J. A. Burrow shows that the literature of authors such as Chaucer, Gower, and Langland is more readily accessible than usually imagined, and well worth reading too. By placing medieval writers in their historical context - the four centuries between the Norman Conquest and the Renaissance - Professor Burrow explains not only how they wrote, but why. This book provides a valuable introduction to the problems which a modern reader encounters when approaching Middle English writings for the first time.