12 Middle English Alliterative Poetry
Dr. Mahuya Bhaumik
OBJECTIVES OF THE CHAPTER: This module deals with Middle English alliterative poetry. It focuses on its journey from the Old English period and dwells on the factors that led to its resurgence in the Middle English period. After referring to the early examples of alliterative verse, this module lays stress on both the thematic aspects and stylistic devices of the signature alliterative works of the period. It also concentrates on the role of these verses as vehicles of social protest.
INTRODUCTION:
The revival and resurgence of alliterative tradition of Anglo-Saxon literature can be observed around 1350 after remaining hidden for almost two hundred years. The last known alliterative poem before the revival is Layamon’s Brut which dates around 1190. Then after a prolonged gap, approximately between 1350 and 1400 several poems appeared in a particular metre which can be traced as a continuous development from the old four-beat alliterative measure of Beowulf and Cynewulf. It was the same metrical pattern, but with significant changes. Alliteration was meant more for decorative purpose than for structural requirement since the line was turned into the unit of thought. For many poets searching the letter turned into a passion and the alliteration occurred on three syllables in a half-line or carried through consecutive lines. Majority of poems belonging to the alliterative revival belong to the north and northwest Midlands, with a few exceptions like Piers Plowman which came from west Midlands.
CAUSES OF REVIVAL:
The conquests of Edward III in France worked as an impetus for the re-emergence of national self-consciousness. Moreover, English ousted French as the official language of the court and the school. Eventually the Parliament was opened in English language in 1362. In the mean time, the different dialects of English language were going through a process of simplification; the language itself was getting rid of inflections and was tending to attain a universal stature. Hence, it was quite natural on the part of the poets associated with this revival to give emphasis on the national forms of verse following the alliterative tradition.
EARLY INSTANCES OF ALLITERATIVE VERSE:
The earliest instances of alliterative verse of which only fragments remain are a part of a romance on the Holy Grail or Joseph of Arimathea and two parts of an Alexander romance titled Alexander A and Alexander B. The first one is a concise version of a long French prose work and is marked by a seriousness of style which is in accordance with mystical nature of the narrative. The Alexander fragments are brilliant examples of graphic descriptions (discussed in details in Module 7). Another alliterative verse which deserves mention here is William of Palerne composed by a poet named William. A single surviving manuscript of the English version (translation of a French romance poem) is preserved at King’s College, Cambridge.
PEARL, PURITY, PATIENCE:
In the seventeenth century Sir Robert Cotton compiled several unique manuscripts like the two texts of Layamon’s Brut, the Beowulf codex, the Ludus Coventriae. His compilation also includes a quarto volume known as Nero A x. It contains four alliterative poems of the fourteenth century along with twelve crude illustrations depicting certain episodes of particular poems. The texts are not accompanied by any title. However, they have been named according to their position in the manuscript as Pearl, Purity (or Cleanness), Patience and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Impressive usage of the alliterative tradition is found in this manuscript preserved in the British Museum. All of these poems are written in West Midland dialect. The first three are religious poems among which Pearl is considered to be both an elegy on the poet’s deceased two-year old daughter and also an allegory of Christian faith. Some think that the pearl is a symbol of the virtue of purity while others consider it to be a happy blending of both elegiacal and symbolical interpretations. It contains beautiful, moving passages marked by sincerity and passion. It is one of the most interesting allegorical religious poems of the Middle Ages. It is a poem of hundred stanzas consisting of twelve lines each, interestingly linked up in groups of five with the help of refrain and repetition. The poet narrates how a smooth, white pearl slipped away from his hand, fell on the grass and got lost. In his grief-stricken mental condition he often comes to the place where his pearl is lost and one fine day in the month of August he falls asleep on the mound while inhaling the intoxicating fragrance of different flowers and herbs. While asleep he dreams that he has reached another beautiful world adorned with crystal cliffs, dazzling woods, sparkling stream and strands decorated with precious stones. He is delighted to see ‘a gracious maiden’ at the foot of the crystal cliff and feels like calling her. She is without any blemish, wears a crown from beneath which her hair falls beautifully over her shoulders and she is adorned with a dress which is decorated lavishly with pearls. Finally when she speaks, the poet asks:
O Pearl, quoth I, in pearls bedight,
Art thou my pearl that I have ’plain’d,
Regretted when all alone at night?
Much longing for thee have i restrained
Since into the grass thou didst from me glide.
