Best christian poetry books according to redditors
We found 59 Reddit comments discussing the best christian poetry books. We ranked the 42 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
8. The Canterbury Tales: Fifteen Tales and the General Prologue (Norton Critical Editions)
2 mentions
Not really what you are looking for, but it is somewhat related and may be of interest to someone: The Penguin Book of English Verse is an anthology of poetry sorted chronologically, rather than by author.
The concept is that you can get a feeling of what kind of verse the public would hear/read and how the language and the themes would evolve as the years went on. But one could read it backwards by starting with contemporary poets and ending with the Middle English verse of 1300s (there are notes for the most difficult words).
It's number one in British and Irish Poetry!
The Canterbury Tales was extremely popular for at least a century after the author died. It has also been copied and reprinted for the last 600 years? Please recommend one other book from the late 1300's which you found more enjoyable.
I found the Canterbury Tales to be funny, surprising, and occasionally shocking. I wouldn't recommend reading them in the original language, but a modern translation is a great source of information on the culture of late Medieval England. The irreverent attitude toward the church and the focus on cuckoldry alone are invaluable contributions to anyone's understanding of the period.
I recommend this edition of the Inferno. John Ciardi does a wonderful translation. While not every stanza rhymes Ciardi manages to write with a similar iambic pentameter found in the original. At the end of each Canto ("Chapter") Ciardi includes footnotes for every word and reference the reader might not understand (I know I sure didn't) as well as summaries at the beginning of each Canto so you know exactly what the Hell you're reading.
I'd probably start here in order to get an idea of Britain on the macro scale.
While bountyonme mentions Saxons ruling from 410AD to 1066, the term "rule" is rather loose, as they were constantly being attacked and invaded by Nordic peoples, even having one as their king for a period of time.
And before even that, there was the Roman rule of England, which shouldn't be overlooked, as the Romans had a major impact on the entirety of Europe, and with England so far away from Roman Empire's Mediterranean hub, there was a different flavor of Roman imperialism there than in Italy or France, which left its mark on Britain even after the fall of Rome
Finally, when you're looking at British history, if you're curious about the various cultural elements of the Isles, and how the Brits perceived themselves and others, I would suggest reading Beowulf, with Tolkien's essay on it which examines how the tale provides a peek into the cultural mindset of the period. Also, if you want a somewhat amusing read, check out Gerald of Wales' Topography of Ireland, the section on Irish miracles is especially interesting.
Also, returning to bountyonme, definitely definitely definitely read The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer's poetry is equal parts beautiful and humorous. I would suggest reading it in its original Middle English, if you can get a handle on it. Many of the translations remove much of the beauty and humor of the work, leaving a dry, lifeless piece of shit and besmirching the genius's name. I would suggest this edition if you can handle the price or get it through interlibrary loan, it's well-footnoted, provides a primer on how to read/understand Middle English, and uses the most complete edition of the texts.
Welcome to the confusing/frustrating/entertaining/well-worthwhile arena of Medieval history.
First of all, welcome back, brother. I am especially touched that your fiancée would even suggest to find a Catholic Church. (As an aside, you're not a convert; you're a revert since you're already baptized into the Church. I thought maybe you'd appreciate that factoid.)
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>I am looking for information about your Church, whatever you think is important to know.
There is a lot to know and many here would recommend a million and one things to study, especially since it sounds like you enjoy a good intellectual pursuit. I'm not going to discount others' recommendations, but I do want to highlight one thing: learn more about Jesus first. Find out what He taught, who He is, what His disciples and closest friends said about Him, what the Old Testament said about Him, etc. To that end...
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>I am looking for recommendations for a Catholic-approved version of the Bible, geared towards someone who appreciates philosophy and prefers something close to the original translations, or the most accepted by the Church.
First thing to note, all Catholic Bibles have 72 books. Protestants have 66. If you can't get a hold of a Catholic Bible, a Protestant one will do for now until you do get around to buying a Catholic one. Now, as for Catholic Bibles, if you speak/read Latin you can't go wrong with the Vulgate Bible. It's a Bible that was translated by St. Jerome who was fluent in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; he had the original manuscripts -- some of which are lost to us today -- so his translations are widely accepted as authentic and faithful.
