Excerpt from Selections From Chaucer: Edited by William Allan Neilson and Howard Rollin Patch
In the making of this book the editors have had in mind both the general reader and the student. The texts have been selected to represent, as fully as a volume of selections may, the many sides of Chaucer's genius and the variety of his poetic forms. The introduction is meant to supply the necessary background of information, and deals with the character of the Medieval period in general and of fourteenth century England in particular, the biography of the poet, the dates and sources of his poems, and his quality as an artist. A concise grammar of Middle English, a guide to pronunciation, and a glossary afford the foundation for a thorough grasp of the language.
Skeat's text, which has been taken as a basis, has been collated with the reprints of the Chaucer Society, and a number of principles applied, which, it is hoped, will simplify the task of the student by a greater degree of normalization without any loss of authenticity. Important changes from Skeat's readings, unless supported by manuscript authority, are recorded in the Variant Readings.
It has been possible to include the large variety of Chaucer's works here presented only by resorting to the omission of certain passages. The editors are well aware of the loss from the point of view of the scholar which is involved in a cutting of the text, however skillfully performed. For the exhaustive study of the poet, the present volume will, of course, not suffice. The problem which the editors faced was the quite different one of selecting as much of Chaucer's work as might be read in a single college course, and of making such a course as rich as possible. To print in full the poems chosen would have meant the inclusion of a smaller number of poems, and they were already painfully conscious of how much of high value had to be omitted in any case. Condensation, then, seemed the lesser evil.
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