THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (1050–1350)
The extensive period covered by this chapter saw many developments
in the history of England: the establishment of Norman and Angevin
dynasties; the class-struggle between king, nobles, clergy, and people;
and the numerous wars against France, Scotland, and Wales. But, from
the literary point of view, much more important than definite events
were the general movements of the times: the rise of the religious
orders, their early enthusiasm, and their subsequent decay; the
blossoming of chivalry and the spirit of romance, bringing new sympathy
for the poor and for womankind; the Crusades, and the widening of the
European outlook which was gradually to expand into the rebirth of the
intellect known as the Renaissance. All these were only symptoms of a
growing intelligence that was strongly reflected in the literature of
the time.
STATE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
This period witnesses the disappearance of the pure Old English
language and the emergence of the mixed Anglo-French or Middle English
speech that was to be the parent of modern English. As a written
language Old English disappears about 1050, and, also as a written
language, Middle English first appears about the year 1200. With the
appearance of the _Brut_ about 1200 we have the beginning of
the numerous Middle English texts, amply illustrating the changes
that have been wrought in the interval: the loss of a great part of
the Old English vocabulary; a great and growing inrush of French
words; the confusion, crumbling, and ultimate loss of most of the old
inflections; and the development of the dialects. There are three main
dialects in Middle English: the Northern, corresponding to the older
Northumbrian; the Midland, corresponding to Mercian; and the Southern,
corresponding to the Old English Kentish or Southern. None of the three
can claim the superiority until late in the period, when the Midland
gradually assumes a slight predominance that is strongly accentuated in
the period following.
LITERARY FEATURES OF THE AGE
The latter part of the three hundred years now under review provides a
large amount of interesting, important, and sometimes delightful works.
It is, however, the general features that count for most, for there is
hardly anything of outstanding individual importance.
=1. The Transition.= The period is one of transition and experiment.
The old poetical methods are vanishing, and the poets are groping after
a new system. English poets had two models to follow--the French and
the Latin, which were not entirely independent of each other. For a
time, early in the period, the French and Latin methods weighed heavily
upon English literature; but gradually the more typically native
features, such as the systematic use of alliteration, emerge. It is
likely that all the while oral tradition had preserved the ancient
methods in popular songs, but that influence was slight for a long
period after the Norman Conquest.
=2.= The =anonymous= nature of the writing is still strongly in
evidence. A large proportion of the works are entirely without known
authors; most of the authors whose names appear are names only;
there is indeed only one, the Hermit of Hampole, about whom we have
any definite biographical detail. There is an entire absence of any
outstanding literary personality.
=3. The Domination of Poetry.= The great bulk of the surviving material
is poetry, which is used for many kinds of miscellaneous work, such as
history, geography, divinity, and rudimentary science. Most of the
work is monastic hack-work, and much of it is in consequence of little
merit.
Compared with poetry of the period, the prose is meager in quantity
and undeveloped in style. The common medium of the time was Latin and
French, and English prose was starved. Nearly all the prose consists of
homilies, of the nature of the _Ancren Riwle_; and most of them
are servile translations from Latin, and destitute of individual style.
POETRY
For the sake of convenience we can classify the different poems into
three groups, according to the nature of their subjects.
=1. The Rhyming Chronicles.= During this period there is an unusual
abundance of chronicles in verse. They are distinguished by their
ingenuous use of incredible stories, the copiousness of their
invention, and in no small number of cases by the vivacity of their
style.
(_a_) _The Brut._ This poem was written by a certain =Layamon=
about the year 1205. We gather a few details about the author in a
brief prologue to the poem itself. He seems to have been a monk in
Gloucestershire; his language certainly is of a nature that corresponds
closely to the dialect of that district. The work, thirty thousand
lines in length, is a paraphrase and expansion of the Anglo-Norman
_Brut d’Angleterre_ of Wace, who in turn simply translated from
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Latin history of Britain. In the _Brut_ the
founder of the British race is Brutus, great-grandson of Æneas of Troy.
Brutus lands in England, founds London, and becomes the progenitor
of the earliest line of British kings. In style the poem is often
lifeless, though it has a naïve simplicity that is attractive. The form
of the work, however, is invaluable as marking the transition from the
Old English to the Middle English method.
