Everyman And Medieval Miracle Plays: Everyman And Medieval Miracle Plays (Everyman Paperback Classics)

It's been years since I've read any middle English or medieval texts, about twenty in fact, since I was at university. I started reading this book for research purposes, as we are thinking of staging a mystery play in the school I work in. I found it really hard going to begin with, but then realised that the trick was to read the verses aloud. The punctuation, and the phonetic spelling really help to shape the words as you say them, and their meaning becomes much clearer. After a while I found myself thoroughly enjoying the plays, and reading them for pleasure as much as for research. I am now on my second volume of plays and loving them. The stories are vivid and interesting, the language, if you are at all interested in how English has evolved, is fascinating and the plays are short enough to keep my interest and focus. The history of how and why the plays were produced and who put them on is another factor which really interested me and I actually found myself voluntarily reading all the academic notes and foreward/appendix pages too.

This is a good collection, with a lot of helpful notes to help with translation from the old English, as well as commentary about medieval productions of the plays and the thought that produced these plays.

I bought a copy knowing what I was getting wasn't going to be in perfect condition. The product was deemed "acceptable" and in the description it stated it was ex-library and had the usual marks and stamps. However, there was no mention of the fact that large parts of the play have been scored out using pen and that a number of the pages are very close to falling out. This is not what I would call "acceptable" and instead I feel should have been advertised as "poor". I put a lot of faith in a seller with a high rating and now I feel I placed that trust badly. I desperately needed a copy of this play to use as study material for my course and now I will have to go out and buy another. My money has been wasted and its safe to say I am a very dissatisfied customer who will be careful not to buy from this seller again.

Did not enjoy this, I bought it as it was on my required reading list. Best price on Amazon.

probably the best available collection of Mystery plays and even a Morality play (Everyman) thrown in for good measure. Clearly printed, not "modernised" or over-run with editorial notes. A decent over-view with examples from the major cycles including both the most well-known stories and a few less well-known. All essentially dramatic in their own ways.To notch!

New copy sent to me as gift from my wish list is incomplete. The book looks perfect, but full print length is given as 256 pages and this copy ends on page 240. The last half of "The Death of Pilate" and the Contents of the Cycles lists, that should begin on page 254 are missing.

A.C. Cawley's selection of English medieval plays has shown remarkable durability, and was for its time the best accessible anthology of early English drama. Unfortunately it is now showing its age, leading the reader into all manner of questionable assumptions. It remains, however, one of the only accessible editions of 'Everyman', that archetypal medieval English play now known to be a translation from the Dutch.

There are a number of much better editions of medieval plays out there - this edition is dated and doesn't provide any editorial notes or context for the plays which makes it almost useless as a teaching resource. I would recommend spending the extra money and getting Greg Walker's "Medieval Drama" because it is much more readable (NOT modernized) and complete (lots of context and editorial notes - also includes Everyman and a few other Tudor plays). If you want your students to enjoy medieval drama (or if you study/like medieval drama) then forget this edition.

I liked the side notes and history included in the text.

Il testo offre un insieme di testi fondamentali per conoscere la letteratura inglese medievale. L'apparato critico è utile ed interessante non solo per il lettore esperto

good read and the material allows for lots of room for creative expression

There were hand writings inside

daughter uses at college