Middle English Debate Poetry: A Critical Anthology

by John W. Conlee (Editor)

This volume gives scholars and students of medieval literature the opportunity to experience the full range of middle English debate poetry - debate poety being here defined as verbal confrontations between relatively evenly matched opponents. The poems have been selected for their representative qualities as well as for their literary qualities.

329 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1991

Reviews

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights are: 1) I’ve never read any of these; 2) the alliterative ones are a delight to read out loud; 3) the final section of inanimate + animal debates are fun and entertaining.

There is a good deal of bad medieval philosophy and religious drivel though - all sadly standard for the time period - but the variance of time periods at least give a good range of “Middle English”.

There are plenty of better Middle English texts out there, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t good / important.