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Book synopsis

While visiting a friend, the writer and cleric Thomas Percy (1729–1811) noticed a neglected folio whose pages were being used by the maids to light the fire. Upon inspection, this manuscript was found to be a seventeenth-century collection of historical ballads. Following this discovery, Percy collected further ballads and songs from a number of sources, which he published in this three-volume work in 1765, although ultimately only a quarter of the texts he presented came from that original manuscript. Although this work proved to be incredibly popular, Percy's idiosyncratic editorial practices also received much criticism. The collection centres on historical ballads and romances, demonstrating the development of language, customs and traditions, to which Percy added contemporary ballads for his readers' enjoyment. Volume 2 includes a rondel which Percy ascribes to Chaucer, as well as verses purported to be by Queen Elizabeth I and King Charles I.

Book details

Book category Books in English Literature & literary studies Poetry Poetry anthologies (various poets)

• Full title: Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
• Subtitle: Consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and Other Pieces of our Earlier Poets
• Author: Thomas Percy
• Language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 382
• EAN: 9781108077255
• ISBN: 1108077250
• ID: 08877720
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Weight: 400 g
• Dimensions: 216 × 140 × 24 mm
• Date of publishing: 29. January 2015

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