An Introduction to Middle English Lyrics
eBook - ePub

An Introduction to Middle English Lyrics

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

An Introduction to Middle English Lyrics

About this book

Understanding a medieval poetry genre through modern translations, commentary, and the role of performance

Middle English lyrics are anonymous short poems that were composed between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. They address a range of themes, both secular and religious, and usually emphasize the author’s personal relationship to the subject matter. In this introduction to the genre, William Quinn offers an overview of the large body of work, identifying common features and trends over time and discussing select examples in detail.

Quinn argues that Middle English lyrics are best understood when read as emotional performances and guides readers through the poems’ expressions of joy, sorrow, anger, fear, compassion, spiritual devotion, romantic attraction, erotic frustration, and gender-targeted contempt. For the poems he considers in detail, Quinn provides line-for-line modern renditions of the Middle English texts. The book also includes commentaries keyed to the original texts, intended to prompt interpretations and enrich understandings of the lyrics. Quinn concludes by tracing the later development of versification from medieval to Renaissance lyrics, looking at work by Chaucer, Hoccleve, Petrarch, Wyatt, Surrey, and Shakespeare.

An Introduction to Middle English Lyrics encourages readers to appreciate this literary genre on its own terms and to reconsider modern ideas of what makes a “good” poem. With a deeper knowledge of how lyrics functioned in their historical settings, this book fosters a reassessment of their significance to the broader history of English poetry.

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Yes, you can access An Introduction to Middle English Lyrics by William A. Quinn in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Literary Criticism in Poetry. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Halftitle Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Figures
  8. Middle English Lyrics Discussed or Referenced
  9. Foreword
  10. Acknowledgments
  11. One. Introduction
  12. Two. Bringing the Middle English Lyric into Modern Play
  13. Three. Playing Glad
  14. Four. Playing Sad or Mad
  15. Five. Compassioun for the Passion (and Its Perversion)
  16. Six. Contek I Love and Longing
  17. Seven. Contek II Love and Loathing
  18. Eight. The Early Modern Machining of Verse
  19. Appendix A. Petrarch’s Rima 132 and Chaucer’s “Cantus Troili” with Modern Translation
  20. Appendix B. Petrarch’s Rima 140
  21. Appendix C. A Comparison of Petrarch’s and Wyatt’s Corresponding Rhyme Schemes
  22. Notes
  23. Works Cited
  24. Index
  25. About the Author