THE HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE
43
MEDIEVAL
ENGLISH LITERATURE
EDITORS OF
The Home University Library
of Modern Knowledge
GILBERT MURRAY, O.M., D.C.L., F.B.A.
G. N. CLARK, LL.D., F.B.A.
G. R. DE BEER, D.SC., F.R.S.
United States
JOHN FULTON, M.D., PH.D.
HOWARD MUMFORD JONES, LITT.D.
WILLIAM L. LANGER, PH.D.
Medieval
English Literature
W. P. KER
Geoffrey Cumberlege
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
First published in 1912, and reprinted in 1925, 1926, 1928 (twice),
1932, and 1942
Reset in 1945 and reprinted in 1948
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
CONTENTS
- CHAP. PAGE
- I INTRODUCTION 7
- II THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 16
- III THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD (1150-1500) 43
- IV THE ROMANCES 76
- V SONGS AND BALLADS 107
- VI COMIC POETRY 124
- VII ALLEGORY 137
- VIII SERMONS AND HISTORIES, IN VERSE AND PROSE 150
- IX CHAUCER 163
- NOTE ON BOOKS 187
- SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE by R. W. CHAMBERS 188
- INDEX 190
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Readers are drawn to medieval literature in manydifferent ways, and it is hardly possible to describe allthe attractions and all the approaches by which theyenter on this ground. Students of history have tolearn the languages of the nations with whose historythey are concerned, and to read the chief books inthose languages, if they wish to understand rightly theideas, purposes and temper of the past ages. Sometimesthe study of early literature has been instigatedby religious or controversial motives, as when theAnglo-Saxon homilies were taken up and edited andinterpreted in support of the Reformation. Sometimesit is mere curiosity that leads to investigation ofold literature—a wish to find out the meaning of whatlooks at first difficult and mysterious. Curiosity ofthis sort, however, is seldom found unmixed; thereare generally all sorts of vague associations and interestscombining to lead the explorer on. It has often beenobserved that a love of Gothic architecture, or ofmedieval art in general, goes along with, and helps,the study of medieval poetry. Chatterton’s oldEnglish reading and his imitations of old English versewere inspired by the Church of St. Mary Redcliffe atBristol. The lives of Horace Walpole, of Thomas