A Short History of English Poetry
From Tolkien Gateway
| A Short History of English Poetry 1340-1940 | |
|---|---|
| File:Short poetry.jpg | |
| Author | Edited by James Reeves |
| Publisher | London: Heinemann |
| Released | 1961 |
| Format | Hardback in dustwrapper |
| ISBN | None |
A Short History of English Poetry is a book which includes Stanza 32 from J.R.R. Tolkien's Modern English translation of the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The text as printed here contains a number of minor variations compared to the text published in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo (1975).
Tolkien entered into negiations with Heinemann and James Reeve in 1959 to publish the complete translation, but later had to withdraw when he realised that he had already offered it to Allen and Unwin.
