Originally published in 1951 Middle English Literature applies methods of literary evaluation to certain Middle English works. Arguing that previous literary criticism has largely focused on the commentary of their historical, social, philological and religious content, the book suggests that it has led to a thinking that Middle English literature is without artistic value and therefore cannot be compared effectively with later works of the fourteenth and fifteenth century. While traditional analysis has been beneficial to scientific and historical findings, this text seeks to look deeper into the artistic merits of the works and the authors that wrote them, arguing that the authors of these Middle English texts, wrote with the same motivations and experiences of these later authors which in turn informed the artistic basis of these Middle English works. The book looks at Middle English texts through three main areas: the Metrical Romances, the Religious Lyrics and Piers Plowman.

This Glossary is designed as a companion to William Langland's dream vision poem, Piers Plowman, widely regarded as the greatest literary work in Middle English before Chaucer. It glosses and explains over 5000 English words, and foreign words used as if English, in the A, B and C texts of Piers Plowman printed in the critically-acclaimed Athlone editions. Where possible, it illustrates words with examples from all three versions. The first glossary to Piers Plowman was compiled in 1886 by Sir William Skeat but there has been no attempt, until now, to provide a new glossary that takes account of the considerable advances in Middle English scholarship over the last century. This new Glossary gives particular attention to the distinctive problems inherent in its subject, how the texts were preserved, written and received in their time. It takes account of the dialectical and morphological variations between the three texts; the grammar of Langland's style; the richly figurative texture of the rhetorical language used in the poem; and the remoteness of many elements in its content from modern culture and its values.

Professor Kane is widely regarded as the leading middle English textual and literary scholar of our time and this collection of his essays will be widely welcomed. They focus largely upon the texts of Chaucer and Langland and demonstrate in an exemplary way how critical issues can arise from meticulous textual study.

The major edition of the three versions of Piers Plowman which the Athlone Press is in the process of publishing and of which Professor Kane is the general editor was not planned to include discussion of the authorship of the poem. The editors were agreed at the outset in believing that no real case for multiple authorship had been established in the course of the debate initiated by J. M. Manley in 1906, and they felt that a majority of Middle English scholars would support this view. They were satisfied that the hypothesis of single authorship was the best hypothesis to account for all aspects of the relation between the versions of the poem. However, the recent appearance of a book comparing the A and B versions in the belief that they were not written by the same man led Professor Kane to make a survey of the arguments advanced in support of multiple authorship and to examine again the evidence for single authorship. This re-assessment was originally undertaken without specific reference to the new edition of the three versions, but the unexpectedly positive character of Professor Kane's findings has a bearing on the edition by materially reducing the hypothetical element in the editorial position. The results of the inquiry are therefore published as a supplementary volume to the text edition and in an identical format.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.