Poetry Book One: The Old English and Medieval Periods

Chapter s

• From the Anglo-Saxon Invasion to the Norman Conquest 449-1066
• Introduction: Warrior and Priest
• The Literature of the Warrior: Epic, Elegy, and Riddle
• 1 The Seafarer
• 2 The Wanderer
• 3 Riddles
• 4 The Battle of Brunanburgh
• 5 from Andreas: A Legend of St. Andrew
• St. Andrew Goes Down to the Sea
• A Storm at Sea
• Andrew Tells How Christ Stilled the Tempest
• The Version of Andrew's Disciples
• St. Andrew's Miracles
• The Literature of the Priest: History, Lyric, and Dream
• 1 Bede, from Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation
• Preface
• Bede's Description of Britain and Ireland
• The Coming of the English
• A Victory for the Britons
• The Sending of Augustine
• The Arrival of Augustine
• Augustine's Manner of Life
• Pope Gregory Sends More Laborers
• King Edwin of Northumbria Embraces Christianity
• The Baptism of King Edwin
• 2 Cuthbert's Letter on the Death of Bede
• 3 Caedmon's Hymn
• 4 The Dream of the Rood
• From the Norman Conquest to the Accession of the Tudors 1066-1485
• Introduction: Knight, Priest, and Commoner
• The Literature of the Medieval Church and its People: Allegory, Lyric, and Drama
• 1 from A Bestiary
• The Lion
• The Phoenix
• The Whale
• The Turtle-Dove
• 2 Gaudeamus Igitur
• 3 Everyman
• The Literature of the Common People: Popular Ballads and Arthurian Romance
• 1 Sir Patrick Spens
• 2 Robin Hood and Little John
• 3 Robin Hood and Allin a Dale
• 4 Robin Hood's Death and Burial
• 5 from Le Morte d'Arthur, Vol 2, Book 21
• Chapter 1: How Sir Mordred presumed and took on him to be King of England, and would have married the queen, his father's wife
• Chapter 2: How after that King Arthur had tidings, he returned and came to Dover, where Sir Mordred met him to let his landing; and the death of Sir Gawaine
• Chapter 3: How after, Sir Gawaine's ghost appeared to King Arthur, and warned him that he should not fight that day
• Chapter 4: How by misadventure of an adder the battle began, where Mordred was slain and Arthur hurt to the death
• Chapter 5: How King Arthur commanded to cast his sword Excalibur into the water, and how he was delivered to ladies in a barge
• Chapter 6: How Sir Bedivere found him on the morrow dead in an hermitage, and how he abode there with the hermit
• Chapter 7: Of the opinion of some men of the death of King Arthur; and how Queen Guenever made her a nun in Almesbury