The Northern Homily Cycle is a Middle English poem written c. 1315. The poem consists of approximately 20,000 rhyming, octosyllabic lines.[1][2] It features a Middle English retelling of the Gospel in verse form, alongside stories to illustrate the points of the verses and messages.[3] Many of these illustrative stories use familiar, agricultural examples, calling to mind Chaucer's tales.[2][3]
The work is anonymous, however the text suggests that the author "wrote in his native dialect and was well versed in the lore of the north country."[1]
A good copy of it can be found in Oxford Bodleian Eng. Poet. a.1, a 14th-century manuscript.[citation needed]
A Cambridge manuscript of the poem has been edited by Saara Nevanlinna.[citation needed]
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