In Reading Ancient Egyptian Poetry, Richard Parkinson explores how ancient Egyptian poems have been read and perceived across the ages. * Presents an innovative and theoretically-informed account of how the most famous ancient Egyptian poems have been read over 4,000 years * From a leading expert in the interpretation of ancient Egyptian literature * Explores the original experience of ordinary Egyptians enjoying the poems as well as their interpretation during the Middle Kingdom and up to modern times * Draws on recent discoveries in the British Museum archives to reconstruct the contexts of the poems