Alliteration, the basis of the earlier types, survives in a casual
manner; at irregular intervals there are rudely rhyming couplets,
suggesting the newer methods; the lines themselves, though they are of
fairly uniform length, can rarely be scanned; the basis of the line
seems to be four accents, occurring with fair regularity. The following
extract should be scrutinized carefully to bring out these features:
To niht a mine slepe, At night in my slepe
Their ich læi on bure, Where I lay in bower [chamber]
Me imæette a sweuen; I dreamt a dream--
Ther oure ich full sari æm. Therefore I full sorry am.
Me imætte that mon me hof I dreamt that men lifted me
Uppen are halle. Up on a hall;
Tha halle ich gon bestriden, The hall I gan bestride,
Swulc ich wolde riden As if I would ride;
Alle tha lond tha ich ah All the lands that I owned,
Alle ich ther ouer sah. All I there overlooked.
And Walwain sat biuoren me; And Walwain sate before me;
Mi sweord he bar an honde. My sword he bare in hand.
Tha com Moddred faren ther Then approached Modred there,
Mid unimete uolke. With innumerable folk.
(_b_) =Robert of Gloucester= is known only through his rhyming history.
From internal evidence it is considered likely that he wrote about
1300. From his dialect, and from local details that he introduces into
the poem, it is probable that he belonged to Gloucestershire. Drawing
largely upon Layamon, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and other chroniclers, he
begins his history of England with Brutus and carries it down to the
year 1270. The style of the poem is often lively enough; and the meter,
though rough and irregular, often suggests the later “fourteener.” As a
rule the lines are longer than those of the _Brut_, and the number of
accents is greater.
(_c_) =Robert Manning (1264–1340)= is sometimes known as Robert of
Brunne, or Bourne, in Lincolnshire. In 1288 he entered a Gilbertine
monastery near his native town. His _Story of Ingelond_ (1338) begins
with the Deluge, and traces the descent of the English kings back to
Noah. The latter portion of the book is based upon the work of Pierre
de Langtoft, and the first part upon Wace’s _Brut_. The meter is a kind
of chaotic alexandrine verse; but an interesting feature is that the
couplet rhymes are carefully executed, with the addition of occasional
middle rhymes.
Manning’s _Handlyng Synne_ (1303) is a religious manual based on
a French work, _Manuel des Pechiez_. The poem, which is thirteen
thousand lines in length, is a series of metrical sermons on the Ten
Commandments, the Seven Deadly Sins, and the Seven Sacraments. The
author knows how to enliven the work with agreeable anecdotes, and
there are signs of a keen observation. The meter is an approximation to
the octosyllabic couplet.
Manning’s language is of importance because it marks a close approach
to that of Chaucer: a comparative absence of old words and inflections,
a copious use of the later French terms, and the adoption of new
phrases.
(_d_) =Laurence Minot=, who probably flourished about 1350, appears
as the author of eleven political songs, which were first published
in 1795. The pieces, which sing of the exploits of Edward III, are
violently patriotic in temper, and have a rudely poetical vigor. Their
meters are often highly developed.
=2. Religious and Didactic Poetry.= Like most of the other poetry of
the period, this kind was strongly imitative, piously credulous, and
enormous in length.
(_a_) The _Ormulum_, by a certain =Orm=, or =Ormin=, is usually dated
at 1200. As it survives it is an enormous fragment, twenty thousand
lines in length, and composed in the East Midland dialect. It consists
of a large number of religious homilies addressed to a person called
Walter. Of poetical merit the poem is destitute; but it is unique
in the immense care shown over a curious and complicated system of
spelling, into which we have not the space to enter. Its metrical
form is noteworthy: a rigidly iambic measure, rhymeless, arranged
in alternate lines of eight and seven syllables respectively. This
regularity of meter is another unique feature of the poem, which we
illustrate by an extract:
An Romanisshe Kaserrking A Roman Kaiser-king
Wass Augusstuss [gh]ehatenn Was called Augustus
And he wass wurrthenn Kaserrking And he became Kaiser-king
Off all mannkinn onn eorthe, Of all mankind on earth,
And he gann thenkenn off himmsellf And he gan think of himself
And off hiss micle riche. And of his muckle kingdom,
And he bigann to thenkenn tha, And he began to think
Swa summ the goddspell kithethth Just as the gospel tells
Off thatt he wollde witenn wel Of what he would well know
Hu mikell fehh himm come, How much money [fee] would
come to him
[GH]iff himm off all hiss kinedom. If to him of all his kingdom
Illc mann an penning [gh]æfe. Each man a penny gave.
