Old and Middle English C. 890 - C. 1400: An Anthology (Blackwell Anthologies)

Rating:
Summary: Much improved second edition
Review: The new edition of this anthology is greatly superior to the old one. The previous edition covered Old English quite thoroughly, but only the first half of the Middle English period. Thus, it was difficult to assign it to students in my Middle English class, since I'd have to also choose a textbook to cover the later fourteenth century. That defeciency has been corrected. The new edition adds selections from Langland, Chaucer, and the Gawain-poet. There are a few losses, "King Alisauder" being the most grievous, but nothing really fatal.

Overall, the changes made for this new edition make it a more useful and usable anthology. The introductory material and the footnotes are helpful.

One criticism I have is that only the first and last fitts of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" are provided; I would prefer to see all of that poem. To me, that's pretty serious, and I'll have to find an additional text of GGK: the middle fitts, particularly Fitt 3, are vital to an understanding of the poem. Less serious are the omissions from the Chaucer section; perhaps alternate Canterbury Tales, or even "The Parliament of Fowls" or "The Book of the Duchess" could flesh this section out in a future edition.