Medieval Lyric is a lively and engaging collection of lyrical poems, carols, and traditional British ballads written primarily between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, together with some twentieth-century American versions of the ballads. The volume introduces readers to the rich variety of Middle English poetry and includes 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.


In order to make the collection as reader-friendly as possible, modernized letter forms, punctuation and capitalization are used throughout, and side glosses explain difficult words. In addition, the editor provides a substantial introduction to the medieval lyric as a whole, as well as short introductions to each section and each poem. To support further exploration of Middle English poetry, there are three appendices containing lyrics by Chaucer and other Middle English poets, and an annotated bibliography.