Reading Middle English Literature

Reading Middle English Literature is a study of English literature written in the four centuries following the Norman Conquest. Written by the well–known medievalist Thorlac Turville–Petre, it demonstrates that Middle English literature is much more accessible than is often supposed and provides the guidance that modern readers need to come to an informed appreciation of the writings of medieval England. The book focuses on the representative selection of texts in A Book of Middle English (Third Edition, Blackwell, 2005), ensuring that readers have easy access to the primary material under discussion. It offers new and detailed readings of these texts in light of attitudes to the language, the means of book–production, the society for which the texts were written, concepts of history and romance, the religious practices of the age, and ideals of love and marriage.

List of Plates. Preface. Abbreviations. Introduction. 1. The Use of English. Three Languages. The Choice of English. Social Register. 2. Texts and Manuscripts. Information from Manuscripts. Scribes and their Manuscripts. Audiences. Authors. 3. Literature and Society. Bond and Free. Social Tensions in the Reeve′s Tale. Ploughing Piers′ Half Acre. At the Court of King Arthur. In Criseyde′s Palace. 4. History and Romance. Definitions. Monastic History. The History of St Erkenwald. Englishing Arthur. The Fairy World. 5. Piety. From Pecham to Arundel. Christ the Lover and God the Unknowable. Retelling Biblical Stories. The Death of a Child. 6. Love and Marriage. Marriage and Love – and Sex. A Lover′s Confession. Love′s Craft. ′All this Mean I by Love′. Bibliography. Index.

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).