A classic college textbook containing a judicious selection from the whole field of Roman elegy, with introductory matter and English commentary. It helps the student obtain a general acquaintance with Roman elegiac poetry, and features the writings of Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid.

This revelatory exploration of Book One of the "Argonautica" rescues Jason from his status as the ineffectual hero of Apollonius' epic poem. James J. Clauss argues that by posing the question, "Who is the best of the Argonauts?" Apollonius redefines the epic hero and creates, in Jason, a man more realistic and less awesome than his Homeric predecessors, one who is vulnerable, dependent on the help of others, even morally questionable, yet ultimately successful.
In bringing Apollonius' "curious and demanding poem" to life, Clauss illuminates two features of the poet's narrative style: his ubiquitous allusions to the poetry of others, especially Homer, and the carefully balanced structural organization of his episodes. The poet's subtextual interplay is explored, as is his propensity for underscoring the manipulation of the poetry of others through ring composition.

The question of the "dramatic principle" in the "Canterbury Tales," of whether and how the individual tales relate to the pilgrims who are supposed to tell them, has long been a central issue in the interpretation of Chaucer's work. Drawing on ideas from deconstruction, psychoanalysis, and social theory, Leicester proposes that Chaucer can lead us beyond the impasses of contemporary literary theory and suggests new approaches to questions of agency, representation, and the gendered imagination.
Leicester reads the "Canterbury Tales" as radically voiced and redefines concepts like "self" and "character" in the light of current discussions of language and subjectivity. He argues for Chaucer's disenchanted practical understanding of the constructed character of the self, gender, and society, building his case through close readings of the Pardoner's, Wife of Bath's, and Knight's tales. His study is among the first major treatments of Chaucer's poetry utilizing the techniques of contemporary literary theory and provides new models for reading the poems while revising many older views of them and of Chaucer's relation to his age.

This book presents translations of four major practitioners of octosyllabic verse, the dominant literary form of 12th- and 13th-century France. The introduction discusses the varying views of women and love in the texts and their place in the courtly tradition.;From Chretien de Troyes Terry includes an early work, "Philomena". The other great writer of this period was Marie de France, the first woman in the European narrative tradition. "Lanval" is newly translated for this edition, which also features four of Marie's other poems. The collection includes "The Reflection" by Jean Renart, known for his real settings; and the anonymous "Chatelaine of Vergi", a fatalistic and perhaps more modern depiction of love.