She divulges the news that she is the spouse of the Heavenly Bridegroom and expresses her happiness. She also permits the poet to get a view of the New Jerusalem, her blissful abode. During his endeavour to cross the stream in order to reach the heavenly city, the poet wakes up from his sleep with a newly gained spiritual strength. The poem is suffused with intensity of feeling and delineates the poet’s journey from grief through resignation to spiritual reconciliation. The rich, sensuous and imaginative descriptions of the garden, the pearl-maiden and New Jerusalem, the deft handling of a complex metrical pattern and the artistic restraint make the poem one of the outstanding poetic creations of the Middle English period.
Purity and Patience are more didactic and exalted. Purity is a collection of stories from the Bible where the poet stresses upon the purity of life and the impossibility to approach the pure presence of God for one who is unclean. In this poem his primary focus is on God’s displeasure at all kinds of impurity and the severe kind of punishment meted out for the violation of the Divine Laws. It concern with the ethical question and the references to biblical incidents relate this poem with Pearl. The biblical stories like the Fall of Lucifer and the Expulsion from Paradise, the stories of the Flood, the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the profanation of the holy vessels in Belshazzar’s Feast are handled quite vividly. However, in comparison with Pearl, this poem lacks any artistic motivation and framework.
Patience is a companion poem of Purity and is a homily on the virtues of patience. Almost the entire poem, except the first sixty lines, deals with the story of Jonah and the whale. This story helps the poet to explain the virtue of patience. The writer does not forget to remind his readers to practise this virtue:
For he that is too rash to rend his clothes
Must afterward sit with worse ones
To sew them together.
The poet emphasises that even poverty should be handled with patience ‘though it displease oft’.
Handling a single subject enables the poet to render greater unity to his work. The poem is marked by long alliterative lines which bear testimony to the poet’s skill. It is also worth referring for the descriptive passages, as for instance, the storm at the sea; the dramatic quality of the poem, as for example, the conversation between Jonah and God; the realistic descriptions, like the details about the slimy insides of the whale.
It is assumed that all these three poems, Pearl, Purity and Patience have been written by a single poet. The fourth poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, found in the manuscript is of a different kind though there are certain stylistic resemblances. Had these poem not been found along with the other three discussed above, we would have been hesitant to ascribe it to the same author.
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INFORMATION BOX
Since there is a dearth of evidence for the determination of the order of composition of these poems, it is best to treat them in the order in which they are found in the manuscript. Patience and Purity belong together. Again, Pearl and Gawain have certain artistic similarities following homiletic pieces. One might argue that Gawain should come first followed by Pearl, the bereavement in which motivated the poet to the moral issues discussed in Purity and Patience. |
SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is considered to be one of the best of all Middle English allegorical romances. It is considered to be one of the finest Arthurian romances in English. Much like a French romance it tells a story for its own sake, without any kind of moral preaching involved in it. In this poem the poet excels in characterization, descriptive details, handling of plot and use of alliterative long lines. Lyrical element is also introduced through the depiction of the movement of seasons. The story element has connections with folklore and is subjected to multiple allegorical interpretations.
The poem begins with the feast of the New Year where the guests are busy exchanging gifts and greetings amongst each other, the young girls are laughing and making themselves merry and then getting ready for the meal at the Round Table. At this point of time when the first course is served, the Green Knight makes his entry. The poet makes every effort to describe him thoroughly- his appearance, stature, dress, armour and horse. He is a knight of gigantic stature, clad in green clothes and riding on a green foal. Wavy hair falls upon his shoulder and his beard is hanging like a bush upon his breast. He is not bothered to carry any shield or helmet; rather holds a holy bough in one hand and an axe with engravings in green in the other. When he enters into the hall and casts his glance around, all the renowned knights keep marvelling without uttering a single word ‘not all from fear, but some from courtesy’. When King Arthur invites him to stay for some time at his court, he replies that he has come to challenge the gallant and chivalrous knights to strike him with an axe and promises to come back in one year to hurl back the return stroke. When the knights are bewildered to listen to this speech and remain dumb, the Green Knight laughs and exclaims: ‘What! Is this King Arthur’s house, the fame of which has spread through so many realms? Forsooth, the renown of the Round Table is overturned by one man’s speech, for all tremble for dread without a blow being struck.’ Being humiliated, King Arthur himself gets ready to face the challenge and seizes the axe. In the mean time, Sir Gawain, the nephew of the king, comes forward valiantly and seeks the king’s permission to accept the challenge. The main adventure involved in the plot is the challenge of the exchange of blows between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Consequently Green Knight is beheaded by Gawain but the former picks up his head and promises to return a similar blow to Gawain one year later at the Green Chapel. During his search for the Green Chapel, Gawain takes refuge at a castle and is entertained by the lord and the lady of the castle. Every morning when the lord goes away for hunting, Gawain is tempted by the lady. However, he retains his courtesy and at the same time repulses her advances. But on the third day he accepts a green girdle which, according to the lady, Gawain would require during his encounter with the Knight. Gawain is wounded three times at the Green Chapel by the Green Knight who reveals himself as the lord of the castle. The wound caused on Gawain’s neck during his encounter with the Knight is for hiding the truth about the girdle he received from the lady. Gawain, being humiliated, reproaches himself for this and after his return to Arthur’s court tells this story as an example of moral failure, not as a heroic exploit. There is an unmistakable sophistication in the grace of the narrative, technical skill of versification, charm and humour in conversations and sheer brilliance in depiction of the hunting scenes and the changing beauties of nature. These are not mere literary exercises; rather these are marked by lifelikeness and excitement of first-hand experience. From the very beginning till the end, the poem involves succession of scenes and situations which captivate the readers because of their vividness, colour and movement. The Gawain that is portrayed here is Gawain the true hero before he was thrown out of his supreme power by Lancelot who fully took over Gawain’s position in the later Arthurian romances. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the finest example of a literary work which has successfully preserved the older heroic Gawain. It is a perfect example of an Arthurian romance which is enriched through the ideals of courage and heroism. The poem is a harmonious blending of the folk elements of the Celtic, the vigour of the Anglo-Saxon and the sophistication of the French.
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INFORMATION BOX
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is preceded by four illustrations in the MS. These are:
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THE ALLITERATIVE MORTE ARTHURE:
The alliterative Morte Arthure is another major work of the alliterative revival which is a poem of 4346 lines. It dates back to 1400 and is preserved in the early fifteenth century Lincoln Thornton Manuscript. The poem is a retelling of the latter portion of King Arthur’s legend. The story element is an adaptation of Books IX and X of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. However, certain episodes like that of the Round Table cannot be found in Geoffrey’s work. Thus it might be assumed that the poet of Morte Arthure might be inspired by other works as Layamon’s Brut and Wace’s Roman de Brut where there are references to the Round Table.
In comparison to other works dealing with the story of Arthur, the alliterative Morte Arthure involves realistic presentation of events. The primary focus is on Arthur’s capability as a warrior king. Arthur is here presented as a political figure and a flawed ruler. This alliterative work might be considered as a chronicle of the times. It does not contain much of the fantastical elements, magic and symbolism as found in other depictions of Arthur’s story though the literary device of the dream vision is employed here.
ALLITERATIVE POEMS AS EXPRESSION OF SOCIAL PROTEST:
A poem of the alliterative revival which is significant for its freshness and vigour is titled A treatise and good short Refreyte betwixt Winner and Waster. It is a satire on the contemporary social conditions prevalent in England. In this regard it would not be impertinent to add that one of the most salient features of the alliterative revival of the second half of the fourteenth century is social commentary and moral protest. The tremendous economic and political crisis following the Black Death, the Peasants’ Revolt, the Wycliff and the Lollard movement and the resultant upheaval caused in the lives and the psyche of the people led to criticisms and protests. The poems of the alliterative revival voice this protest and express the point of view of the common man. Wynnere and Wastoure, written around 1352, concentrates on a dispute between thrift and waste. Thrift (Winner) is represented by the men of property- lawyers, merchants, the Pope and the friars while waste (Waster) is represented by a happy-go-lucky young prodigal who does not care for his land and property and is busy wasting his money on buying expensive clothes and maintaining a lavish life style. In the third ‘fitt’ the King advices both to lead their lives as per their own will and way. He suggests the Winner to go to the Pope at Rome and the Waster to Cheapside. Unfortunately the concluding section of the poem is missing and thus the final conclusion that the poet comes to cannot be known. However, it is clear that his attempt is to maintain a balance between the two sides without being partial to anyone. Another poem titled Parlement of the Thre Ages is considered to be written by the same poet and reminds us of Purity and Patience in its general plan. The prologue discusses how the poet shoots, dresses and hides a hart and after that how he falls asleep. He dreams of three men-Youth, Middle Age and Old Age- discussing their philosophy of life. The poet also takes the effort to describe them- Youth is thirty years old and happily dressed in green;
Middle Age is aged sixty and is clad in sober grey; Old Age has put on black and is portrayed as a fragile old man, hundred years old. Then follows the parlement which is a discussion among these three regarding their principles of life. The young man talks about his fondness for various activities like chess, dancing and hawking by the river. Middle Age, with all maturity, is critical about the unnecessary expenditure made by Youth on clothes and comments that the same amount is sufficient to purchase land. However, Old Age being the most experienced one comes to the conclusion that both of them are mistaken in their attitudes to life. He realizes that the ultimate truth of life is death which has stolen upon him as it has on innumerable others who are great achievers in life. The next section of the poem focuses on the great men who also could not avoid the unavoidable sway of death. They are described as the Nine Worthies, next to the ‘wights that were wisest’- Aristotle, Virgil, Solomon and Merlin- and then ‘the proudest in press that paramours loved’- Tristan and Iseult, Samson and Delilah, Amadas and Ydoine and others like them. All their wisdom and love could not save them from the relentless clutches of death. Hence Old Age insists his companions and associates to confess their sins and comments: ‘Death dings on my door; I dare no longer abide’. Thus the poem deals with the perennial theme which is an argument between the different stages of life.
