Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. List of Abbreviations ix
4. Note on Quotations and Scansion xi
5. Preface xiii
6. Introduction. Modernity: The Problem of a History 1
7. PART I. ALLITERATIVE METER, TETRAMETER, POLITICAL PROPHECY
8. Chapter 1. English Political Prophecy: Coordinates of Form and History 25
9. Chapter 2. The Age of Prophecy 47
10. Chapter 3. The Ireland Prophecy and the Future of Alliterative Verse 58
11. Chapter 4. Tetrameter: The Future of Alliterative Verse 74
12. Chapter 5. Where Have All the Pentameter Prophecies Gone? 90
13. PART II. ALLITERATIVE METER, PENTAMETER, LANGLAND
14. Chapter 6. Alliterative Meter and Blank Verse, 1540–1667 103
15. Chapter 7. The Rhymelessness of Piers Plowman 123
16. Chapter 8. Langland’s Meter and Blank Verse, 1700–2000 137
17. PART III. TETRAMETER, PENTAMETER, CHAUCER
18. Chapter 9. Chaucer and the Problem of Modernity 153
19. Chapter 10. Chaucer’s English Metrical Phonology: Tetrameter to Pentameter 161
20. Chapter 11. The Age of Pentameter 178
21. Conclusion. From Archive to Canon 197
22. Appendix A. English Prophecy Books 207
23. Appendix B. Some Texts of English Verse Prophecies Not Noted in NIMEV 211
24. Appendix C. Compilers, Scribes, and Owners of Manuscripts Containing Political Prophecy 219
25. Appendix D. The Ireland Prophecy 227
26. Notes 231
27. Bibliography 259
28. Index of Manuscripts and Rare Printed Books 283
29. Index of Anonymous Poems 285
30. General Index 287
31. Acknowledgments 295