(_b_) _The Owl and the Nightingale_, the date of which is commonly
given as 1250, is attributed to =Nicholas of Guildford=. The poem
consists of a long argument between the nightingale, representing
the lighter joys of life, and the owl, which stands for wisdom and
sobriety. The poem is among the most lively of its kind, and the
argument tends to become heated. In meter it is rhyming octosyllabic
couplets, much more regular than was common at the time.
(_c_) The _Orison to Our Lady_, _Genesis_ and _Exodus_, the _Bestiary_,
the _Moral Ode_, the _Proverbs of Alfred_, and the _Proverbs of
Hendyng_ are usually placed about the middle of the thirteenth century.
Of originality there is little to comment upon; but as metrical
experiments they are of great importance. The _Proverbs_ show some
regular stanza-formation, and the _Moral Ode_ is remarkable for the
steadiness and maturity of its measure, a long line coming very close
to the fourteener.
(_d_) The _Cursor Mundi_ was composed about 1320. It is a kind of
religious epic, twenty-four thousand lines long, composed in the
Northern dialect. The author, who divides his history into seven
stages, draws upon both the Old and the New Testaments. The meter shows
a distinct advance in its grip of the octosyllabic couplet.
(_e_) =Richard Rolle of Hampole=, who died in 1349, is one of the few
contemporary figures about whom definite personal facts are recorded.
He was born in Yorkshire, educated at Oxford, and ran away from home to
become a hermit. Subsequently he removed to Hampole, near Doncaster,
where he enjoyed a great reputation for sanctity and good works.
He wrote some miscellaneous prose and a few short poems, but his chief
importance lies in his authorship of the long poem _The Pricke of
Conscience_. This work, which is based upon the writings of the
early Christian Fathers, describes the joys and sorrows of a man’s
life as he is affected in turn by good and evil. The meter is a close
approximation to the octosyllabic couplet, which shows extensions
and variations that often resemble the heroic measure. It has been
suggested that Hampole is the first English writer to use the heroic
couplet; but it is almost certain that his heroic couplets are
accidental.
(_f_) _The Alliterative Poems._ In a unique manuscript, now preserved
in the British Museum, are found four remarkably fine poems in the West
Midland dialect: _Pearl_, _Cleannesse_, _Patience_, and _Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight_. There is no indication of the authorship, but
judging from the similarity of the style it is considered likely that
they are by the same poet. The date is about 1300. The first three
poems are religious in theme, and of them _Pearl_ is undoubtedly the
best. This poem, half allegorical in nature, tells of a vision in which
the poet seeks his precious pearl that has slipped away from him. In
his quest he spies his pearl, which seems to be the symbol of a dead
maiden, and obtains a glimpse of the Eternal Jerusalem. The poem,
which contains long discussions between the poet and the pearl, has
some passages of real, moving beauty, and there is a sweet melancholy
inflection in some of the verses that is rare indeed among the fumbling
poetasters of the time. The meter is extraordinarily complicated:
heavily alliterated twelve-lined stanzas, with intricate rhymes
arranged on a triple basis (see p. 149). _Cleannesse_ and _Patience_,
more didactic in theme, are of less interest and beauty, but they have
an exultation and stern energy that make them conspicuous among the
poems of the period. They are composed in a kind of alliterative blank
verse. _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_ is one of the most captivating
of the romances. Its meter also is freely alliterated and built into
irregular rhyming stanzas which sometimes run into twenty lines.
=3. The Metrical Romances.= The great number of the romances that
now appear in our literature can be classified according to subject.
