most flexible language that ever expressed a poet's thought.

In tracing the development of the literature of this period, we have
noted (1) the metrical romances; (2) Geoffrey of Monmouth's (Latin)
_History of the Kings of Britain_, and Layamon's _Brut_, with their
stories of Lear, Cymbeline and King Arthur; (3) the _Ormulum_, a
metrical paraphrase of those parts of the _Gospels_ used in church
service; (4) the _Ancren Riwle_, remarkable for its natural eloquent
prose and its noble ethics, as well as for showing the development of
the language; (5) the lyrical poetry, beginning to be redolent of the
odor of the blossom and resonant with the song of the bird; (6) the
_Handlyng Synne_, in which we stand on the threshold of modern
English; (7) Mandeville's _Travels_, with its entertaining stories;
(8) Wycliffe's monumental translation of the _Bible_ and vigorous
religious prose pamphlets; (9) _Piers Plowman_, with its pictures of
homely life, its intense desire for higher ideals and for the
reformation of social and religious life; (10) Gower's _Confessio
Amantis_, a collection of tales about love; and (11) Chaucer's poetry,
which stands in the front rank for the number of vivid pictures of
contemporary life, for humor, love of nature, melody, and capacity for
story-telling.

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY

HISTORICAL

An account of the history of this period may be found in either
Gardiner[40], Green, Lingard, Walker, or Cheney. Volumes II. and III.
of the _Political History of England_, edited by Hunt (Longmans), give
the history in greater detail. For the social side, consult Traill, I.