Reading Middle English Literature

by Turville-Petre, Thorlac

• ISBN13: 9780631231714
• ISBN10: 0631231714
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-25
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This introduction provides the guidance that modern readers need to come to an informed appreciation of the writings of medieval England. An introduction to English literature written in the four centuries following the Norman Conquest. Written by the well-known medievalist, Thorlac Turville-Petre. Demonstrates that Middle English literature is more accessible than is often supposed. Provides readers with the guidance they need to come to an informed appreciation of the writings of medieval England. Designed to be used alongside A Book of Middle English, (Third Edition, Blackwell Publishing, 2005).

Author Biography

Thorlac Turville-Petre is Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Nottingham. His previous publications include England the Nation (1996) and (with J. A. Burrow) A Book of Middle English (Third Edition, Blackwell, 2005).

Table of Contents

List of Plates	vii
Preface	viii
Abbreviations	ix
Introduction	1	(4)
1 The Use of English	5	(30)
Three Languages	5	(8)
The Choice of English	13	(12)
Social Register	25	(10)
2 Texts and Manuscripts	35	(24)
Information from Manuscripts	35	(2)
Scribes and their Manuscripts	37	(6)
Audiences	43	(6)
Authors	49	(10)
3 Literature and Society	59	(36)
Bond and Free	59	(4)
Social Tensions in the Reeve's Tale	63	(5)
Ploughing Piers' Half Acre	68	(11)
At the Court of King Arthur	79	(8)
In Criseyde's Palace	87	(8)
4 History and Romance	95	(28)
Definitions	95	(2)
Monastic History	97	(6)
The History of St Erkenwald	103	(5)
Englishing Arthur	108	(5)
The Fairy World	113	(10)
5 Piety	123	(37)
From Pecham to Arundel	123	(4)
Christ the Lover and God the Unknowable	127	(11)
Retelling Biblical Stories	138	(14)
The Death of a Child	152	(8)
6 Love and Marriage	160	(35)
Marriage and Love — and Sex	160	(8)
A Lover's Confession	168	(9)
Love's Craft	177	(9)
'All this Mean I by Love'	186	(9)
Bibliography	195	(10)
Index	205