A Book of Middle English

by J.A. Burrow, Thorlac Turville-Petre

This revised edition takes account of suggestions and comments from reviewers and from those who have used the first edition all over the world. The main features of the second edition are the inclusion of etymologies in the glossary and the edition of three complete texts by Chaucer: The Parliament of Fowls, The Reeve's Tale and The Prioress's Tale. Part One has been revised to cover English at the time of Chaucer, and suggestions for further reading have been updated throughout the book.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, History, Poetry, Medieval, Linguistics, Classics

373 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

John Anthony Burrow is Emeritus Professor of English, University of Bristol.

Reviews

[Courtney Kleefeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good textbook for my medieval class - it has some help in the beginning and end for learning middle English and I may look into it more when I have time but it also contains excerpts from several important medieval works in the original middle English including but not limited to:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Pearl
Patience
Layamon's Brut
The York Play of the Crucifixion
A Dialogue between a Lord and a Clerk
Ancrene Wisse
The Peterborough Chronicles

Some of them are really hard to read in Middle English but you can find links to translations into English of many of them.

[Poptart19 (the name’s ren) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

We used this for my Intro to ME Lit course in grad school. I haven’t read many other ME anthology textbooks to compare, but I think Burrows’ book served very well.

This contains excerpts of major ME texts from 1100-1400, including religious, legal, fictional, & poetic works. The selections include texts by authors who wrote in various geographic locations as well, so you get a nice variety of regional dialects.

The downside to having selections & excerpts is that I got to read snippets & scenes of several compelling stories with no easy way to read the endings!! I was in agony for months not knowing the ending to Havelok The Dane!!

Fortunately, my professor told me about the Early English Text Society which publishes facsimiles & prints of OE and ME texts out of Oxford University Press. I am currently building out my collection, buying a few volumes per year. It’s a great deal to join the society if you’re interested! You get discounts & newsletters & such.

Also in this textbook is a nice glossary of many of the vocab words in the original texts. (For a larger dictionary, the U of Michigan has a free online one; it’s a work in progress as they are continuing to compile it, but it has been massively helpful to me!)

At the front of the textbook are basic notes on grammar, pronunciation, regional dialects, and the vowel shifts & grammatical simplifications that happened during the ME period. My professor used these, along with many other supplemental handouts. He approved of the regional dialect maps provided, but added some nuances for our class. (I also supplemented these with some more in-depth ME grammar textbooks from the uni library.)

All in all, this was a great introductory textbook for me. If you’re brand new to ME & are studying on your own, I recommend you find other grammar/technical resources to read alongside this book as you study.

[A.E. Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fantastic introduction to Middle English. I had the tremendous privilege of Thorlac Turville-Petre teaching my Middle English Language course one on one. He is a wonderfully knowledgable and generous educator, and I especially treasure all of the margin notes in the sections we reviewed together in class, that added so much to understanding the cultural context of the material. Sir Orfeo has become a particular favourite of mine.

[Mrlexiphanic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some issues with pacing, but still a great learning tool

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Currently reading this book, but: A concise but sufficient exposition of grammar and syntax requiring only minimal experience with grammatical terminology and concepts, this book serves well satisfy my curiosities regarding Middle English, its variants, and its origins. Part II includes a moderate but representative sampling of Middle English texts, both verse and prose, for the student to wade through - I've not gotten there yet though...

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accessible and useful for those interested in learning to read and understand Middle English.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook-nature aside, this book is a great anthology of Middle English must-reads.