Chaucer to Spenser

Derek Pearsall is the Gurney Professor of English at Harvard University and was Professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York, 1965-85. His numerous publications include John Lydgate (1970), Old English and Middle English Poetry (1977), The Canterbury Tales: A Critical Study (1985), An Annotated Critical Bibliography of Langland (1990) and The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer (1992).

• Alphabetical List of Authors and Works xiiiIntroduction xvAcknowledgements xixList of Abbreviations and Short Titles xxChronological Table of Dates xxiiiMap xxviGeoffrey Chaucer (C.1343–1400) 1 The Parliament Of Fowls 2From Troilus And Criseyde 20The wooing of Criseyde (from Book II) 21The winning of Criseyde (from Book III) 44The loss of Criseyde (from Book V) 69The epilogue (from Book V) 76From The Canterbury Tales 79The General Prologue 80The Miller’s Prologue and Tale 99The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale 116The Franklin’s Prologue and Tale 143The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale 164Minor PoemsAdam Scriveyn 177Truth 177The Envoy to Scogan 178The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse 180William Langland (Fl. 1375–1380) 182 From The Vision Of Piers Plowman (C-Text)The Field Full of Folk (Prologue) 182Meed at Westminster (from Passus III) 187Will’s ‘apologia pro vita sua’ (from Passus V) 189The Confession of the People (from Passus VI) 192Piers Plowman and the Search for Saint Truth (from Passus VII) 196The Ploughing of the Half-Acre (from Passus VIII) 200The Pardon sent from Truth (from Passus IX) 207The Beginning of the Search for Dowel (from Passus X) 213The Crucifixion and the Harrowing of Hell (from Passus XX) 214The Coming of Antichrist (from Passus XXII) 222The Letters Of John Ball (1381) 227John Trevisa (D. 1402) 230 From His Translation Of Higden’s PolychroniconThe languages of Britain 230The Wycliffite Bible (c.1380–c.1400) 232The parable of the great supper (Luke 14:12–24) 232The nature of charity (1 Cor. 13) 232‘The Gawain-Poet’ (Fl. 1390) 234 From Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Fits Three And Four 235From PatienceJonah And The Whale 266John Gower (D. 1408) 273 From Confessio AmantisThe lover’s business (from Book IV) 273The Tale of Tereus and Procne (from Book V) 276Mandeville’s Travels (C.1390–1400) 287The holy places west of Jerusalem (chap. 11) 287The people of Dundeya (chap. 22) 288The approach to the land of Prester John (chap. 30) 289The fools of despair (chap. 31) 289The Brahmins (chap. 32) 290The Earthly Paradise (chap. 33) 291The Cloud Of Unknowing (c.1390–1400) 292The plan of campaign (chap. 3) 292The cloud of unknowing and the cloud of forgetting (chaps 4–7) 293False contemplatives (chap. 53) 295Nowhere is everywhere (chap. 68) 296Julian (Juliana) Of Norwich (1342–C.1418) 297From The Revelations Of Divine Love (Longer Version)The bodily sickness and the first revelation (chaps 3–4) 297The second revelation (chap. 10) 299The seventh revelation (chap. 15) 300The eighth revelation (chap. 16) 301The thirteenth revelation (chap. 27): Sin is behovely 301Jesus as Mother (chap. 60) 302The Alliterative Morte Arthure 304Arthur’s fight with the giant of St Michael’s mount 304William Thorpe (Fl. 1407) 308 From The Testimony Of William Thorpe 308Nicholas Love (Fl. 1410) 313From The Mirror Of The Blessed Life Of Jesus Christ (1410)The purpose of this work (chap. 40) 313The scourging (chap. 41) 314The crucifixion (chap. 43) 315The seven last words from the Cross (chap. 44) 317Thomas Hoccleve (1368–1426) 319From La Male Regle De T. Hoccleve Living it up in London 319From The Regement Of Princes The sleepless night and meeting with the old man 322Hoccleve’s troubles 327Hoccleve’s hard life as a scribe 329Chaucer is dead 331A way to remember Chaucer 333From The ‘Series’From The Complaint of Hoccleve 334From Dialogue with a Friend 339John Lydgate (1371–1449) 343 From The Troy-BookLamentation upon the fall of Troy (from Book IV) 344From The Siege Of ThebesPrologue 345From The Life Of Our LadyThe Commendation of Our Lady at the Nativity (from Book III) 350From The Dance Macabre 353From The Fall Of PrincesThe letter of Canace to her brother 362Exclamation on the death of Cyrus 365Letter To Gloucester 366From The Testament Of Dan John Lydgate 367Margery Kempe (C.1373–C.1440) 369From The Book