"An essential volume for medievalists and scholars of comparative literature, Medieval Lyric opens up a reconsideration of genre in medieval European lyric. Departing from a perspective that asks how medieval genres correspond with twentieth-century ideas of structure or with the evolution of poetry, this collection argues that the development of genres should be considered as a historical phenomenon, embedded in a given culture and responsive to social and literary change.".

He shows the men and women who sang and played in medieval Europe as the heirs of both a Roman and a Germanic lyric tradition, united but differentiated from country to country; he introduces the scholars and musicians from the Byzantine world and the Paris schools, the German courts and Italian city-states, and he brilliantly presents their work, both sacred and profane.

Medieval Lyric is a colourful collection of lyrical poems, carols, and traditional British ballads written between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, together with some twentieth-century American versions of them. A lively and engaging collection of lyrical poems, carols, and traditional British ballads written in between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, together with some twentieth-century American versions of them. Introduces readers to the rich variety of Middle English poetry. Presents poems of mourning and of celebration, poems dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and to Christ, poems inviting or disparaging love, poems about sex, and more. Reader-friendly - uses modernized letter forms, punctuation and capitalization, and side glosses explaining difficult words. Opens with a substantial introduction by the editor to the medieval lyric as a genre, and features short introductions to each section and poem. Also includes an annotated bibliography, glossary, index of first lines, and list of manuscripts cited.

The medieval songbook as emergent genre -- Paradigms: the Carmina Burana and the Libro de Buen Amor -- Producing opaque coherence: lyric presence and names in songbooks -- Shifting mediality: visualizing lyric texts in songbooks -- Cancioneros and the art of the songbook -- Conclusion: songbook medievalisms.

Originally published in 1972, Themes and Images in the Medieval English Religious Lyric discusses themes and images in religious lyric poetry in Medieval English poetry. The book looks at the affect that tradition and convention had on the religious poetry of the medieval period. It examines the background of the lyrics, including the Latin tradition which was inherited by medieval vernacular and shows how religious lyric poetry presents, through a rich variety of images, the significant incidents in the scheme of Christ’s redemption, such as the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Passion and the Resurrection. It also considers the lyrics which were designed to assist humanity in the task of living in a Christian life, as well as those which prepared them for death.

This anthology features nearly 300 works in 14 linguistic areas: Latin hymns and lyrics from 800 to 1300...Carmina Burana...Proven al lyrics...Italian lyrics...North French lyrics...German lyrics...lyrics of Iberia, including Arabic, Hebrew, Mozarabic, Galician-Portuguese, Castilian, and Catalan...lyrics of Great Britain, including Irish, Welsh, Old English, Middle English, and Scottish-English ballads. More than 100 authors are represented, including Chaucer, Dante, Petrarch, the major troubadours and trouv res, Walther von der Vogelweide, St. Thomas Aquinas, Peter Abelard, The Countess of Dia, The Queen of Mallorca, Hildegard of Bingen, Ibn Hazm, Mozarabic kharja writers, Denis I of Portugal, Alfonso X of Castile, Sordello, Fran ois Villon, Charles d'Orl ans, and many who are anonymous. There are indexes of authors, opening lines, and genres, and 12 photographs represent scenes that are related to the poems. SPECIAL FEATURES inclusion of the widest possible range of texts from the western Middle Ages allows comparative, cross-cultural approaches; fresh translations by an authoritative team of scholars were prepared especially for this volume; tape or CD information is provided for medieval lyrics that have been given modern recordings; apparatus includes a selection of texts in their original languages and indices of authors, titles/first lines, and genres Suitable for Courses in Medieval Literature in Translation; Comparative Literature; The Lyric