Introduction to the Gawain-Poet (Longman Mediaeval & Renaissance Library) - Hardcover

Putter, Ad

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0582225752 ISBN 13: 9780582225756

Publisher: Pearson Education Limited, 1996

Synopsis

The Gawain-Poet is the name given to the northern poet who is generally accepted as the sole author of four 14th-century Gawain poems - "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", "Patience", "Pearl" and "Cleannes". This text introduces the reader to the poems, setting the works in their relevant historical and cultural context and developing lines of critical argument.

About this title

Review

"This is an excellent book, which will serve as a sound and lively introduction for students, but also makes an impressive and substantial contribution to scholarly study of the Gawain-poet." English Studies "Ad Putter's Introduction is aimed at undergraduates and provides clearly written and largely independent critical introductions to the four poems." - TLS

From the Back Cover

Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library
Series Editors: Charlotte Brewer and N H Keeble
Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library is a major new series of critical introductions to key literary and cultural topics from Old English to the late seventeenth century. Volumes draw on original research and are sensitive to current critical concerns, but they are designed particularly to meet the needs of students and the general reader. The key feature is the breadth and variety of coverage, providing authoritative studies on a range of subjects from individual authors and works to genres, periods and contexts.
The late fourteenth century produced a crop of brilliant writers: Chaucer, Langland and Gower. Their achievement was rivalled only by a series of four works generally agreed to have been written by a single northern author, known as the Gawain-Poet. This book introduces the reader to the Gawain-poet's four surviving works: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, Pearl and Cleanness.
Combining earlier scholarly findings with fresh research and ideas, this book sets the poetry in its historical and literary context, as well as developing new critical approaches drawn from sociology and philosophy which bring an innovative and exciting dimension to the work.
The introductory chapter sets the historical scene for the poems and throughout the text the author provides fresh translations of passages from the poems and difficult foreign material. An extensive bibliography of both primary and secondary sources and an index of names and topics aid accessibility and complete the book.
Written in a student-friendly style, An Introduction to the Gawain-Poet gives the general reader and the medievalist access to important old and new criticism and research on the subject. It will prove essential reading for those undertaking courses in English Medieval Literature.
Ad Putter is Lecturer in the English Department of the University of Bristol, and also works for the Centre for Medieval studies at Bristol. He has researched and written extensively on medieval and renaissance literature in both books and journals.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pearson Education Limited
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0582225752
• ISBN 13: 9780582225756
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272