Of Margery KempeHer first childbirth, and first vision of Christ (chap. 1) 369Her contract with her husband, 23 June 1413, on the road to Bridlington (chap. 11) 371Among the monks at Canterbury (chap. 13) 372Wedded to the Godhead (chap. 36) 373Before the archbishop of York (chap. 52) 374Her husband’s last illness (chap. 76) 376Charles Of Orleans (1394–1465) 378Ballade 48: ‘To longe, for shame’ 378Ballade 70: ‘In the forest of Noyous Hevynes’ 379Ballade 72: ‘Whan fresshe Phebus’ 380Roundel 35: ‘Take, take this cosse’ (with the text of Charles’s French original) 381Roundel 37: ‘I prayse nothing’ 381Roundel 57: ‘My gostly fadir’ 382Charles meets his new lady (5219–5351) 382Ballade 96: ‘Syn hit is so we nedis must depart’ 385Anonymous Songs And Short Poems, Religious, Comic And Amatory 387‘Adam lay ibowndyn’ 387‘I syng of a mayden’ 387‘Ther is no rose’ 388‘Lully, lulla, thow litel tiny child’ 389‘A God and yet a man’ 389‘Who cannot wepe come lerne at me’ 390‘In a tabernacle of a toure’ 391The Corpus Christi Carol 393Christ Triumphant 394‘Farewell, this world’ 394‘Kyrie, so kyrie’ 395‘I have a gentil cok’ 396‘I dar not seyn’ 397‘Care away for evermore’ 397The Schoolboy’s Lament 398Against Blacksmiths 399‘Alone walkyng’ 400‘Myn hertys joy’ 401‘Westren wynde’ 401Love-Poems (By Women?) From The Findern Manuscript 402 1 ‘As in yow restyth my joy and comfort’ 4022 ‘What-so men seyn’ 4023 ‘My woofull hert, thus clad in payn’ 4034 (a) ‘Come home, dere herte, from tarieng’ 404(b) ‘To you, my joye and my worldly plesaunce’ 404(c) ‘There may areste me no pleasance’ 405(d) ‘Welcome be ye, my sovereine’ 4055 ‘Continuaunce / Of remembraunce’ 405Popular Ballads 406Saint Steven 406The Hunting of the Cheviot 407Robin Hood and the Monk 413Reginald Pecock (C.1392/5–C.1460?) 423From The Repressor Of Overmuch Blaming Of The Clergy  Images not a form of idolatry 423The Paston Letters 425Margaret Paston to Sir John Paston II 425Elizabeth Brews to John Paston III 427The same 427Margery Brews to John Paston III 427The same 428Sir John Fortescue (C.1395–C.1477) 429From The Governance Of EnglandJus regale and Jus politicum et regale 429Sir Thomas Malory (C.1410–1471) 431 From The Morte D’arthur, Book 8, ‘The Moste Pyteuous Tale Of The Morte Arthure Saunz Gwerdon’The accusation and rescue of Guenevere 432The vengeance of Sir Gawain 440The combat of Lancelot and Gawain 449The last battle and the death of Arthur 452The death of Guenevere and of Lancelot 459William Caxton (C.1422–1492) 465Prologue To Malory’s Morte D’arthur 465Prologue To Eneydos 467Robert Henryson (C.1430–C.1505) 469The Testament Of Cresseid 469From The Fables 484The Cock and the Fox 485The Fox and the Wolf 490The Wolf and the Wether 495The Wolf and the Lamb 498William Dunbar (C.1456–C.1515) 503Meditation In Winter 503Christ In Triumph 504From The Golden Targe 505From The Treatise Of The Two Married Women And The Widow 508‘Timor Mortis Conturbat Me’ 515Gavin Douglas (C.1475–1522) 519 From The Aeneid-TranslationBook II, chapter 9 520(with Latin of Aeneid, II.544–58)Book VII, Prologue (1–96) 522Book XIII, Prologue 524Stephen Hawes (D. After 1521) 529 From The Pastime Of PleasureDedication 529How Graunde Amour met with Fame 530The Tower of Doctrine 533The nature of poetic style 534Farewell to the world 535Farewell to his book 535John Skelton (C.1460–1529) 536From The Bowge Of Court 536From The Book Of Philip Sparrow 542From The Tunning Of Elinor Rumming 556From Colin Clout 560From The Garland Of Laurel 565The First English Life Of Henry V (1513) 571The prince of Wales presents himself to his father, Henry IV 571Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) 573From The History Of King Richard Iii The fall of lord Hastings 573Shore’s wife 575The duke of Buckingham has Richard acclaimed king 576From Utopia 578Restrictions on travel among the Utopians 579How the Utopians regard gold 579How the Utopians wage war 580The superiority of the Utopian commonwealth 581From A Dialogue Of Comfort Against TribulationHow the Christian prepares himself to die for his faith 583Sir Thomas Elyot (C.1490–1546) 585 From The Book Named The GovernorThe importance of beginning Latin early 585Why gentlemen’s children are seldom properly educated 586An illustration of the virtue of placability 586William Tyndale (1494–1536) 588From The Prologue To The New Testament 588From The New TestamentThe parable of