Among all the alliterative poems concerned with social issues the greatest perhaps is Piers Plowman, the complete title of which is The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. This poem exists in three different states- A-text, B-text and C-text.
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INFORMATION BOX
The three versions of The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman were edited separately by W. W. Skeat. Skeat’s role as an editor is extremely crucial as he did an invaluable service to Middle English scholarship. However, more critical editions of all the three texts and more critical researches are required. |
The earliest text is the A-text which is a short poem of 2579 lines and includes a prologue along with eleven cantos or passus. The second text is the B-text which is of 7241 lines and can be considered as a revision of the first one with a prologue and twenty passus. The third text or the C-text is a further revision which is sometimes slight but at places considerable. The length of this text is quite similar to that of the B-text and consists of twenty-three passus. These revisions stress upon the immense popularity of this particular poem and thus the existence of more than fifty manuscripts of the poem does not seem unnatural. The A-text consists of three successive visions, among which two are closely connected with each other while the third is somewhat incoherent. At the very beginning of the poem the poet is found to be wandering on the Malvern hills one May morning dressed as a hermit. Eventually he falls asleep on the bank of a brook and enjoys a beautiful dream. Not being quite sure about the place, the poet beholds a tower on a high hill, down in the valley below a dungeon and a ‘field full of folk’ like businessmen, beggars, pilgrims, hermits, parish priests, friars of the four orders, bishops, lawyers and many others, all of them extremely busy in their own activities. Soon a lady named Holy Church arrives from the cliff, rebukes the poet for dreaming and asks him if he cannot see all the people engaged in their work. When the poet wants her to explain the meaning of the scene, she says that Truth, that is God, inhabits the tower while the Father of Falseness, that is Devil, resides in the dungeon. When the poet wants her to teach him how to save his soul she explains that the best way is to follow the paths of truth and charity for the poor. Then when the poet is insistent to know how he can avoid Falseness, the lady points at a richly dresses woman called Lady Meed who is the symbol of both reward and bribery. Initially she is supposed to get married to Falseness but at the protest of Theology, the King decides to give her hand to Conscience. However, Conscience refuses pointing at her evil practices. Then Reason agrees to get married to her at the appeal of the King. At this juncture the poet wakes up from his dream and the first vision comes to an end.
But even before walking a short distance he again falls asleep and starts dreaming. In this second vision he again goes back to the ‘field full of folk’ where Conscience is about to deliver a sermon. During his preaching Conscience refers to certain happenings like the pestilences and the ruthless wind of Saturday (January 15, 1362) which, according to him, are the expressions of God’s wrath at the diverse sins committed by people. He asks all and sundry to repent for their wrongdoings. Being motivated by his speech the sinners confess their evil actions, repent and begin their search for St. Truth. They come across a Palmer and think him to be the most suitable person to help them in their quest. However, when the Palmer fails, Peter, a simple plowman, asserts that he is very much familiar with the saint. He further reveals that he has served the saint for a prolonged span of fifteen years and he has been able to do that because of his clear conscience and common sense. He also states that if Grace, the warden at the gate, allows them then they can all see Truth in their hearts. In this way he suggests that attainment of God is possible only through a worthy life and also stresses upon the point that human beings should undertake the task that is assigned to him by his fate. In the eighth passus Truth gives Piers a pardon and after waking up the dreamer realizes that Do-well is much more worthy on Doomsday than all the pardons of St. Peter’s church.
