How to Read Middle English Poetry guides readers through poetry between 1150 and 1500, for study and pleasure. Chapters give down-to-earth advice on enjoying and analyzing each aspect of verse, from the choice of single words, through syntax, metre, rhyme, and stanza-design, up to the play of larger forms across whole poems. How to Read Middle English Poetry covers major figures—such as Chaucer, Langland, the Pearl Poet, and Robert Henryson—but also delves into exciting anonymous lyrics, romances, and drama. It shows, too, how some modern poets have drawn on earlier poems, and how Middle English and early Scots provide crucial standpoints from which to think through present-day writing. Contextual sections discuss how poetry was heard aloud, introduce manuscripts and editing, and lay out Middle English poetry's ties to other tongues, including French, Welsh, and Latin. Critical terms are highlighted and explained both in the main text and in a full indexed glossary, while the uses of key tools such as the Middle English Dictionary are described and modeled. References to accessible editions and electronic resources mean that the book needs no accompanying anthology. At once thorough, wide-ranging, and practical, How to Read Middle English Poetry is indispensable for students exploring Middle English or early Scots, and for anyone curious about the heart of poetry's history.

"This is an excellent, comprehensive, and warmly approachable guide to the reading of Middle English poetry. I will recommend it to all my students, and would extend that recommendation to anyone interested in the poetry of any period." - Laura Ashe, English Studies

"Daniel Sawyer's rigorous and instructive new book seeks to turn reading Middle English and Scots poetry into a learnable "craft" ... a hugely useful set of appendices and glossaries ... How to Read Middle English Poetry is accessible and welcoming, emphasizing throughout that we are all always learning how to read." - Anthony Bale, TLS