CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PEARL:
A TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY
A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
English
by
Anne Elaine Kellenberger
August, 1982
The Thesis of Anne Elaine Kellenberger is approved:
David M. Andersen
III, Chairman
California State University, Northridge
.ii
FOR THE
DANDIEST
OF ALL
iii
CONTENTS
Dedication
Abstract .
. iii
.
v
Historical and Critical Background
1
A Note on Pearl's Form . .
10
A Personal Interpretation: Kynde in Pearl
16
A Note on the Translation.
24
Text of Pearl.
29
.
80
Commentary
.
. 113
Bibliography
• 118
Notes
.
.
iv
ABSTRACT
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PEARL:
A TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY
by
Anne Elaine Kellenberger
Master of Arts in English
Pearl, a twelve hundred line poem, is recognized as
one of the most important products of the Alliterative
Revival which took place in England during the fourteenth
century.
Yet, its obscure dialect and the changes that
have occurred in the English language over the intervening
six hundred years make the poem unavailable to an untrained modern reader.
This paper is a translation into
Modern English of the Middle English Pearl, with a
critical introduction and commentary.
The opening essay and the commentary serve as an
introduction to the critical and linguistic issues that
make up the large body of scholarship on the poem.
Questions concerning the nature of Pearl, the significance
of its imagery, its relationship to other poems, and the
identity and orthodoxy of its author have been raised and
debated since Pearl was first published in 1864.
The
commentary in particular addresses textual matters such as
v
the derivation of a debatable word or the effect a particular passage has on the interpretation of the poem as a
whole.
The guiding principle in making the translation itself was that it should be as true to the original as
possible, both in meaning and structure, while eliminating
archaic diction and syntax which might hamper a modern
reader's enjoyment or understanding of the poem.
The
twelve-line stanza, four-beat rhythm, and some of the
alliteration have been preserved, but much of the beauty
of the language has been lost.
Still, the poem's radiance
and strength shine through and identify Pearl, in any
translation, as the masterpiece it is.
Vl
HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL BACKGROUND
Pearl is one of four Middle English alliterative
poems bound in a unique manuscript housed in the British
Museum.
The quarto volume is small (about five by seven
inches) but thick, for Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, and Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight are bound together with other,
unrelated works.
All four poems are illustrated in red,
blue, green, and yellow, and some of the long spiky
capital letters are drawn in red and blue ink.
The Gothic
script suggests the manuscript was copied in the late
fourteenth century.
The first record of its existence,
however, is in the catalogue of Henry Savile, a Yorkshire
book collector who lived during the late sixteenth and
early seventeenth centuries.
The manuscript was later
acquired by Sir Robert Cotton who included it in his
library.
Cotton's method of cataloguing was to store his
collection in cases, filing the cases under the busts of
twelve Roman Emperors (plus Cleopatra and Faustina),
whence the name the manuscript still bears, Cotton Nero
A.x.
In 1700, Cotton's collection was given to Great
Britain and in 1753 moved to the British Museum.
Richard Morris became Pearl's first publisher:
In 1864,
Patience,
Purity (or Cleanness) and Pearl appeared as the first of
the Early English Text Society's publications under the
1
2
title Early English Alliterative Poems.
Morris, in his introduction, gave the poem its
first modern elegiac interpretation:
"In the first poem,
entitled by me 'The Pearl,' the author evidently gives
expression to his own sorrow for the loss of his infant
child."
1
The idea of the poet-father persisted into the
early twentieth century; Sir Israel Gollancz adopted this
idea in constructing a hypothetical life of the poet:
an unhappy marriage, the death of his infant daughter, a
turning away from life to the strict religiosity of
Patience and Cleanness.
2
The probl~m with such specula-
tions, as W. A. Davenport notes, is that it "is a game
anyone can play." He playfully suggested the poet was a
serious young cleric (Cleanness) , who abandoned his calling
for marriage, lost his child (Pearl), was deserted by his
wife (Patience), but finally found happiness in wine,
sport, and merriment (Gawain) .
3
Others have tried to un-
cover the poet's identity by connecting Pearl with works
which have similarities in content or possible sources and
whose authors are known.
4
Oscar Cargill and Margaret
Schlauch went about solving the problem by identifying the
girl instead.
5
None of these attempts has proved satis-
factory.
In 1904, Carleton F. Brown's article "The Author of
the Pearl in the Light of his Theological Opinions" raised
the question of the poem's orthodoxy.
6
Briefly, Brown hoped
3
to demonstrate that the poet was a cleric, and was guilty
of the heresy of Jovinian, a fourth century heretic who
asserted the exact equality of heavenly rewards, basing
his arguments on a literal reading of the Parable of the
Vineyard.
in 1921
8
7
Jefferson B. Fletcher denied this accusation
and was echoed in 1933 by Rene Wellek 9 and in
1950 by D. W. Robertson.
10
Fletcher saw that the poet did
indeed recognize rank in heaven, pointing to the reference
in line 888 to "alderman" and noting, as did Wellek and
Robertson, that the Parable had been reconciled to
Christian doctrine long ago.
Robertson cited part of St.
Augustine's Sermo LXXXVII on the Vineyard Parable as an
analogue to the maiden's "each man is paid alike I whether
little or great be his reward."
