Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)

Medieval Literature: A Very Short Introduction provides a compelling account of the emergence of the earliest literature in Britain and Ireland, including English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Anglo-Latin, and Anglo-Norman. Introducing the reader to some of the greatest poetry, prose, and drama ever written, it discusses the historical and intellectual background to these works, and considers the physical production of the manuscripts and the earliest beginnings of print culture. Covering well-known texts, like Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and the Mabinogion, as well as less familiar texts, such as sermons, saints’ lives, lyrics, and histories, major themes such as sin and salvation, kingship and authority, and myth and the monstrous are discussed.Less