Guide to English literature from Beowulf through Chaucer and medieval drama. [electronic resource] With bibliographies by Stanley B. Greenfield.

Includes bibliographical references.

Old English period: Historical and linguistic background of the old English period -- Anglo-Saxon literary culture -- Beowulf and the heroic tradition -- Elegiac, Caedmonian, and Cynewulfian poems -- Old English prose and miscellaneous verse -- Middle English period -- General view of the middle English period -- Middle English romance -- Middle English prose -- Lyrics and folk ballads -- Alliterative revival: Sir Gawain, Pearl, and Piers Plowman -- Debates, didactic verse and satire -- Chaucer: Minor works and Troilus -- Canterbury tales -- Fifteenth-century Chaucerians -- Medieval drama in England -- Bibliographies: Old English bibliographical guide -- Middle English bibliographical guide.

Also issued online.