding literature and its role in society. |
Contents
Old English religious poetry | 15 |
a historicization | 30 |
the Old English riddles | 46 |
Cynewulfs Juliana | 59 |
Old English heroic literature 75 15 | 75 |
monuments memory history | 91 |
History and memory in the AngloSaxon Chronicle | 109 |
The persuasive power of Alfredian prose | 122 |
The Middle English Brut chronicles | 213 |
Earlier verse romance | 229 |
Religious writing by women | 257 |
The Gawainpoet | 273 |
Middle English prologues | 288 |
The Middle English lyrics | 306 |
Chaucers Book of the Duchess | 323 |
Malory and the Tale of Balin | 337 |
Common terms and phrases
adventure Alfred Alfred's anchoress Ancrene Wisse Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Anglo-Saxon England annal Arthur Arthurian audience Balin battle Beowulf Breton lays Brut Cambridge century Chaucer Christ Christian church context Corpus critical cultural Cyneheard Cynewulf D. S. Brewer death debate didactic literature dream vision edition elegies Elene English literature essay example Exeter Book French genre Green Knight heroic Heurodis honour judgement Juliana king language later Latin Lazamon lines literary living London lord Malory Malory's manuscript Margery Kempe medieval memory Middle English modern mother motherhood narrative offers Old English poetry Oxford paradox passage play poem's poet poetic poetry prologue prose readers reading religious rhetorical riddles role romance saints sapiential Scottish secular sense Sir Gawain Sir Orfeo social Solomon and Saturn soul sources spiritual story survive texts textual theme tradition translation University Press vernacular verse warrior Widsith wisdom women words writing þæt þat þis