There's also the English version of the Vulgate Bible known as the Douay-Rheims. It's an almost word-for-word translation of the Latin so the English will sound archaic to our modern ears. It's not as frustrating as, say, reading Shakespeare but it's pretty close. I personally prefer (and currently use) a Douay-Rheims Bible that has the Clementina Vulgata beside it. It's essentially Latin and English side by side. You can find one here.
If want one with plain English, the New American Bible Revised Edition would suffice. (If you use this website, let me know. I have a discount code from my last purchase.)
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>I know nothing of the culture or norms of the Church, or what to expect as a new member.
One major rule to remember is that you can't receive Holy Communion until after you've gone to Confession. Given your situation, I would recommend setting up an appointment with a parish priest so he can give his full attention to you and your needs.
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>I do not know how to introduce myself to the congregation
There's usually no need to introduce yourself to the congregation since parishes tend to be big. If you would like to formally introduce yourself, however, give the parish priest a call and set up a meeting with him. It would also be a great chance to speak with him about your situation and get some pastoral guidance.
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>or tell a good Catholic church from a lesser one
Many here would recommend a more traditional parish. If that's not available, I'd say any Catholic church would do. If you're unsure about a particular church's standing, just give us the details on this sub. I'm sure someone here would be able to double check for you.
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>I know nothing of the Saints or the miracles, or what has been confirmed by the Church and what hasn't.
These are things you can learn later on. Focus on Jesus first. Rebuild your relationship with Him. Start with the basics; if you don't, you might burn yourself out. There is A LOT to learn about the Faith. Some say it's a lifelong endeavour. :P
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>I am also looking for a reading list to explore Catholic philosophy beyond those you typically encounter in standard philosophical reading, such as Aquinas or Pascal.
Hmmm... this depends on what sorts of things interest you. A good one that lightly touches on philosophy is Socrates Meets Jesus by Peter Kreeft (anything by this guy is pretty good, by the way).
A book that may be more pressing to your current situation is Why Be Catholic? by Patrick Madrid and Abraham Skorka, Why We're Catholic by Trent Horn, as well as Why I am a Catholic by Brandon Vogt. (They might need to work on a more original title, though :P) Since you have an Evangelical background, Crossing the Tiber by Steve Ray might be helpful (although it can be a bit dry; also, it mostly deals with the Church's teaching on Baptism and the Eucharist) as well as Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn.
You can never go wrong with classics such as a collection of C. S. Lewis' works, The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton, and Confessions by St. Augustine.
If you want a historical examination of Jesus and the Early Church, a good place to start is The Case for Christ by Brant Pitre, The History of the Church: From Christ to Constantine by St. Eusebius, and The Fathers Know Best by Jimmy Akin. I'd like to thrown in Jesus, Peter, and the Keys by Scott Butler, Norman Dahlgren, and David J. Hess. This last one pertains to the Catholic claim regarding the papacy (and which I think is one of the strongest arguments in favour of the Catholic Church being the original one that the Lord founded).
Finally, there are YouTube channels you can follow/binge watch such as Bishop Robert Barron and Ascension Presents. Also, an amazing video about the Catholic Faith is a series made by Bishop Barron when he was "just" a priest called Catholicism.
I'm sorry if that's overwhelming but you raised some good questions. :P Anyway, I imagine it may be a lot right now so take it slowly, don't dive in through all of it at once. Find a local Catholic church, call up the priest, set up a meeting, then take it from there. And remember, you can always pray; God's always willing to talk with you.
I don't know about adding stuff like the tale of beryn or finishing off the cook's tale, but the Nevill Coghill version is the adaptation most accepted by critics today.
Peter Ackroyd did a prose translation of it in modern English that's meant to be very good as well.
Either one retains the subversive humour of the original. I wouldn't worry about a feeling of cohesion - all Chaucer intended is a collection of tales. These two are very 'complete' as far as I can tell, and any incompleteness is only really frustrating to Chaucer scholars.
My personal take on them is that they are a fascinating way of getting into a medieval mind, so I read the original text, with help from notes of course. They are funny, rude, exciting ... this is high-quality entertainment. There's a reason they've survived 700 years.
Philip Larkin, for one.
>They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
>They may not mean to, but they do.
>They fill you with the faults they had
> And add some extra, just for you.
>
>But they were fucked up in their turn
> By fools in old-style hats and coats,
>Who half the time were soppy-stern
> And half at one another's throats.
>
>Man hands on misery to man.
> It deepens like a coastal shelf.
