Essentials of Early English: Old, Middle and

Completely revised and updated, this new edition improves the highly successfulEssentials of Early Englishthat went before it. InEssentials of Early EnglishJeremy Smith presupposes almost no knowledge whatsoever and covers the vast subject in one neat volume. The book covers the three key stages of Early English: Old, Middle and Early Modern. Accessible and user-friendly, the new edition brings the story up to the present day with a new section entitled 'From Early Modern English to Late Modern English' and includes web links, facsimiles of texts, and a new further reading section. Grammatical aspects are fully detailed and explained, and example texts with accompanying notes make this book ideal for any student studying English language or literature.

Preface

xi

PART I DESCRIPTION

1

(152)

1 Introduction

3

(14)

1.1 About this book

4

(1)

1.2 English and its origins

5

(2)

1.3 External history

7

(3)

1.4 Internal history

10

(4)

1.5 Introducing English historical linguistics

14

(1)

1.6 A preliminary illustration

15

(2)

2 Describing language

17

(28)

2.1 Introduction

18

(1)

2.2 The levels of language

19

(1)

2.3 Speech and writing

20

(1)

2.4 Phonetics and phonology

20

(8)

2.5 Grammar and lexicon

28

(17)

3 Old English

45

(44)

3.1 Introduction

46

(1)

3.2 Spelling and pronunciation

47

(3)

3.3 Syntax

50

(16)

3.4 Paradigms

66

(17)

3.5 Lexicon

83

(2)

3.6 Appendix I: From Early to Late West Saxon

85

(2)

3.7 Appendix II: On OE dialects

87

(2)

4 Middle English

89

(34)

4.1 Introduction

90

(2)

4.2 Spelling and pronunciation

92

(4)

4.3 Syntax

96

(12)

4.4 Paradigms

108

(8)

4.5 Lexicon

116

(2)

4.6 Appendix: On ME dialects

118

(5)

5 Early Modern English

123

(30)

5.1 Introduction

124

(1)

5.2 Spelling and pronunciation

125

(6)

5.3 Syntax

131

(10)

5.4 Paradigms

141

(7)

5.5 Lexicon

148

(2)

5.6 Appendix: Evidence for EModE dialects

150

(3)

PART II ILLUSTRATIVE TEXTS

153

(66)

Section A Old English Texts

155

(14)

(1) The Man Who Built His House on Sand

156

(1)

(2) Abraham and Isaac

157

(1)

(3) From The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

158

(1)

(4) Daniel

159

(1)

(5) Cæmon's Hymn

160

(1)

(6) From The Dream of the Rood

160

(3)

(7) From Ælfric's Life of King Oswald

163

(2)

(8) From Beowulf

165

(3)

(9) From Beowulf

168

(1)

Section B Middle English Texts

169

(24)

(1) From The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales

170

(2)

(2) From The Pardoner's Tale

172

(4)

(3) From The Parson's Tale

176

(2)

(4) From The Peterborough Chronicle

178

(2)

(5) From Sir Orfeo

180

(2)

(6) From Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

182

(2)

(7) From John Lydgate, A Balade in Commendation of Our Lady

184

(1)

(8) From The Guildhall Letter-Book (1418)

185

(1)

(9) From William Caxton's Preface to his edition of The Morte Darthure (1485)

186

(1)

(10) From William Caxton's Preface to the Eneydos (1490)

187

(1)

(11) From Sir Thomas Malory, The Morte Darthur

188

(1)

(12) A letter from Margaret Paston

189

(4)

Section C Early Modern English Texts

193

(26)

(1) From Loues Labour's Lost

195

(2)

(2) From As You Like It

197

(1)

(3) From The Tragedie of King Lear

198

(2)

(4) From The Tragedie of Julius Cæsar

200

(2)

(5) From The Tragedie of Hamlet

202

(1)

(6) From The Tragedie of Richard the Third

203

(2)

(7) From The Tragedie of Macbeth

205

(1)

(8) From the Authorised Version of the Bible (1611)

206

(2)

(9) From John Milton's Areopagitica (1644)

208

(1)

(10) From John Dryden, All for Love or, the World Well Lost (1677/1678)

209

(2)

(11) From E.K.'s Preface to Spenser's Shepheardes Calender (1579)

211

(1)

(12) From A Letter of Syr J. Cheke (1557)

212

(1)

(13) From Richard Mulcaster's The First Parte of the Elementarie (1582)

213

(1)

(14) From George Puttenham, 'Of Language', in The Arte of English Poesie (1589)

214

(1)

(15) From The Letters of Lady Brilliana Harley (1642)

215

(1)

(16) From The Tryall of Ralph Hall and Mary his wife (1665)

216

(3)

PART III BIBLIOGRAPHY, GLOSSARY AND THEMATIC INDEX

219

Annotated Bibliography

221

(6)

Old English Glossary

227

(18)

Thematic Index

245

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Essentials of Early English: Old, Middle and Early Modern English

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Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials