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Old and Middle English literature can be obscure and challenging. So, too, can the vast body of criticism it has elicited. Yet the masters of medieval literature often drew on similar texts, since imitation was admired. For this reason, recent scholarship has often focused on the importance of genre. The genre in which a work was written can illuminate the author's intentions and the text's meaning. Read in light of a genre's parameters, a given work can be considered in relation to other works within the same category. This reference is a comprehensive overview of Old and Middle English literature.
Chapters focus on particular genres, such as Allegorical Verse, Balladry, Beast Fable, Chronicle, Debate Poetry, Epic and Heroic, Lyric, Middle English Parody/Burlesque, Religious and Allegorical Verse, and Romance. Expert contributors define the primary characteristics of each genre and discuss relevant literary works. Chapters provide extensive reviews of scholarship and close with detailed bibliographies. A more thorough bibliography of major scholarly studies closes the book.
List of contents
Introduction
Old English and Anglo-Norman Literature
Religious and Allegorical Verse
Alliterative Poetry in Old and Middle English
Balladry
The Beast Fable
Breton Lai
Chronicle
Debate Poetry
Medieval English Drama
Dream Vision
Epic and Heroic
The Epic Genre and Medieval Epics
The Fabliau
Hagiographic, Homiletic, and Didactic Literature
Lyric
The Middle English Parody/Burlesque
Riddles
Romance
Visions of the Afterlife
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
LAURA COONER LAMBDIN teaches Professional Communications in the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business. She and her husband have published 4 other books together:
Chaucer's Pilgrims (1996),
A Companion to Jane Austen Studies (2000),
Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature (2000), and
Camelot in the Nineteenth Century (2000).
ROBERT THOMAS LAMBDIN is Associate Professor in the Transition Year Program at the University of South Carolina. He has authored or edited many publications on Old and Middle English literature.
