R. K. GordonRecensioner

A standard collection of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Includes a short but clear introduction, as well as brief introductions for each selection. Selections include a number of biblical stories, Beowulf, riddles and Proverbs, and concludes with the Battle of Malden.

A very convenient compendium of Benoit de Sainte-Maure, Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Henryson. The glossing of Chaucer and Henryson is inconveniently in the rear of the book rather than marginal or bottom-of-the-page, but some teachers using the book for academic reading may prefer that students "guess" at the vocabulary from context. Henryson's Middle Scots (a lowlands dialect of English, in contrast with the Gaelic of the highlands) is, incidentally, really no more difficult reading than Shakespeare's Early Modern English.

Another reviewer considers these works to be useful comparisons with Chaucer. Personally, I consider Henryson's Testament a particularly valuable work in its own right (and so must have Seamus Heaney, who translated The Testament of Cresseid and Seven Fables). Henryson is particularly intriguing for his use of astrological imagery, and his portrayal of Cresseid as a whore is an interesting transition from Chaucer to Shakespeare.½

Necessary reading for any serious student of Eng.Lit., ~ includes 'Beowulf', which I personally don't like but, together with the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle', Old & Middle English constitute the beginnings of our national literature.

Useful for giving texts of several different versions of the story
to compare with Chaucer