This anthology is intended to answer the need for a large-scale anthology of early Scottish Literature, which is felt particularly acutely in the academic field. It has been designed as a teaching text suitable for use by students and at advanced level in schools. Longer works are either presented complete - e.g. James I, 'Kingis Quair'; or by sections which sum up the main themes and concerns of the text - e.g Barbour's 'Bruce' Book I. There are full critical and linguistic introductions; brief biographical and bibliographic introductions for each author or subsection; the texts have all been re-edited; every difficult word is glossed, and full explanatory notes appear at the foot of each page.A noteworthy feature of the book is Professor Jack's Critical Introduction, 'Where Stands Scottish Literature Now?'. This challenges many widely-held assumptions about Scottish Literature, in particular the tendency to undervalue or even ignore the writers of the seventeenth century in Scotland. Among other things the Introduction seeks to explore the reasons behind this strange neglect.
Basing its argument on the texts of the Anthology as a whole, it seeks to redefine the accepted canon and suggests an alternative way of approaching Scottish literary history.