(_a_) The romances dealing with early English history and its heroes
were very numerous. Of these the lively _Horn_ and _Havelock the Dane_
and the popular _Guy of Warwick_ and _Bevis of Hampton_ were among the
best. Even contemporary history was sometimes drawn upon, as in the
well-known _Richard Cœur-de-Lion_.
(_b_) Allied to the last group are the immense number of Arthurian
romances, which are closely related and often of high merit. _Sir
Tristrem_, one of the earliest, is by no means one of the worst; to
it we may add the famous _Arthur and Merlin_, _Ywain and Gawain_, the
_Morte d’Arthure_, and _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_.
(_c_) There was also a large number of classical themes, such as
the exploits of Alexander the Great and the siege of Troy. _King
Alisaunder_ is very long, but of more than average merit. Further
examples are _Sir Orpheo_ and _The Destruction of Troy_.
(_d_) The group dealing with the feats of Charlemagne is smaller, and
the quality is lower. _Rauf Coilyear_, an alliterative romance, is
probably the best of them, and to it we may add _Sir Ferumbras_.
(_e_) A large number of the romances deal with events which are to
some extent contemporary with the composition. They are miscellaneous
in subject, but they are of much interest and some of them of great
beauty. _Amis and Amiloun_ is a touching love-story; _William of
Palerne_ is on the familiar “missing heir” theme; and _The Squire
of Low Degree_, who loved the king’s daughter of Hungary, is among
the best known of all the romances.
It would take a volume to comment in detail upon the romances. The
variety of their meter and style is very great; but in general terms we
may say that the prevailing subject is of a martial and amatory nature;
there is the additional interest of the supernatural, which enters
freely into the story; and one of the most attractive features to the
modern reader of this delightful class of fiction is the frequent
glimpses obtainable into the habits of the time.
PROSE
=1.= The =Ancren Riwle=, or _Rule of Anchoresses_, is one of the
earliest of Middle English prose texts, for it dates from about 1200.
The book, which is written in a simple, matter-of-fact style, is a
manual composed for the guidance of a small religious community of
women which then existed in Somersetshire. Nothing certain is known
regarding the author. Its Southern dialect shows some traces of
Midland. As in some respects the text is the forerunner of modern
prose, we give an extract:
Uorþi was ihoten a Godes Therefore it was ordered on
half iðen olde lawe þet put the part of God in the old law
were euer iwrien; & [gh]if eni that a pit should be ever
unwrie covered,
put were, & best feolle and if there were any uncovered
þerinne, he hit schulde [gh]elden pit, and a beast fell
þet þene put unwrieh. Ðis is a therein, he should pay for it,
swuðe dredlich word to wummen that uncovered the pit. This is
þet scheaweð her to wep-monnes a very dreadful saying for a
eien. Heo is bitocned woman that shows herself to a
bi þe þet unwrieð þene put: þe man’s eyes. She is betokened
put is hire veire neb, & hire by the person that uncovers the
hwite swire, & hire hond, [gh]if pit; the pit is her fair face,
hes and
halt forð in his eihsihðe. her white neck, and her hand, if
she holds it forth in his
eyesight.
=2.= The =Ayenbite of Inwyt= was written by Dan Michel of Northgate,
who flourished about 1340. The book is a servile translation of a
French work, and is of little literary importance. To the philologist
it is very useful as an example of the Southern dialect of the period.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY FORMS
=1. Poetry.= (_a_) _Meter_. The most interesting feature of this
period is the development of the modern system of rhymed meters,
which displaced the Old English alliterative measures. Between the
Old English poems of Cynewulf (about 950) and the Middle English
_Brut_ (about 1205) there is a considerable gap both in time and in
development. This gap is only slightly bridged by the few pieces which
we proceed to quote.
A quatrain dated at about 1100 is as follows:
Merrie sungen the muneches binnen Ely,
Tha Cnut chining[3] reu[4] ther by;
“Roweth, cnichtes, noer the land,
And here we thes muneches sang.”
In this example we have two rough couplets. The first pair rhyme, and
in the second pair there is a fair example of assonance. The meter,
as far as it exists at all, is a cross between octosyllables and
decasyllables.