>Get out as early as you can,
> And don't have any kids yourself.
Just by way of example. I also highly recommend T.S. Eliot (The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a good introduction; The Waste Land is somewhat harder, but well worth it) and Ezra Pound.
Also not a waste of your time: Wilfred Owen (specifically, "Three rompers run together hand in hand"; helps if you know he wrote his poetry while fighting in World War I, and eventually died in that war), Thomas Wyatt ("Whoso list to hunt," and pretty much all his sonnets; a little biographical research also makes his poetry more rewarding, but it also stands well on its own), the Fitzgerald "translation" of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the poetry of Li Po (also spelled Li Bai) if you want to broaden your horizons outside English stuff. If you're not sure the poetry of someone who's been dead for 1200 years has much to offer you, consider this:
>Alone on Jian-Ting
>
>The birds take wing and fade away;
>The last cloud slowly disappears;
>We watch each other, the mountain and I,
>Until only the mountain remains.
And this is stuff you'll probably hate but that I will mention anyway because I like them and they are awesome: the Andrew George translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh (because it's excellent, and not one of those interminably dull prose translations; seriously, why the fuck do people find prose translations of verse acceptable?), and Gawain and the Green Knight (I recommend an edition that has the original Middle English side by side with the Modern English, or even better, a Middle English copy with a gloss of the difficult vocabulary in the margin).
EDIT: While I'm on the subject of translations and editions for poetry (but also literature in general): there are a lot of bad translations out there. The less well-known the language is, generally, the worse the average standard. The key, I have often found, are editions that come with a lot of additional scholarly errata, which are usually useful in providing context and additional insight. Penguin Classics editions are usually fantastic (this is how I found both the Andrew George translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is still one of my favorite books of all time, and a fantastic copy of Njal's Saga, which, although somewhat outside the scope of your original request being longish prose rather than poetry, is highly entertaining and you should check it out), and when I go to the bookstore these days I tend to be awed by the broad range of texts they cover. Norton anthologies are also excellent.
If you want a range of poetry to survey and find what you like, my brother swears by the Penguin Book of English Verse.
I recommend the Allen Mandelbaum translation. It's very faithful to the text, but also readable, and is printed alongside the original poem.
I just bought a nicely bound Longfellow version with these illustrations at Costco. As well as a pork roast and dog food.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1607109913/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
Thanks for the link!
I think you would be interested in this book of Christian Mystic poetry.
For Lovers of God Everywhere: Poems of the Christian Mystics
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401923879/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_K2nTBbV9115BM
I'd recommend Anthony Esolen's translations: https://www.amazon.ca/Inferno-Dante/dp/034548357X/
It's a little more recent so the translated language is easier to get into. His annotations also tend to deal with things on the character, historical, and literary level. Older translations (i.e. Mandelbaum) tended to deal with more esoteric things like Medieval Astrology, which I found less relevant.
I always kind of liked Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Book of Job:
"God damn the day I was born
and the night that forced me from the womb..."
Job's agony seems more real.
I thought this poem was apt for you. It is a sonnet to Mary Magdalene, who for centuries was regarded as a former prostitute.
Men called you light so as to load you down,
And burden you with their own weight of sin,
A woman forced to cover and contain
Those seven devils sent by Everyman.
But one man set you free and took your part
One man knew and loved you to the core
The broken alabaster of your heart
Revealed to Him alone a hidden door,
Into a garden where the fountain sealed,
Could flow at last for him in healing tears,
Till, in another garden, he revealed
The perfect Love that cast out all your fears,
And quickened you with love’s own sway and swing,
As light and lovely as the news you bring.
--- by Malcolm Guite, in https://smile.amazon.com/Sounding-Seasons-Seventy-sonnets-Christian/dp/1848252749/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Sounding+the+Seasons&qid=1559079149&s=gateway&sr=8-1
When I first studied the Inferno, I used my professor's translation. It's formatted in the original poetic form but doesn't retain the poetry itself and contains notes and introductions for every Canto. It's very much a translation for learning the poem targeted at people who haven't read it before, or who want a solid base with the Inferno.
Consider that a plug for the Simone translation. It's little-known and won't wow any serious scholars, but anyone who's interested in starting work on the Comedy might want to pick it up. I believe his translation of Purgatorio is either out or will be out soon, as well.
My husband is taking a grad class on Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales is mostly what they're focusing on. This is the book that was required for class, but it appears to be annotated, instead of the side by side. We recently bought this one from Barnes and Noble, which I just pulled off the shelf and flipped through and looks like it's more what you're looking for, with the Middle English on one page, and the translation of Modern English on the opposite page. He also has this book for his class that seems to give more of a history of the time period. I don't know if you're interested in that one at all, but I thought I'd through it out there for you.
Hope this helps!
I really like this one. I think the compiler is a Baha'i for disclosure's sake, but I've gifted it to Muslim, Christian, and other friends who have appreciated it. It does include some Hindu and Native American prayers that while not explicitly polytheistic might not appeal to all monotheists.
Is it this?
this is the edition I'm using with my students right now and they seem to be pretty into it.
This is the main contention behind Walton's newest book, The Lost World of the Torah: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-World-Torah-Covenant-Ancient/dp/0830852417
I have not read the book (yet!) but it's at least promoted by a very prominent Old Testament scholar.
> Because court chose to put them there
Yes, as punishment.
I do not agree that hell is some sort of "cosmic prison" precisely because its purpose is not punitive. Punishment in the Christian system exists so that one can be reformed, so that one might have the impetus to change one's ways and become a better person (in that sense Purgatory is far more analogous to a prison: it is punishment for sins with the purpose of being corrective—we do call prisons "correctional facilities," after all).
Yet hell does not exist to reform the sinner. Reform in hell is impossible, because one's renunciation of love is absolute. Rather, hell is the unfortunate logical necessity of the Christian soteriological framework. If we are free beings then we must be able to make the free choice not to love. Given that human beings are immortal, there must be a post-earthly place for those who choose not to love; hence, hell.
Another work to recommend would be Dante's Inferno, in which that greatest of Italian poets imagines that those in hell are so attached to their sins that they would choose the sin over anything else, even over the possibility of love.
Have the read The Inferno by Dante? That will knock your socks off. I recommend the Ciardi translation as he provides helpful plot summaries before each Canto and notes after. Both of which are necessary for anyone unfamiliar with the work to truly appreciate and understand its brilliance.
Here are a few book resources and a web source:
Oxford Guide to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, edited by Helen Cooper: Descriptions of each tale, along with discussion of sources, critical context, structure, and themes. Indispensable if you're just getting started with Chaucer.
The Wife of Bath, edited by Peter Beidler: Part of the series Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism, this book only includes the portions of CT that deal with the Wife of Bath, but it also includes descriptions of how the major theoretical schools deal with this tale, including an essay for each. So you'll get the perspectives of a deconstructionist, a new historicist, a feminist, a marxist, and a psychoanalitic critic on this one tale. Really useful if you're looking to get a wide range of critical perspectives.
And, of course, see if you can find the Norton Critical Edition of the Canterbury Tales, edited by Kolve and Olson. These always include a number of contextual readings, sources and analogues, and critical articles.
Hopefully, your library will have at least one of these books. Any of them would be useful. I've linked the Amazon pages of each for more details.
For a web source, check out the Harvard Chaucer page. Interlinear translations, critical introductions, bibliographies, and sources and analogues for each tale. A really complete site.
Good luck!
> Are you seriously suggesting that Catholicism and Protestantism don't interpret the bible differently?
What I'm seriously suggesting is that Catholics and Protestants, Evangelicals and liberals don't interpret this text differently. It is this text that is the issue in our conversation.
> Well for starters what is your opinion on the deuterocanonical books?
That has nothing to do with the interpretation of this text. You're claiming that there's a different interpretation of this text, and I'd like to see it. Please share your source and exegesis with me. That's what I asked.
> So that was the best your God could come up with?
We're not discussing God being creative in fabricating something. We're analyzing their culture and what a woman would think is an agreeable solution in their culture.
> Where exactly does it say the woman chooses whether to marry her rapist?
I've explained several times that we take the Torah as a whole. The Torah is not legislation, but legal wisdom. It's casuistic, not apodictic. In the Torah, communities, families, witnesses, prosecutor and defendants are all involved in the process. It wasn't like our system at all. In Exodus 22.16-17, we can see that parents were involved. In Deuteronomy 22, in numerous places, we can see the involvement of the family. That's the way the Torah worked. You are trying to squeeze the biblical text into some narrow, legislative box that it was never meant to be in. Ancient Israel didn't function legally like our courts do today. They were based in wisdom and community involvement, not legislation and isolation.
> we have absolutely nothing that states the daughter has any choice who she marries.
In Genesis 24.57, in the discussions about marriage, they confer with Rebecca (the bride to be) about the decisions being made. In 1 Samuel 25.41, Abigail decides on her on to become David's wife.
> Ok but we are talking about the same Mosaic laws that also give specific instructions on how fathers should sell their daughters?
You're talking about Ex. 21.7-11. Again, some study on your part would be of value rather than just surface reading. And some background information about the culture. The section is about marriage. In days of arranged marriages, daughters would be given in return for a dowry. Marriage was as much an economic arrangement as a social one. You'll notice here that the sale of a daughter into slavery is a marriage arrangement as a way of paying off a debt. As such, once the debt is paid, or if the seventh year came around, she could go free (Dt. 15.17). But if the daughter wished to marry the man who was now her "employer," so to speak, that was an option as well. If that were the case, the debt would be liquidated. This was a mechanism to protect those in poverty, and to protect the rights of the woman given to a man with this understanding. The debt would be paid, the daughter would have a husband, and he must treat her properly. You see in Ex. 21.8 that if the man is not pleased with her, he can't just dump her or abuse her, but must let her be redeemed by someone else in proper, legal form. If he passes her on to his son (v. 9), she becomes a daughter instead of his wife, and certainly not a slave. Verse 10 speaks of provision of food, clothing, and marital rights. If he falters on any of these points, she is free to go (11). There is nothing about this that is brutal.
> doesn't excuse the countless times it says absolutely abhorrent things about women.
Excuse me?
> Deuteronomy 22:20-21 literally states that if it can not be proved that she is a virgin that she is to be stoned to death.
As I've been saying, the Torah is casuistic, no apodictic. It's legal wisdom, not legislation. Though they had legal right to exercise capital punishment, there's no record that anyone ever did. Just as in our society man criminals are sentenced to death, but few are executed. Execution is the "full extent of the law," but it's not practiced, and the judge has that discretion. But it is true that a wise judge would find an appropriate way to punish guilty people for the wrong they have done. That's the whole point of justice.
You keep reading these texts through the worldview of our modern, legislative culture, but their culture, worldview, and practice were totally different.
> "The Torah is not legislative, but legal wisdom." How do you know this?
I digested "The Lost World of the Torah" by Walton and Walton. (https://www.amazon.com/Lost-World-Torah-Covenant-Ancient/dp/0830852417/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=the+lost+world+of+the+torah&qid=1558468873&s=books&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1). I've also read numerous commentaries on the Torah, such as Jacob MIlgrom's Anchor Bible Commentaries, Daniel Block, J.A. Thompson, Paul Copan, Bible background material (cultural studies), I read Biblical Archaeology Review and get loads of information from it.
> The above verses are very clearly commandments about what to do if a woman can not prove she is a virgin. Why do you think this is not legislative?
Because none of the Torah is legislative. The ancient Hebrews actually had no term for "law." "Torah" means "instruction." The ancient texts (even Hammurabi, Sumerian, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian) are all collections of legal wisdom, not legislation. In the olden days, judges never studied case law, memorized precedents, and argued legislation. The village would pick the wisest man, and he was supposed to make wise and good decisions. These men were expected to know the covenant with God and be oriented toward representing Him well. That's how it worked in ancient Israel, and in all the ancient cultures.
> You literally just said in your previous reply that they were the property of their fathers...
They were only "property" in the sense that they were an important part of the economic picture—a financial asset to the family. They were not property in the sense of chattel or ownership.
> Sure, the father could make money by selling his daughter.
Nope, nope, this is not it. Their culture worked by debt slavery (what we call "employment"). If the family were in debt, the fam could farm out themselves or the kids as work for hire (what they called "debt slaves") to pay it off. The "master" didn't own their person, he owned their labor (much like in our world). When the debt was paid, the worker could go "free." The dad wasn't selling his daughter to make money. She was working for his lender to pay off a debt.
> That is precisely why they was a specific commandment that allowed for the rapist to marry his victim, so that that the victims father wouldn't lose out an the money he could get for selling his daughter.
No, no, no no no. This isn't it at all. The dowry was an important financial asset for the family losing a valuable worker. In this sort of system, the exchange of goods (dowry and bride price) was part of the transaction for a new relationship between families. The dowry (given by the father to the bride) provided security for the wife in the possibility that her husband would die, abandon her, or divorce her. The bride price (given by the groom to the bride’s father) reimbursed the bride’s family for a lost laborer. We might think that these exchanges reflected a belief that the woman was a commodity to be purchased, but that would be a misunderstanding. But the woman and the man, along with the exchange of goods, were part of a community merger.
> "If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do." Exodus 21:7
OK, I think we've covered this ground. When a daughter was "sold" by her father, this was intended as both a payment of debt and a way of obtaining a husband for a girl without a dowry. She has more rights than a male in the sense that she can be freed from slavery if her master does not provide her with food, clothing, and marital rights.
when a father sells his daughter, he is doing so out of economic desperation, which is more like contracted employment. The father would do this out of concern for his family, and Israel’s laws provided a safety net for its very poorest. Voluntary selling was a matter of survival in harsh financial circumstances. Temporarily contracting out family members to employers, who also provided room and board, was the most suitable alternative during hard times. Safety nets shouldn’t become hammocks, and a typical servant tried to work off the terms of his contract and become debt free.
The versions I got, this publisher for all three, had a couple good things in it. One, the italian was on the left hand pages, the english on the right, so you could still see the poetry. Two, all of the three were about 300 pages of text, and then about a hundred pages of finer print notes. I didn't read all the notes, but I used a good bit of them. They definitely helped me understand a good part of the history I definitely was lost on.
Should you go back? Yes. That's my opinion. The translation I had, even if you didn't read the notes, was simply a beautiful sounding translation. The beginning of purgatory is the most boring part, which I didn't even think bad, but it definitely gets better and more interesting when he goes through the seven deadly sins. Paradise is simply awe inspiring. You need to get through Purgatory just to get to Paradise. Purgatory was the worst of the three if I had to rank.
This is by far my personal favorite translation of Inferno. I've tried a couple of other translations, they just weren't as poetic. I also like that this has the original Italian side-by-side with the English, and the illustrations are interesting.
Sorry, I wrote the title incorrectly. It's "the Poetry Revival presents: Year of the Elephant Engine
http://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Engine-Saxton-Christian-Derrick/dp/0982148844
Sure, here ya go. The Inferno (Signet Classics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0451531396/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_lvCgzb224412C
I believe that is the same version that I read, but my version didn't have the second two books in the trilogy. Here is the version I have: The Inferno (Signet Classics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0451531396/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_WKYCAbM8M328J. If I had to bet, I would say that the version you linked has the chapter summaries as well.
Related reading/viewing for becoming a vessel of beautiful soulfire: Art Psalms by Alex Grey
Baby Rudin, The Inferno, DPV
It depends on what you want to read in Middle English. My medieval lit class last semester (full disclosure--I'm a classics major, not English) got me reading Chaucer's Middle English pretty easily. It really isn't so bad after the initial learning curve. I recommend getting this edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales--there seem to be some cheaper used copies--and just reading it. It's pretty well glossed, and although Chaucer's ME can be deceptively easy (a good number of false friends), it's more accessible than, say, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I'm no expert, but if Chaucer is your goal, read Chaucer. If he's not, I can't really help you, unfortunately--hopefully someone more knowledgeable will comment.
For a more 'Medieval Literature' folklore focus:
If you'd like actual fiction/novel recommendations, I'm happy to give those as well! Just say the word.
I am fond of Dorothy Sayers verse translation, but not everyone likes it--and she did not finish it.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Divine-Comedy-Part-Classics/dp/0140440062/
Anthony Esolen's translation is very readable:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/034548357X
haha - I may just do it myself:
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Ways-Poems-Companions-Journey/dp/1893996654
http://www.amazon.com/Ikkyu-Crow-Mouth-Century-Master/dp/1556591527/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/07/the-story-of-ikkyu-founder-of-red-thread-zen-buddhism-daniel-scharpenburg/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikky%C5%AB
> I also want actual english poem collections too
this is the only part where I can help. I suggest The Penguin Book of English Verse (don't be put off by the average rating, many reviews are just against the lack of an index in the kindle version).
It's a very wisely chosen and various collection of poems ranging from 1300 to 1994 and sorted by date rather than by author - so you can dive in a certain period if you feel like it, or just read in a sequence and see how the language and the themes evolved. I've been perusing it for months and I keep on finding gems inside.
It's pretty cheap too.