Moorman settles upon the moral and ethical issues dealt with by the poet as providing thematic unity within the poet's works, and demonstrates that the poet is everywhere concerned with the problem of man's disobedience to God's plan, and the impurity of life which stems from that disobedience.In the course of this examination, Mr. Moorman is careful to review the various theories of authorship, source material, and purpose which have dominated the previous work on the Pearl-poet. Where they are necessary to an understanding of the poet, medieval concepts, especially those of theology and chivalry, have been explained.The Pearl-Poet thus provides a much-needed general introduction to the works of an author who is, next to Chaucer, the most widely-read English author of the fourteenth century.