English Poetry Before Chaucer (University of Exeter Press - Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies) [Paperback]

M.J. Swanton (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0859896331 | ISBN-13: 978-0859896337 | Publication Date: October 1, 2002 | Edition: Rev Upd

A new and completely revised edition of this authoritative work, intended to encourage personal appreciation and independent appraisal by students of English. This is a stimulating introduction to the poetry composed in an age that witnessed fundamental cultural developments: the emergence of the English from among the warring tribes of Europe, their conversion to Christianity, the development of feudalism and the chivalric myth, the military adventure of the Crusades, and the growth of a vigorous citizen class in the burgeoning towns of England.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Swanton writes with real intelligence and great energy, and many of his brief essays on individual works become quite powerful statements . . . he is a sympathetic and at times superb reader of the poetry.” –Speculum

(Speculum )

About the Author

Michael Swanton is Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Exeter

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: University of Exeter Press; Rev Upd edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0859896331
• ISBN-13: 978-0859896337
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 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: #3,498,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Swanton was a schoolteacher of Keith Richards in the 1950's according to Richards' biography "Life", July 8, 2011

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The Impetuous Sir Laffsalot - See all my reviews

This review is from: English Poetry Before Chaucer (University of Exeter Press - Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies) (Paperback)

In his biography "Life", Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones writes concerning his great disrespect for the foppish, holier-than-thou teachers he had in school while growing up in London in the 1950's. Michael Swanton was one of those teachers. Richards recounts a very humorous tale of how he and a mob of other unruly schoolmates lynched Swanton on the schoolground one day:

"Maybe it was just one term in which, for whatever reason these mad mass bundles would go on in the playing fields. There were about three hundred of us, everybody leaping around. It is strange, thinking back, that nobody stopped us. There were probably just too many of us running about. And nobody got hurt. But it allowed a certain degree of anarchy to the point that when the head prefect did come along and try to stop us one day, he was set upon and lynched. He was one of those perennial martinets, captain of sport, head of school, the most brilliant of all things. He swung his weight around, he would be really officious to the younger kids, and we decided to gve him a taste. His name was Swanton - I remember him well. And it was raining, very nasty weather, and we stripped him and then chased him until he climbed a tree. We left him with his hat and then chased him until that's all he had left on. Swanton came down from the tree and rose to become a professor of medieval studies at the University of Exeter and wrote a key work called 'English Poetry Before Chaucer'" - Keith Richards from "Life" 2010 Back Bay Books/Mindless Records.