Table of Contents

Preface to the First EditionNote to Second Edition PART I. THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD (TO 1100) I. Folk, State, and Speech II. Anglo-Latin Writings III. The Old Tradition: Poetic Form IV. The Old Tradition: Popular Poetry V. The Old Tradition: Courtly Poetry VI. Religious Poetry: Cædmon and His School VII. Religious Poetry: Cynewulf and His School VIII. Religious Poetry: Poems on Various Themes IX. Secular Poetry X. Literary Prose PART II. THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD (1100–1500) I. General Characteristics of the Period II. The Survival of the Native Tradition (1100–1250) III. The Ancrene Riwle IV. Anglo-Norman Literature V. Early Latin Writers VI. Wit and Wisdom VII. For Their Soul’s Need VIII. The Arthurian Legend to Layamon IX. The Romance: I X. The Romance: II XI. The Omnibus of Religion XII. The Lyric XIII. Richard Rolle and Other Mystics XIV. The Alliterative Revival XV. Piers Plowman and Other Alliterative Poems XVI. Chaucer: I XVII. Chaucer: II XVIII. Other Contemporaries of Chaucer XIX. The Beginnings of the Drama XX. Ebb Tide XXI. Looking Forward