In the ninth passus the poet, following Piers’ suggestion, begins his search for Do-well and during his quest falls asleep beside a wood and starts dreaming. In his dream he comes across Thought and the latter explains that Do-well can be achieved when a person is soft-spoken, truthful and just in his dealings. There are also references to Do-bet who is both virtuous and practises charity and Do-best who puts on a bishop’s cross. In order to know further, Piers approaches Wit whose wife, Dame Study, sends him to Clergy (learning) and his wife Scripture (book-knowledge). There is too much moralising in these episodes and the text breaks off at the point when Piers requests Scripture to lead him to Kind Wit (common sense).
Analysis of the B-text is stupendously difficult because of different reasons like vagueness and obscurity, digressions, parenthetical discussions and lack of continuity. There are certain memorable scenes as the dinner presenting gluttonous friar eating and drinking to his heart’s delight which is a stark commentary on his own preaching before the Dean of St. Paul’s on hunger tolerated as a penance. Such satirical impact can also be traced in the depiction of scenes like the Annunciation, visions of Resurrection and the Harrowing of Hell. These individual scenes are marked by sheer brilliance. This text is marked by imaginative vigour, elaborate depiction of scenes and realistic character portrayal. However, it lacks any kind of order or logicality that can relate the various episodes together.
There is mystery regarding the authorship of this enormously popular poem. Though there seems to be personal references throughout the poem, the identity of the poet is absolutely hidden. Even John But who wrote the conclusion to the A-text (preserved in one manuscript) does not seem to be familiar with the name of the poet. Two notes associated with the manuscripts of the poem of fifteenth century (Ashburnham MS and Trin. Coll. Dublin MS) are the only clues to the name of the poet and thus the composition of the poem is attributed to William Langland. Again, there is dispute regarding the fact whether Piers Plowman is the writing of a single author or is a product of multiple authorship. In 1906 John M. Manly brought this dispute into the limelight through an article where he presented his argument that three texts were by different poets. The article further argues that the A-text itself is also not wholly composed by a single poet. He stresses that the prologue and the first eight passus are by one poet while the rest of the text is by another one, to which the conclusion is added by John But. The basis of Manly’s argument is grounded on the differences in versification, language and such other aspects.
Another poem belonging to the alliterative tradition and thought to be composed by the poet of Piers Plowman is Richard the Redeless. This poem is an advice to King Richard II and is a criticism of the king for being associated with acquaintances who are always ready to oppress the poor and waste the king’s money on the luxuries of life. The poem is an attack on the Parliament and its sheer indifference to the welfare of the masses. Suddenly the poem breaks off after the beginning of Passus IV and then is retrieved in 1928 with the title Mum, Sothsegger. The two parts of the poem are blended together under the title Mum and the Sothsegger.
Another poem titled Death and Life dates back to the fourteenth century and is preserved in a seventeenth century transcript in the Percy Folio. It describes a vision in which the beautiful Lady Life argues with Death who is presented as an ugly looking woman. Death is boastful of her sway over all the remarkable and valiant people like Lancelot, Gawain and Galahad. But Life points out that Death herself has been defeated and refers to the Resurrection and the harrowing of Hell. Finally the poem offers an assurance that baptism and the Creed are the means to fight against Death. The poem is marked by beautiful passages which bear testimony to the writer’s poetic abilities.
Thus we find that alliterative revival is a very significant expression of English social thought in the Middle Ages and requires lot of critical enquiries and engagement in order to understand the contemporary social and literary thoughts.
| you can view video on Middle English Alliterative Poetry | |
Reference
- Baugh, A. C. Literary History of England vol 1. London, 1994
- Compton, Rickett. A History of English Literature. London, 1964
- Daiches, David. A Critical History of English Literature Vol 1. India, 2007
- Legouis and Cazamian. A History of English Literature Vol 1. Macmillan, 1927
- Pearsall, Derek. Old English and Middle English Poetry: Routledge History of English Poetry. London, 1977
- Prologue to Piers Plowman A Text: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-jHnU5FaCc
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Description of the Green Chapel Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax6sXDxhc4s&index=5&list=PLDC1AC8FB6C522E6B
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Description of the Green Chapel Part2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAoSufktvK8&index=4&list=PLDC1AC8FB6C522E6B
- Documentary on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nAd6fffVvs