This Norton Critical Edition includes: The texts of eleven complete, authoritative romances--four new to the Second Edition: Havelok, Ywain and Gawain, Of Kyng Robert of Cisyle, Hou Pride dude Him Begyle, Sir Orfeo, Sir Launfal, Athelston, The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne, The Weddyng of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell for Helpyng of Kyng Arthoure, The Grene Knight, The Sege off Melayne, and The Taill of Rauf Coilyear, How He Harbreit King Charlis. A thorough introduction accompanied by updated and expanded explanatory footnotes by Stephen H. A. Shepherd. In "Sources and Backgrounds," detailed contextualizing headnotes and comparative analogues (many complete) for each of the eleven romances. In "Criticism," eight essays--four new to the Second Edition--that help students analyze the themes of Middle English romances. An updated selected bibliography "This welcome Second Edition of Stephen Shepherd's collection of Middle English romances offers an authoritative entry into the richly varied world of medieval narrative. The expanded selection, which now also includes Older Scots, invites readers to make any number of connections between these important works and a range of fascinating contextual material that includes chronicles; Continental romances; biblical tales; and other central Middle English poems, such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The thematic groupings present a provocative stimulus to comparative reading, while the new critical pieces on madness, magic, history, and representations of Islam offer a thoughtful selection of fresh approaches to the texts. Professor Shepherd is to be thanked for providing a wonderful resource for students and teachers alike." --Sarah Wood, University of Warwick

No other edition accurately represents the actual (and likely authorial) divisions of the text as attested to by its two surviving witnesses Caxton s 1485 print and, especially, the famous Winchester Manuscript. The Winchester Manuscript is now generally agreed to be the more authentic of the two earlier texts. The Norton Critical Edition is the first edition of Malory to recover important elements of this manuscript: paragraphing marginal annotations hierarchies of narrative division as signaled by size and decorative intricacy of initial capitals and font changes The Norton Critical Edition also represents, in black-letter font, the striking rubrication of proper names in the Winchester Manuscript, reconstructing for readers something of an authentic medieval reading experience, one which gives visual support to Malory s extraordinary representation, in character and setting, of a chivalric ideal. No other student edition of Malory contains such extensive contextual and critical support."

Astonishing in its cultural and theological scope, William Langland s iconoclastic masterpiece is at once a historical relic and a deeply spiritual vision, probing not only the social and religious aristocracy but also the day-to-day realities of a largely voiceless proletariat class. E. Talbot Donaldson s translation of the text has been selected for this Norton Critical Edition because of its skillful emulation of the original poem s distinct alliterative verse. Selections of the authoritative Middle English text are also included for comparative analysis. "Sources and Backgrounds" includes a large collection of contemporary religious and historical documents pertaining to the poem, including selections from the Douai Bible, accounts of the plague, and legal statutes. "Criticism" includes twenty interpretive essays by leading medievalists, among them E. Talbot Donaldson, George Kane, Jill Mann, Derek Pearsall, C. David Benson, and Elizabeth D. Kirk. A Glossary and Selected Bibliography are also included."