The texts are arranged by date of manuscript, foregrounding issues of dating, textual transmission, authorship and audience
Full translations are offered for all the Old and earlier Middle English material, along with marginal glosses for the later texts, making them accessible to those who are not language specialists
A general introduction gives an outline of the key works and the historical context in which they were written
It contains an imaginative selection of canonical and non-canonical material, and can be used both to facilitate group discussion and to encourage independent student research Less