Book Review of: Corinne J. Saunders, A Companion to Medieval Poetry

Abstract

The title of this mammoth volume is cause for great delight and slight dismay. On the one hand, it is wonderful to see a collection of this size and ambition devoted to poetry and to see poetry itself described by editor Corinne Saunders as “a rich and important subject, and one that needs introduction in a world where poetry is too little read” (1). Such formulations highlight the volume's pedagogical and evangelizing goals, both of which are most welcome. On the other hand, and as reviewers in other journals have noted, its title is simply inaccurate. This is not “a companion to medieval poetry” but rather a companion to English medieval poetry, or, still more precisely, to medieval poetry in English, since medieval England's vibrant multilingualism is relatively rarely in view. (Three chapters—Andy Orchard's “Old English and Latin Poetic Traditions,” Elizabeth Archibald's “Macaronic Poetry,” and R. F. Yeager's “The Poetry of John Gower,” which treats the poet's French and Latin works extensively—are the most notable and worthy exceptions to this rule.)