This book argues that literary works relating to Robin Hood and his fellow greenwood characters are neither "ephemeral" nor "low-quality" literature, but are frequently works of great quality which should be included in the canon of significant literary works in English.

Introduction: The Medieval Outlaw/ed Canon: Literary and Ideological Thresholds and Boundaries 1. Robin Hood and the Margins of Romance: Insights on Canon Formation and Maintenance 2. By Words and By Deeds: The Role of Performance in Shaping the "Canon" of Robin Hood 3. Robin Hood and the King and Commoner Tradition: "The best archer of ilkon, / I durst mete hym with a stone" 4. Robin Hood's Passions: Emotion and Embodiment in Anthony Munday's The Downfall and The Death of Robert, Earle of Huntington (c. 1598) 5. Canonicity and "Robin Hood": The Morris Dance and the Meaning of "Lighter than Robin Hood" in the Prologue to Fletcher and Shakespeare's The Two Noble Kinsmen 6. Ben Jonson's The Sad Shepherd, the Theme of Compassion, and the Robin Hood Canon 7. "Gone, the Song of Gamelyn": John Keats and the Medieval Robin Hood 8. The Legend of Janosik and the Polish Novel About Robin Hood as Continuations of the Medieval Outlaw Tradition 9. What a Canon Wants: Robin Hood, Romance Novels, and Carrie Lofty's What a Scoundrel Wants 10. Children's Literature Canon, Robin Hood, Children's Literature Criticism 11. Doing Yeoman Work: Uses of the Robin Hood Tales in the Undergraduate Survey