Epic and Romance - Essays on Medieval Literature
Ker W. P.
English
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Transcriber's note:
This text employs some Anglo-Saxon characters, such as the
eth (Ð or ð, equivalent of "th") and the thorn (Þ or þ, also
equivalent of "th"). These characters should display properly
in most text viewers. The Anglo-Saxon yogh (equivalent of
"y," "g," or "gh") will display properly only if the user has
the proper font. To maximize accessibility, the character "3"
is used in this e-text to represent the yogh, e.g., "3ong"
(yong).
EPIC AND ROMANCE
Essays on Medieval Literature
by
W. P. KER
Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
Professor of English Literature in University College
London
MacMillan and Co., Limited
St. Martin's Street, London
1931
Copyright
First Edition (8vo) 1896
Second Edition (Eversley Series) 1908
Reprinted (Crown 8vo) 1922, 1926, 1931
Printed in Great Britain
By R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh
PREFACE
These essays are intended as a general description of some of the
principal forms of narrative literature in the Middle Ages, and as a
review of some of the more interesting works in each period. It is
hardly necessary to say that the conclusion is one "in which nothing
is concluded," and that whole tracts of literature have been barely
touched on--the English metrical romances, the Middle High German
poems, the ballads, Northern and Southern--which would require to be
considered in any systematic treatment of this part of history.
Many serious difficulties have been evaded (in _Finnesburh_, more
particularly), and many things have been taken for granted, too
easily. My apology must be that there seemed to be certain results
available for criticism, apart from the more strict and scientific
procedure which is required to solve the more difficult problems of
_Beowulf_, or of the old Northern or the old French poetry. It is
hoped that something may be gained by a less minute and exacting
consideration of the whole field, and by an attempt to bring the more
distant and dissociated parts of the subject into relation with one
another, in one view.
Some of these notes have been already used, in a course of three
lectures at the Royal Institution, in March 1892, on "the Progress of
Romance in the Middle Ages," and in lectures given at University
College and elsewhere. The plot of the Dutch romance of _Walewein_ was
discussed in a paper submitted to the Folk-Lore Society two years ago,
and published in the journal of the Society (_Folk-Lore_, vol. v. p.
121).
I am greatly indebted to my friend Mr. Paget Toynbee for his help in
reading the proofs.
I cannot put out on this venture without acknowledgment of my
obligation to two scholars, who have had nothing to do with my
employment of all that I have borrowed from them, the Oxford editors
of the Old Northern Poetry, Dr. Gudbrand Vigfusson and Mr. York
Powell. I have still to learn what Mr. York Powell thinks of these
discourses. What Gudbrand Vigfusson would have thought I cannot guess,
but I am glad to remember the wise goodwill which he was always ready
to give, with so much else from the resources of his learning and his
judgment, to those who applied to him for advice.
W. P. KER.
LONDON, _4th November 1896_.
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