The Complete Works of the Pearl Poet [Paperback]

Malcolm Andrew (Editor), Ronald Waldron (Editor), Clifford Peterson (Editor), Casey Finch (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520078713 | ISBN-13: 978-0520078710 | Publication Date: April 6, 1993

This edition presents, for the first time, the entire oeuvre of the Pearl poet with both the original Middle English works and complete verse translations. Poet and scholar Casey Finch uses anapestic tetrameters (and iambic tetrameter for Pearl) in his translations rather than the accented tetrameters of the originals, thus achieving the rhythmic regularity the poems would have displayed when performed to music, as they surely were meant to be. Finch's translations are printed facing the best modern editions of the poems, those of Malcolm Andrew and Ronald Waldron and of Clifford Peterson.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

"Finch's translations will add much to the pleasure and value of teaching and learning late medieval English history."--Robert Brentano, author of Two Churches

"Casey Finch has found an idiom in which these poems can speak Modern English, and in doing so can convey the most elusive and complex effects of the originals. . . . He has conveyed the vitality of these poems in a verse that is as assured, gracious, blunt, urgent, plangent, rich, and perpetually surprising as that of the unknown poet or poets who made them. These brilliant poems have at last found a craftsman who understands the secrets of their intricate luminosity, a faithful steward of a distinctive verbal treasure of the language. In this translation these poems shine as brightly and clearly as they did when newly made, pearls without peer in English."--Anne Middleton, University of California, Berkeley

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Product Details

• Paperback: 488 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (April 6, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520078713
• ISBN-13: 978-0520078710
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Collection, but would like more!, February 28, 2008

By 

Jessica Hazlewood (Northern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Complete Works of the Pearl Poet (Paperback)

I have been reading this edition in the context of a university class. The notes on the text are extensive and helpful and the facing page translation makes for a quick and enjoyable read. However, for the purposes of truly studying these texts I would have appreciated having the middle english version glossed on the more obscure M.E. words to enable me to grapple with the original text and language a bit more. I am also partial to texts that annotate on the page rather than endnotes, as the constant flipping back and forth can become tedious, to say the least.
Overall I was surprised how much I enjoyed these stories, especially Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The translation of that was especially enjoyable, so much so, that I read it aloud to my children (5 & 7) and they loved it too.