French lyric poets of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries continued many of the traditions of the earlier Provencal troubadours and northern trouveres and they inherited and developed the fixed forms - the ballade, the rondeau and the virelai. Dr Wilkins's anthology includes many of the finest poems of this period, showing the diversity of themes and structure and their richness and vitality. In his introduction, Dr Wilkins explains the structure and derivation of the fixed forms and gives an exposition of the characteristic themes. A biographical note introduces each poet or school of poets and there is a commentary for each of the poems, bibliographies, a glossary and indexes.