the great supper (Luke 14:12–24) 589The nature of love (1 Cor. 13) 589From The Obedience Of A Christian Man That the scripture ought to be in the English tongue 590Why they will not have the scripture in English 591Blind mouths 591Simon Fish (C.1500–1531) 592From A Supplication For The Beggars (1529) 592William Roper (1496–1577) 594 From The Life Of Sir Thomas More The testimony of master Rich 594Sir David Lindsay (C.1486–1555) 596 From Squire Meldrum Prologue 596The sea-fight 598The wooing of the lady of Gleneagles 600George Cavendish (C.1499–C.1562) 603 From The Life And Death Of Cardinal Wolsey Wolsey’s last journey 603From Metrical VisionsThe Complaint of Cardinal Wolsey 605Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542) 607 1 ‘The longe love, that in my thought doeth harbar’ 608(with Italian of Petrarch, Sonnet 107)2 ‘Who-so list to hunt, I knowe where is an hynde’ 6093 ‘Farewell, Love, and all thy lawes for ever’ 6094 ‘My galy charged with forgetfulnes’ 6095 ‘Madame, withouten many wordes’ 6106 ‘They fle from me that sometyme did me seke’ 6107 ‘What no, perdy, ye may be sure!’ 6118 ‘Marvaill no more’ 6119 ‘Tho I cannot your crueltie constrain’ 61210 ‘To wisshe and want and not obtain’ 61311 ‘Some-tyme I fled the fyre that me brent’ 61412 ‘The furyous gonne in his rajing yre’ 61413 ‘My lute, awake!’ 61414 ‘In eternum’ 61515 ‘Hevyn and erth and all that here me plain’ 61616 ‘To cause accord or to agre’ 61717 ‘Th’answere that ye made to me, my dere’ 61818 ‘You that in love finde lucke and habundaunce’ 61919 ‘What rage is this? what furour of what kynd?’ 61920 ‘Is it possible?’ 62021 ‘And wylt thow leve me thus?’ 62122 ‘Forget not yet the tryde entent’ 62123 ‘Blame not my lute’ 62224 ‘What shulde I saye?’ 62325 ‘Spight hath no powre to make me sadde’ 62426 ‘Wyth serving still’ 62427 ‘I abide and abide and better abide’ 62528 ‘Stond who-so list upon the slipper toppe’ 62529 ‘Throughout the world, if it wer sought’ 62630 ‘In court to serve decked with freshe aray’ 62631 Satire 1: ‘Myne owne John Poynz’ 62632 Paraphrase of Ps. 130: De profundis clamavi 629John Leland (C.1506–1552) 630From A New Year’s Gift To Henry Viii 630Henry Howard, Earl Of Surrey (1517–1547) 632 1 ‘When ragyng love with extreme payne’ 6322 ‘The soote season, that bud and blome furth bringes’ 6333 ‘Set me wheras the sonne doth perche the grene’ 6334 ‘Love, that doth raine and live within my thought’ 6345 ‘Alas, so all thinges nowe do holde their peace’ 6346 ‘Geve place, ye lovers, here before’ 6357 ‘O happy dames, that may embrace’ 6358 ‘Good ladies, you that have your pleasure in exyle’ 6379 ‘When Windesor walles sustained my wearied arme’ 63810 ‘So crewell prison howe could betyde, alas’ 63811 ‘W. resteth here, that quick could never rest’ 64012 ‘Th’Assyrans king, in peas with fowle desyre’ 64113 ‘Marshall, the thinges for to attayne’ 641From The Aeneid-TranslationBook II (ll. 654–729) 642Hugh Latimer (1491–1555) 644 From The ‘Sermon On The Plougher’ 644Roger Ascham (1515–1568) 646 From Toxophilus, Or, The School Of Shooting Why he writes in English (from the Preface) 646The wind on the snow 646From The SchoolmasterHow Italian books and Arthurian romances corrupt the young 647A Mirror For Magistrates (Second Edition, 1563) 649 From The Induction To The Complaint Of Henry, Duke Of Buckingham,By Thomas Sackville (1536–1608) 649From The Tragedy Of Lord Hastings,By John Dolman (C.1540–C.1602) 652John Foxe (1517–1587) 654From Acts And Monuments Of Martyrs Concerning Simon Fish 654The behaviour of doctor Ridley and master Latimer at the time of their death (16 October 1555) 655George Gascoigne (1539–1578) 659 From The Steel Glass Exhortation to knights, squires and gentlemen 659Pray for ploughmen 660From The Spoil Of Antwerp The seizing of the town 661Edmund Spenser (1552–1599) 663January, From The Shepherd’s Calendar 663Textual Variants 666Glossary of Common Hard Words 672Index 676

"The true proof of an anthology is its classroom performance. . .Pearsall's smorgasbord of short extracts, dressed with first-rate contextualizing commentary and references to just the right secondary literature, inspire much independent investigation and a joyous crop of non- repetitive termpapers." "Above all, it is a pleasure to work with a volume annotated from a lifetimes's learning and leavened by rare, companionable humour. Many moments linger." Medium Aevum