A few brief fragments by Godric, who died in 1170, carry the process
still further. The following lines may be taken as typical:
Sainte Nicholaes, Godes druth,
Tymbre[5] us faire scone[6] hus,
At thy burth,[7] at thy bare,[7]
Sainte Nicholaes, bring us wel thare.
These lines are almost regular, and the rhyme in the second couplet is
perfect.
The _Brut_, with its ragged four-accented and nearly rhymeless lines,
shows no further advance; but the _Ormulum_, though it does without
rhyme, is remarkable for the regularity of its meter. Then during
the thirteenth century there comes a large number of poems, chiefly
romances and homilies. Much of the verse, such as in _Horn_, _Havelock
the Dane_, and the works of Manning, is in couplet form. It is nearly
doggerel very often, and hesitates between four and five feet. This is
the rough work that Chaucer is to make perfect. The following example
of this traditional verse should be carefully scanned:
For Engelond ys ful ynow of fruyt and of tren,
Of wodes and of parkes, that joye yt ys to sen.
Of foules and of bestes of wylde and tame also.
Of salt fysch and eche fresch, and fayr ryueres ther to.
Of welles swete and colde ynow, of lesen and of mede.
Of seluer or and of gold, of tyn and of lede.
ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER
During the fourteenth century, with the increase of dexterity, came
the desire for experiment. Stanzas in the manner of the French were
developed, and the short or _bobbed_ line was introduced. The expansion
of the lyric helped the development of the stanza. Thus we pass through
the fairly elaborate meters of Minot, the _Proverbs of Hendyng_, and
the romances (like _The King of Tars_) in the Romance sestette, to the
extremely complicated verses of _Sir Tristrem_, _Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight_, and _Pearl_. We add a specimen of the popular Romance
sestette, and a verse from a popular song of the period.
(1) The King of Tars came also
The Soudan battle for to do,
With many a Christian Knight;
Either host gan the other assail,
There began a strong battail
That grisley was of sight.
_The King of Tars_
(2) Sitteth alle stille, ant herkneth to me:
The kyn of Alemaigne,[8] bi mi leaute[9]
Thritti thousent pound askede he
For te make the pees[10] in the countre
Ant so he dude more.
Richard, thah thou be euer trichard,[11]
Trichten shalt thou neuer more.
(_b_) _The Lyric._ The most delightful feature of the period is
the appearance of the lyric. There can be little doubt that from
Old English times popular songs were common, but it is not till
the thirteenth century that they receive a permanent place in the
manuscripts. We then obtain several specimens that for sweetness and
lyrical power are most satisfying.
Apart from its native element, the lyric of the time drew its
main inspiration from the songs of the French _jongleurs_ and the
magnificent, rhymed Latin hymns (such as _Dies Iræ_ and _Stabat Mater_)
of the Church. These hymns, nobly phrased and rhymed, were splendid
models to follow. Many of the early English lyrics were devoutly
religious in theme, especially those addressed to the Virgin Mary; a
large number, such as the charming _Alysoun_, are love-lyrics; and many
more, such as the cuckoo song quoted below (one of the oldest of all),
are nature-lyrics. In the song below note the regularity of the meter:
Sumer is i-cumen in, Summer is coming,
Lhude sing cuccu: Loud sing cuckoo:
Groweth sed, and bloweth med, Groweth seed and bloweth mead,
And springth the wde nu. And springeth the wood now.
Sing cuccu, cuccu. Sing cuckoo, cuckoo.
Awe bleteth after lombe, Ewe bleateth after lamb,
Lhouth after calue cu; Loweth after calf the cow;
Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth; Bullock starteth, buck verteth[12]
Murie sing cuccu, Merry sing cuckoo:
Cuccu, cuccu. Cuckoo, cuckoo.
Wel singes thu, cuccu; Well sing’st thou, cuckoo;
Ne swik thu nauer nu. Nor cease thou ever now.
Sing cuccu nu, Sing cuckoo now,
Sing, cuccu. Sing, cuckoo.
