The Language of Old and Middle English Poetry by G. A. Lester (review)

96Rocky Mountain Review A minor irritation is that in most places the authors referred to other critics and commentators only by last name. Even the references give only last name and initial. This apparent attempt to imitate the "sciences" or to be "non-sexist" was an inconvenience, at least to this reader who is more familiar with American than British critics and so thought of our critic Richard Abrahamson when Knowles and Malmkjaer referred to Abrahamson, who turned out to be a J. Abrahamson, and of our Patty Campbell, when they referred to a Campbell, who turned out to be R. Campbell. The authors were also awkward in trying to be nonsexist by using he Ishe for unknown referents. In most cases it would have been smoother to change the references to plural and referred to "implied readers " as they and to "writers wanting their readers . . . ." ALLEEN PACE NILSEN Arizona State University G. A. LESTER. The Language of Old and Middle English Poetry. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. 182 p. 1 he Language ofOld and Middle English Poetry is the kind ofbook I would love to use in an upper division medieval English literature survey if given the space and time for students to explore language as closely as we ask them to explore texts. Even within the usual confines of typical survey classes or seminars, however, teaching with G. A. Lester's text seems very possible. His subtly perceptive handling of syntactically specific issues such as variation or parataxis, but also of larger historical issues such as the Norman Conquest or chivalry, seems impressively accessible to non-specialists . Taking a cue from Lester's introduction that "this book is aimed ... at the general reader and beginning student" (3), I tried, as I read, to imagine myself a twenty-year-old undergraduate or a newly interested general reader; while on the one hand I perceived some difficulty with terminology, on the other, just as I found myself asking for a definition, Lester would provide a straightforward explanation with useful and telling examples. "Readers," he says, in explaining collocations, "will be constantly stirred by a sense of déjà vu" (74). His distinctions both between both manuscript culture and contemporary publication procedures and between "Anglo-Saxon listeners" (80) and contemporary readers further demonstrate a careful attention to the orientation of his own readers. In an introductory chapter that begins by defining "Old English," "Middle English," and even "medieval," Lester introduces the reader to manuscript culture and the difficulties of contemporary editing procedures. Then, in what he calls his "contextualising" chapters, chapters 2 and 3, Lester provides a social and literary context for the more specific language lessons and analysis contained in the book's remaining "fundamental" chapters (3). In his "contextualising" chapters, Lester immerses his reader in the Book Reviews97 culture that produced the fascinating literature and language that he examines . Then, rather than simply leave the social, cultural, and literary contexts behind, Lester continues in chapters 4-9 to refer to these contexts, mingling them with his close attention to syntax, form, and diction in order to bring the student to a more coherent understanding than a text that merely dispenses with history at its beginning and then plunges the student into a sea of linguistics. Lester focuses, in chapters 4 and 5, respectively, on the diction and syntax of Old English poetry. In chapters 6 and 7, he similarly treats Middle English poetry, also including a necessary examination of rhyme and alliteration . Chapter 8, which presents dialects and different forms of medieval English, might best be used by students particularly interested in variants, specific regional and/or colloquial forms, the impact of translations into English, or class and social influences upon language standards and variants . In his concluding chapter, Lester demonstrates what he calls "specimen analysis" (3) upon sections of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. These applications of the linguistic lessons that have driven the book usefully demonstrate the power and potential of such close, attentive reading and would, I think, serve well as inspiring starting points for students ' own work with texts as well as culture. Lester admirably works both within and without...