Troilus and Criseyde is the most important English writing between the eras of Beowulf, perhaps of the tenth century, and Spenser's Faerie Queene, begun in the 1580s. Before Paradise Lost (1667) it is the most accomplished English narrative in design, ambition, and poetic craft.

This Norton Critical Edition of Chaucer’s masterpiece is based on Stephen Barney’s acclaimed text and is accompanied by a translation of its major source, Boccaccio’s Filostrato. The editor’s lucid introduction, marginal glosses, and explanatory annotations make Troilus and Criseyde easily accessible to students with no prior knowledge of Chaucer or Middle English. Also included is Robert Henryson’s Testament of Cresseid, the poignant "sequel" to Troilus and Criseyde from fifteenth-century Scotland.

"Criticism" includes ten essays by a diverse group of distinguished Chaucerians, among them C. S. Lewis, E. Talbot Donaldson, Karla Taylor, Lee Patterson, and Jill Mann, that illuminate the major scholarly issues raised by this complex and challenging poem.

A Glossary and Selected Bibliography are also included.

Introduction

The Text of Troilus and Criseyde, with facing page Il Filostrato

　THe Yestament of Cresseid by Robert Henryson

Criticism

　C.S. Lewis·What Chaucer Really Did to Il Filostrato

　Morton W. Bloomfield·Distance and Predestination in Troilus and Criseyde

　E. Talbot Donaldson·The Ending of Troilus

　Sheila Delaney·Techniques of Alienation in Troilus and Criseyde

　David Taylor·The Term of Love: A Study of Troilus’s Style

　Richard F. Green·Troilus and the Game of Love

　Karla Taylor·Proverbs and the Authentication of Convention in Troilus and Criseyde

　Lee Patterson·From Chaucer and the Subject of History

　Louise O. Fradenburg·Our own wo to drynke: Loss, Gender, and Chivalry in Troilus and Criseyde

　Jill Mann·From Feminizing Chaucer

Glossary

Selected Bibliography