Middle English Reading Group

All are welcome to come along, at whatever reading level you are; no familiarity with Middle English is required.

To be added to the mailing list please email Rose Albiston r.albiston@student.unimelb.edu.au or Stephanie Trigg sjtrigg@unimelb.edu.au

Resources

Online Middle English Dictionary

Middle English Basic Pronunciation and Grammar

An Introduction to Middle English - California State University site

Online Etymological Dictionary

J. A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre, A Book of Middle English, Blackwell 1992, 2nd ed. 1996.

Next Meeting

The group meets fortnightly on Mondays, 11:00-12:00 via Zoom. The next meeting is Monday17 August. We will be continuing with Part 2 of the Stanzaic Morte Arthur from line 1744, beginning:

"But sithe it is so, withouten fail,
Sir Agravain, so God thee rede,
What were now thy best counsel,
For to take him with the deed?"
Note: the online version of the text is out of alignment with glosses and line numbers, so this stanza does not line up properly with line 1632.

An online edition of the text is available at https://metseditions.org/texts/6Xwe62df8dzKu46LS19R4flVVK66z1X.

Stephanie has put together a summary of what was covered in last week’s session for those who were absent:

After Lancelot has defeated Mador and proven the Queen’s innocence in the charge of poisoning the Scottish knight,  Mador and Lancelot are reconciled. The squires who had served food that day are interrogated and one confesses he had intended the poisoned apple for Gawain. The squire is hanged, drawn, and then burned. Some time later Agravain, Gaheriet, Gawain and Mordred meet together. Agravain proposes they should confront the king about the affair between Lancelot and Guenevere. Wary of the consequences, Gawain, Gaheriet and Gaheries will have no part in it and return to their chambers. Agravain goes to the King and tells him about the affair.

To be added to the mailing list please email Rose Albiston r.albiston@student.unimelb.edu.au or Stephanie Trigg sjtrigg@unimelb.edu.au

Previous Texts

The Middle English Reading Group started in 2002. Since then we have read:

  • Robert Henryson’s Testament of Cresseid
  • Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
  • Psalm 23
  • Ywain and Gawain
  • Bevis of Hampton
  • William Caxton's 'Golden Legend'
  • The Man of Law's Tale
  • The Shepherds’ Play (N-Town Cycle)
  • Sir Thopas
  • The Awntyrs off Arthur
  • Confessio Amantis
  • Hoccleve’s Letter of Cupid
  • Patience
  • The Owl and the Nightingale
  • Polychronicon
  • The Brut of England
  • King Horn
  • Alliterative Morte Arthure
  • Piers Plowman
  • The Parlement of the Thre Ages
  • Wynnere and Wastoure
  • The Book of the Duchess
  • Sir Launfal
  • Havelok the Dane
  • Pearl
  • The Summoner’s Tale
  • The Friar’s Tale
  • The Second Shepherds’ Play (Towneley Cycle)
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  • Sir Orfeo
  • The Reeve’s Tale
  • John Lydgate's The Siege of Thebes