Originally published in 1994, Oral Tradition in Middle English is an edited collection providing a multidisciplinary look at the importance and nature of oral tradition in Middle English literature.

Introduction: Oral Poetics in Post-Conquest England Introduction to the Individual Contributions 1. Literacy, Orality, and the Poetics of Middle English 2. Oral Tradition in the Middle English Romance: The Case of Robert of Cisyle 3. Tradition and Heroism in the Middle English Romances 4. The Devil's Writing Lesson 5. Dorigen's Promise and Scholars' Premise: The Orality of the Speech Act in The Franklin's Tale 6. Oral Tradition and the Canterbury Tales 7. "Now Holde Youre Mouthe". The Romance of Orality in the Thopas-Melibee Section of the Canterbury Tales 8. Wyrchipe: The Clash of Oral-Heroic and Literate-Ricardan Ideals in the Alliterative Morte Arthure 9. The Alliterative Morte Arthure As a Witness to Epic Contributors