It is the only anthology which includes all thirty-one English lyrics from MS Harley 2253, all the verses by Friar Herebert printed in Brown XIV, and all the important poems given in Robbins' Secular Lyrics. In all there are 245 lyrics, arranged thematically. To make these delightful poems accessible to the modern reader, the editors have removed many of the orthographic impediments inherent in Middle English verse and have modernized punctuation,...
I first picked up this book nearly twenty years ago, and it has remained a favourite of mine. Middle English poetry is relatively hard to come by, particularly in the 'original' version. Of course, this is a slightly modified original (modern typeface, a few spelling conventions that warrant attention), but for the most part, this is the lyric poetry as it was originally written. There are a few photographs of original...
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I am not a scholar, but here's my 2¢: It's difficult to find collections of Medieval English poetry; the most one can usually hope to find is a bit of Chaucer mixed with Renaissance poetry.This collection provides a welcome relief with 245 poems separated into several categories: Religious, worldly, love, Christmas, bawdy, and more. My personal favorite is a 15th poem which deals with racism. There are several essays,...
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