(_c_) _The Metrical Romances._ A romance was originally a composition
in the Romance tongue, but the meaning was narrowed into that of a tale
of the kind described in the next paragraph. Romances were brought into
England by the French minstrels, who as early as the eleventh century
had amassed a large quantity of material. By the beginning of the
fourteenth century the romance appears in English, and from that point
the rate of production is great. Romantic tales are the main feature of
the literature of the time.
TABLE TO ILLUSTRATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY FORMS
+----+---------------------------------+--------------------------+
| | POETRY | PROSE |
|YEAR+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
| | Lyrical | Narrative | Didactic | Narrative | Didactic |
+----+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
| | | _Beowulf_ | | | |
| | | | | | |
| 700| | Cædmon | | |
+----+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| 800| | | | | |
+----+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| 900| | | | | Alfred |
+----+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
| | | | | A.S. | |
| | | Cynewulf | CHRONICLE | |
|1000| | | | | Ælfric |
+----+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
| | | | | | Wulfstan |
| | | | | | |
|1100| | | | | |
+----+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
| | | | | | |
| | | |_Ormulum_ | | |
|1200| | | | | |
+----+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
| | | _Brut_ | | |_AncrenRiwle_|
| | | | | | |
|1300| | | Manning | | |
+----+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
| |_Alysoun_,| THE | Hampole | | |
| | etc. | ROMANCES | | | |
| | | | | | |
|1400| | _Cursor Mundi_ | | |
+----+----------+-----------+----------+------------+-------------+
The chief features of the romance were: a long story, cumulative
in construction, chiefly of a journey or a quest; a strong martial
element, with an infusion of the supernatural and wonderful;
characters, usually of high social rank, and of fixed type and
rudimentary workmanship, such as the knightly hero, the distressed
damsel, and the wicked enchanter; and a style that was simple to
quaintness, but in the better specimens was spirited and suggestive of
mystery and wonder. In meter it ranged from the simple couplet of _The
Squire of Low Degree_ to the twenty-lined stanza of _Sir Tristrem_. In
its later stages, as Chaucer satirized it in _Sir Thopas_, the romance
became extravagant and ridiculous, but at its best it was a rich
treasure-house of marvelous tales.
=2. Prose.= The small amount of prose is strictly practical in
purpose, and its development as a species of literature is to come
later.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF STYLE IN POETRY
With poetry in such an immature condition, it can be easily understood
that style is of secondary importance. The prevailing, almost the
universal, style is one of artless simplicity. Very often, owing
chiefly to lack of practice on the part of the poet, the style becomes
obscure; and when more ambitious schemes of meter are attempted (as
in _Pearl_) the same cause leads to the same result. Humor is rarely
found in Middle English, but quaint touches are not entirely lacking,
as facts revealed in the life of Hampole show. Pathos of a solemn and
elevated kind appears in the _Moral Ode_, and the romance called _The
Pistyl of Susan_ and the _Pearl_, already mentioned, have passages of
simple pathos.
EXERCISES
1. The following extracts show the development of English poetry from
Old English to Chaucerian times. Trace the changes in meter (scansion,
rhyme, and stanza-formation), alliteration, and style. Are there any
traces of refinements such as melody and vowel-music?
(1) Swá íú wætres thrym When of old the water’s mass
Ealne middan-geard, All mid-earth,
Mére-flód, theáhte When the sea-flood covered
Eorthan ymb-hwyrft, The earth’s circumference,
Thá [`s]e æthela wong Then that noble plain
Æg-hwæs án-súnd In everything entire
With yth-fare Against the billowy course
Gehealden stód, Stood preserved,
Hreóhra wæga Of the rough waves
Eádig unwemmed, Happy, inviolate,
Thurh áest Godes; Through favour of God.
Bídeth swá geblówen It shall abide thus in bloom,
Oth bæles cyme Until the coming of the funeral
fire
Dryhtnes dómes. Of the Lord’s judgment.
_The Phœnix_, 900
(2) And ich isæh thæ vthen And I saw the waves
I there sæ driuen; In the sea drive;
And the leo i than ulode And the lion in the flood
Iwende with me seolue. Went with myself.
Tha wit I sæ comen, When we two came in the sea,
Tha vthen me hire binomen. The waves took her from me;
Com ther an fisc lithe, But there came swimming a fish;
And fereden me to londe. And brought me to land.
