This is the first-ever history of the literary theory and criticism produced during the Middle Ages that covers all the main traditions in Latin, the major European vernaculars and Byzantine Greek. Starting with the study of grammar and the formal 'arts' of poetry, letter-writing and preaching, it proceeds to offer a full description of the Latin commentary tradition on classical and classicising literature, followed by explanations of medieval views on literary imagination and memory and the ways in which certain texts were believed to achieve moral profit through pleasure. Subsequent essays explore the diverse theoretical and critical traditions which developed in the vernacular languages, ranging from Medieval Irish to Old Norse, Occitan to Middle High German, concentrating particularly on Dante and his commentators and Italian humanist criticism. The volume concludes with an examination of the attitudes to literature and its uses in Greek Byzantium.

'… illuminating and informative account of medieval European literary theory and criticism, this volume deserves high praise.'

Source: Review of English Studies

'This monumental book … written and masterfully edited by eminent specialists, marks an important innovation in the panorama of medieval studies in the English language.'

Francesco Stella Source: Bryn Mawr Classical Review

'There are rich pickings here for all medievalists in that much of what is discussed transcends the narrow boundaries of individual fields of study … Volume two of The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism is a monument to scholarship that ought to grace the shelves devoted to literary criticism of every self-respecting university library.'

Source: Anglia

'It is a monument, intellectually as well as physically. The editors have assembled an exceedingly impressive group of contributors … this is a technical, densely argued and highly specialized volume … an impressive accomplishment, a book that all medievalists should have and use regularly.'

Norris J. Lacy Source: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching