A Book of Middle English - 4th Edition by Thorlac Turville-Petre & J A Burrow (Paperback)

About the Book

"The fourth edition of this essential Middle English textbook introduces students to the wide range of literature written in England between 1150 and 1400. Beginning with an extensive overview of middle English history, grammar, syntax, and pronunciation, the book goes on to examine key middle English texts -- including a new extract from Julian of Norwich's Revelation of Divine Love - with helpful notes to direct students to key points within the text. Keeping in mind adopter feedback, this new edition includes a new model translation section with a student workbook and model exercise for classroom use. This new chapter will include sections on 'false friend' words, untranslatable idioms and notes on translating both poetry and prose. The text and references will be fully updated throughout and a foreword dedicated to the late J. A. Burrow will be included."--

Book Synopsis

The fourth edition of this essential Middle English textbook introduces students to the wide range of literature written in England between 1150 and 1400. Beginning with an extensive overview of middle English history, grammar, syntax, and pronunciation, the book goes on to examine key middle English texts -- including a new extract from Julian of Norwich's Revelation of Divine Love -- with helpful notes to direct students to key points within the text. Keeping in mind adopter feedback, this new edition includes a new model translation section with a student workbook and model exercise for classroom use. This new chapter will include sections on 'false friend' words, untranslatable idioms and notes on translating both poetry and prose. The text and references will be fully updated throughout and a foreword dedicated to the late J. A. Burrow will be included.

From the Back Cover

The new edition of the leading introductory textbook on Middle English poetry and prose

A Book of Middle English introduces readers to a wide range of English literature from the mid-twelfth century to the end of the fourteenth century. Now in its fourth edition, this classic textbook opens with an introduction to the language of the time, showing how it evolved throughout the period. Each text has a brief headnote, a short reading list and explanatory footnotes, supported by an extensive glossary and bibliography.

In this accessible introduction to Middle English literature, the authors offer guidance on pronunciation, grammar, dialects, metre and vocabulary, and present key works including The Owl and the Nightingale, Langland's Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a selection of lyrics and the York Play of the Crucifixion.

The fourth edition has been revised throughout in light of new editions and critical studies, and includes an excerpt from Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love, as well as a new chapter discussing how to approach a translation from Middle English.

Already a standard textbook in colleges and universities worldwide, this new edition of A Book of Middle English will remain an essential resource for students and teachers of Middle English as well as courses on the history of English and linguistics.

About the Author

THORLAC TURVILLE-PETRE is Emeritus Professor of Medieval English at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the author of numerous books including The Alliterative Revival, England the Nation, and Description and Narrative in Middle English Alliterative Poetry. His Reading Middle English Literature is designed as a companion to this book.

J. A. BURROW⁺ was Emeritus Professor at Bristol University, UK, a Fellow of the British Academy and Honorary Director of the Early English Text Society. He was the author of many classic studies, including A Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Medieval Writers and their Work, and The Ages of Man.