Even before Chaucer there existed a large variety of Middle English verse, which was
occasionally still reminiscent of the Old English style, but was mostly already heavily
influenced by French. In this Hauptseminar, we will discuss several texts which were
composed between the late 12th and the 13th century and which belong to different
genres; for example, there are epics (Layamon’s Brut), debates (The Owl and the
Nightingale), romances (Floris and Blancheflour) and proverbs (Proverbs of Alfred). On
the basis of these and other texts the complexity of early Middle English poetry is to be
demonstrated in order to provide an extensive survey on the literature of this period.
Textbook:
J. A. W. Bennett and G. V. Smithers, ed., Early Middle English Verse and Prose, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1968).
Links:
