King_Alisaunder
King Alisaunder
Middle English romantic epic
King Alisaunder or Kyng Alisaunder is a Middle English romance or romantic epic in about 4,000 octosyllabic couplets (the length varies between the two main manuscripts).[1][2] It tells the story of Alexander the Great's career from his youth, through his successful campaigns against the Persian king Darius and other adversaries, his discovery of the wonders of the East, and his untimely death. George Saintsbury described King Alisaunder as "one of the most spirited of the romances", and W. R. J. Barron wrote of its "shrewd mixture of entertainment and edification made appetizing by literary and stylistic devices of unexpected subtlety."[3][4]