Tha wes ich al wet, Then was I all wet
And weri of soryen, and seoc. And weary from sorrow, and sick.
Tha gon ich iwakien When I gan wake
Swithe ich gon to quakien. Greatly I gan quake.
LAYAMON, _Brut_, 1200
(3) Ich am eldre þan ich wes. a winter and ek on lore.
Ich welde more þan ich dude. my wyt auhte beo more.
Wel longe ich habbe child ibe[`s]. a werke and eke on dede.
Þah ich beo of wynter old. to yong ich am on rede.
Vnneð lif ich habbe ilad. and yet me þinkþ ich lede.
Hwenne ich me biþenche. ful sore ich me adrede.
Mest al þat ich habbe idon. is idelnesse and chilce.
Wel late ich habbe me bi-þouht. bute god do me mylce.
Veole idel word ich habbe ispeke. seoþþe ich speke cuþe.
And feole yonge deden ido. þat me of-þincheþ nuþe.
_Moral Ode_, 1250
(4) Herknet to me, gode men,
Wiues, maydnes, and alle men,
Of a tale that ich you wile telle
Wo so it wile here, and ther to duelle
The talk is of Hauelok i-maked;
Wil he was litel he yede ful naked;
Havelok was a ful god gome,
He was ful god in eueri trome,
He was the wicteste man at nede
That thurte riden on ani stede
That ye mouen nou y-here,
And the tale ye mowen y-lere.
At the beginning of vre tale
Fille me a cuppe of ful god ale.
_Havelock the Dane_, 1300
(5) Byteuene Mershe & Aueril
When spray biginneþ to springe,
Þe lutel foul haþ hire wyl
On hyre lud to synge;
Ich libbe in louelonginge
For semlokest[13] of alle þynge,
He may me blisse bringe,
Icham in hire baundoun.[14]
An hendy[15] hap[16] ichabbe yhent
Ichot[17] from heuene it is me sent
From alle wymmen mi loue is lent
& lyht on Alysoun.
_Alysoun_, 1300
(6) In Nauerne be [gh]unde the In Avergne beyond the sea
see
In Venyse a gode cyte, In Venice a good city
Duellyde a prest of Ynglonde, Dwelled a priest of England,
And was auaunsede, y And was advanced I understand.
understonde.
Every [gh]ere at the Every year at the flourishing
florysyngge
When the vynys shulde spryngge When the vines should spring
A tempest that tyme began to A tempest then began to fall
falle
And fordede here vynys alle; And ruined all their vines.
Every [gh]ere withouten fayle Every year without fail
And fordyde here grete trauayle. And ruined their great labour.
Therfor the folk were alle sory Therefore the folk were all
sorry
Thurghe the cyte comunly: Through the city commonly.
Thys prest seyde, y shal [gh]ou This priest said, “I shall you
telle tell
What shall best thys tempest What shall best this tempest
felle; fell;
On Satyrday shal [gh]e ryngge On Saturday shall ye ring noon
noun
And late ne longer ne werke be And let no longer work be
doun. done.”
_Handlyng Synne_, 1350
(7) Ther faure citees wern set, nov is a see called,
That ay is drouy[18] and dym and ded in hit kynde,
Blo[19] blubrande[20] and blak, vnblythe to ne[gh]e[21]
As a stynkande stanc that stryed[22] synne
That euer of synne and of smach,[23] smart is to fele;
Forthy the derk dede see hit is demed ever more,
For hit dede[gh] of dethe duren there [gh]et.
For hit is brod and bothemle[gh] and bitter as the galle,
And no[gh]t may lenge in that lake that any lyf bere[gh],
And all the coste[gh] of kynde hit combre[gh][24] vchone[25]
For lay ther-on a lump of led and hit on loft flete[gh],
And folde ther-on a ly[gh]t fyther and hit to founs synkke[gh],
And ther water may walter to wete any erthe,
Shal neuer grene ther-on growe, gresse ne wod nawther.
_Cleannesse_, 1350
2. Account for the poor quality of English prose during this period.
3. What were the effects of the Norman Conquest upon English literature?
4. Describe the main features of the romance.