J. A. Burrow

Thorlac Turville-Petre

This revised edition takes account of suggestions and comments from reviewers and from those who have used the first edition all over the world. The main features of the second edition are the inclusion of etymologies in the glossary and the edition of three complete texts by Chaucer: The Parliament of Fowls, The Reeve's Tale and The Prioress's Tale. Part One has been revised to cover English at the time of Chaucer, and suggestions for further reading have been updated throughout the book.

Book of Middle English, Second Edition

British Library MS Harley 913 is known as the 'Kildare Manuscript' from the authorship of one of the poems by the Franciscan, Friar Michael of Kildare. The collection was written in the 1330s, in Ireland, perhaps in Waterford. It is chiefly known for two poems in particular, often anthologised, but now presented in their literary and cultural context: 'The Land of Cockaygne,' a fantasy of a culinary and sexual earthly paradise, and 'Lollai, lollai, litel child', a lullaby warning the baby of what is to come in later life. The manuscript contains 17 English poems, 12 of which were probably composed in Ireland, three Anglo-Norman poems, and many Latin items in prose and verse, including Goliardic satire, preaching materials, and matters concerning the Franciscans and their history. The English poems include a description of the humiliations of old age, a satire on the inhabitants of an unnamed Irish town, a celebration of the massacre of native Irish, a complaint about the corruption of those in power, reflections on Christ's passion and guides to basic Christian doctrine. A French poem gives a detailed account of the building of defences around New Ross. Apart from their literary and historical interest, the English material is important linguistically, as the chief and earliest evidence for the English language in Ireland. The English and Anglo-Norman poems are edited complete, with detailed headnotes, annotations and glossary, while full accounts are given of the Latin texts. An appendix describes the contents of British Library MS Lansdowne 418, a seventeenth-century copy of 11 of the texts in Harley 913, including 5 now lost from there.

Poems from BL MS Harley 913, 'the Kildare Manuscript'

The fourth edition of this essential Middle English textbook introduces students to the wide range of literature written in England between 1150 and 1400. Beginning with an extensive overview of middle English history, grammar, syntax, and pronunciation, the book goes on to examine key middle English texts — including a new extract from Julian of Norwich's Revelation of Divine Love — with helpful notes to direct students to key points within the text. Keeping in mind adopter feedback, this new edition includes a new model translation section with a student workbook and model exercise for classroom use. This new chapter will include sections on 'false friend' words, untranslatable idioms and notes on translating both poetry and prose. The text and references will be fully updated throughout and a foreword dedicated to the late J. A. Burrow will be included.

A Book of Middle English

The characteristic alliterative poem of the 14th and 15th centuries tells a story of incident and adventure: it is pre-eminently the poetry of narrative. Yet it is also, more than any other kind of medieval verse, remarkable for passages of vivid description, taking advantage of the extraordinary rich verbal resources of the alliterative poets and the characteristic strengths of the alliterative line. Memorable examples are the green chapel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the storm at sea in Patience, the dream-landscape in Pearl, and the mysterious tomb in St Erkenwald; there are violent battle-scenes, descriptions of hunting and hawking, beautiful meadows and terrifying mountains, purling streams and wild rivers. Here is a seeming contradiction, or at least a tension that needs to be explored. The descriptive passages are digressions that interrupt the narrative; the story must pause to take in a visual effect. In Description and Narrative in Middle English Alliterative Poetry, Thorlac Turville-Petre explores this relationship between description and narrative, and the contribution of description to the narrative. Passages from all the major alliterative poems are analysed, and translated as necessary, so that the book may meet the needs of students as well as scholars familiar with the language and the topics discussed.

Description and Narrative in Middle English Alliterative Poetry

John Anthony Burrow

Alastair J. Minnis

Charlotte C. Morse

Professor and Head Department of English and Related Literature A J Minnis

Essays on Ricardian Literature develops issues and themes first broached in John Burrow's ground-breaking book Ricardian Poetry and incorporates a bibliography of his published writings, which have revolutionized critical appreciation of medieval literature. The contributors to this volume, all leading scholars in the field, explore such areas as the status of Anglo-Latin and the influence of French culture on the Ricardian court, offer radicalre-readings of some more familiar works, such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Patience, and demonstrate how closely the literature of the period is bound up with political and social conditions.

Essays on Ricardian Literature in Honour of J.A. Burrow

"British Library MS Harley 913 is known as the 'Kildare Manuscript' from the authorship of one of the poems by Friar Michael of Kildare. This important Anglo-Irish anthology of English, Anglo-Norman and Latin was compiled by a Franciscan, perhaps in Waterford in the 1330s. It is best known for two poems, often anthologized: 'The Land of Cockaygne,' a fantasy of a sexual and culinary paradise, and the mordant lullaby 'Lollai, lollai, litel child', but others are equally fine. The poems are presented here for the first time in their literary and cultural context. The collection offers the earliest evidence for the English language in Ireland, as well as texts dealing specifically with Irish affairs , the Franciscan order, and Goliardic satire. The English and Anglo-Norman poems are edited complete, with detailed annotation and glossaries, and full descriptions are given of the Latin texts. An appendix gives details of a seventeenth-century copy in BL MS lansdowne 418 of eleven of the texts, including five now lost from Harley 913."--

This essential Middle English textbook, now in its third edition,introduces students to the wide range of literature written inEngland between 1150 and 1400. New, thoroughly revised edition of this essential MiddleEnglish textbook. Introduces the language of the time, giving guidance onpronunciation, spelling, grammar, metre, vocabulary and regionaldialects. Now includes extracts from ‘Pearl’ andChaucer’s ‘Troilus and Criseyde’. Bibliographic references have been updated throughout. Each text is accompanied by detailed notes.

Thorlac Turville-Petre

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