Wessex Parallel WebTexts

homecontentssearch



""
""
about the project
WPWT
using this website
principles of editing
resources
translations
editions
index of first lines

 

""
About the project

""
Wessex Parallel WebTexts

spiderWessex Parallel WebTexts is a project which aims to link research and teaching by producing scholarly editions freely available on the World Wide Web for student use. Its website offers an electronic anthology of Middle English works in prose and verse, together with background material for use in teaching.

The main purpose of the project is to provide full-scale, self-contained editions of short Middle English texts; each edition will normally include a short introduction, a colour reproduction of the MS, the Middle English text, a Modern English translation, notes, a full glossary, and a booklist.  Annotated translations of some longer Middle English works will also be provided, as well as supplementary material.

Although a variety of Middle English works will be included, the main focus initially will be on early Middle English lyrics, with particular emphasis on the ‘Harley Lyrics’, the largest single collection of EME lyrics, found in London, British Library, MS Harley 2253.

The project is currently being developed by Dr Bella Millett, who is the editor of the material so far published, and is also responsible for the design and maintenance of the website. The initial development was partly supported by a grant from the University of Southampton, and the section on mouvance was produced with the help of a grant in 2002 from the English Subject Centre.

Postscript, September 2014: because of other research commitments, this website has been only partially and intermittently updated over the past ten years. I'm now retiring and will not be maintaining it further, but will be leaving it online for the immediate future for the benefit of anyone who finds it useful.

top

using this website
""
The WPWT website is mainly intended as a learning resource which is cheaper, fuller, and more flexible than a printed student anthology---students might, for instance, print out the texts and translations for classroom use but consult the background material on-screen. It has deliberately been designed simply, to encourage access by the maximum number of readers.

The site was redesigned in 2003 to update its appearance and navigational conventions, but retains the very basic technology and minimalist aesthetic of the original version. The new version is designed for viewing at a screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels or higher, with Internet Explorer version 5 or later (pages can be printed out in 'landscape' format).

Students and tutors are welcome to make use of any material on the website (apart from the copyright images, which must not be reproduced without the written permission of the owners), provided that it is not used for profit and that its source is acknowledged (Wessex Parallel WebTexts, http://www.soton.ac.uk/~wpwt/, ed. Bella Millett, English, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southampton).

top

principles of editing
""
The texts have been re-edited from the manuscripts; where a work survives in more than one MS, the texts will be edited separately rather than conflated. Any emendations have been indicated, and where necessary discussed in the notes. Layout and punctuation have been modernized (for the original layout and punctuation, the MS reproductions can be consulted); spelling has not, but the special character thorn has been replaced by th, and yogh by gh or y according to its phonetic value.
The individual glossaries for each text are arranged in modern alphabetical order for ease of reference; I have not distinguished between u/v consonant and u/v vowel. Cross-references are used to link spelling-variants of the same word; they are also used (where possible) to link past participles beginning in y-, or verb-forms with prefixed pronouns, to the main entry for the verb. All forms of all words are recorded, but not every instance of each word.

home | contents | search | top



Set up by Bella Millett, enm@soton.ac.uk. Last updated 09 September 2014 . SpiderWeb image reproduced by kind permission of its owners; no unauthorized reproduction is permitted.