Professor J. A. W. Bennett was one of the foremost English medievalists of this century. Middle English Literature bears witness to his great erudition and to his characteristic sensitivity and elegance of style. The reader is presented with a comprehensive and authoritative study of writing from The Owl and the Nightingale to Piers Plowman . Well known works, such as the Pearl , are examined in a fresh and original way, and some neglected writers, like the Scottish poet Barbour, are at last given their critical due. For the first time, justice is done to the distinction of much of the large body of prose produced in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, notably by the religious writers such as Julian of Norwich. This will remain a standard work of reference for students and scholars of the subject for many years to come. This book is intended for students and scholars of English literature in the Medieval period.