11
Augustine wrote:
"For
that penny is eternal life, and all will be equal in
eternal life.
Although they will be radiant with a diver-
sity of merits, one more one less .
be equal to all."
12
. eternal life will
The abundance of counter-evidence
quieted the heresy controversy.
Another, more persistent, controversy began in that
same year, 1904, when W. H. Schofield published "The
Nature and Fabric of the Pearl."
13
Schofield noted that
nothing within the text of the poem directly states the
pearl-maiden is the poet's daughter nor is her treatment
of the dreamer as tender as one might expect from a
daughter.
Pearl is not, Schofield asserts, an "ineffective"
4
elegy, but an allegory, and the maiden an imaginary allegorical device representing "clean maidenhood." Schofield's
thesis generated some opposition from those who thought the
14 b
.
.
poem c 1 ear 1 y e 1 eg1ac,
ut muc h o f t h e react1on
to this
seminal article came from critics defending the allegorical perspective while criticizing Schofield's interpretation of it.
R. M. Garrett suggested the pearl stood not
for virginity, but for the Eucharist, the "Elevated Host
in the hands of the Priest."
15
Sister Mary Madeleva saw
the pearl as a representation of the "poet's own soul"
and its loss as a "case of the spiritual 'blues'."
16
Sister Mary Vincent Hillman believed the pearl symbolizes
earthly treasure but the maiden represents the poet's
sou1.
17
Osgood replied briefly to Schofield's article in the
introduction to his 1906 edition of Pearl, reasserting
the poem was primarily an elegy and noting that the pearl
symbol had more than one meaning.
18
Fletcher, while sug-
gesting another allegorical interpretation ("lost
innocence"), made a point later followed up in detail by
Wellek--the elegiac and allegorical interpretations need
not conflict.
19
Wellek dealt with both Osgood's and
Fletcher's points.
After identifying and dismissing
inferences about the child not supported in the text
(i.e., that her name was Margery or that she was illegitimate), he pointed to passages supporting the elegy theory,
5
noting the "essential truth of the personal interpretation."
Yet this is only the ''starting point" of the poem
whose real purpose is "contained in the lesson which the
beatified child is giving to the poet."
20
The pearl
symbol has no simple key such as purity of the poet's
soul, but instead shifts as the poem progresses, a process
Wellek found "simple and completely in agreement with
traditional symbolism."
21
Such multi-level approaches to the poem soon
flourished.
D. W. Robertson based his reading on St.
Thomas Aquinas' four levels of patristic exegesis:
literal, allegorical
the
(allegory proper), tropological
(moral), and anagogical
(final, i.e., the meaning which
is related to the life hereafter).
Thus "pearl" is a
"gem," the "perfectly innocent," the "soul that attains
innocence through penance," and "the life of innocence in
the Celestial City."
22
A. C. Spearing disagreed:
the
poet did not leave i t to the reader to interpret the
symbolism, but made "the pearl-Maiden herself provide
exegesis wherever exegesis is necessary," as in a medieval
sermon.
23
He traced the "dynamic" pearl symbol through
its occurrences in the poem, arguing i t was a single but
multi-layered and constantly evolving symbol.
Part of such studies was research into the meaning
the pearl symbol would have had for the author.
Pearl was
not only thought of as the "pearl of great price" mentioned
6
by the maiden, but was associated with all saints, the
kingdom of God, Christ, grace, wisdom, holy church, or
24
the virgin.
These findings led to further investigation
into Pearl's precious gem imagery through the medieval
lapidaries which link gemstones to virtues:
jasper is
faith, sapphire is hope, chalcedony is good works, etc. 25
Milton Stern argued that the poet, perhaps unconsciously,
"based his symbolism on lapidary material"; to prove
this, Stern compared the maiden's emphasis on faith
(Stanzas 25, 26), hope (27-29) and other virtues with the
poet's use of gemstones symbolic of those virtues.
26
Another type of imagery study is the investigation into
plant symbolism and medieval garden conventions.
Charles
Luttrell listed the attributes of the erbere in which the
dreamer falls asleep:
"beauty and perfume
. a pene-
trating rich .fragrance, enveloping and soothing in the
drowsy sunshine being exhaled from plants.
He
noted the spices mentioned were thought to have healing
powers and compares them with occurrences of spice and
garden imagery in other poems, particularly Le Dit de
l'Alerion.
More extensive comparisons in terms of form,
content, theme, and characterization have been made
between Pearl and other literary works, especially regarding the maiden.
Part of the allegory theory advanced
by Schofield was the argument that she was a typical
7
allegorical figure, such as "Philosophy, Nature, Reason,
Holy Church, and their kind."
28
He cited, in an appendix,
Boccaccio's Olympia, suggesting it as the source of
Pearl's atmosphere of elegy.
Olympia is a classical elegy
written in 1361 after the death of Boccaccio's young
daughter, in which the father-dreamer, mourning his loss,
is comforted by a vision of the child and accepts God's
will.
John Gardner noted resemblances between Pearl and
another elegy, Chaucer's Book of the Duchess:
both identify
Mary as the Phoenix, both mention St. John, both are
"personal elegies," both speak of eternal bliss granted by
Christ's love.
29
Robert Ackerman found other parallels
between the Pearl-maiden and Grace-Dieu in Le Pelerinage de
vie humaine:
both have great beauty, take on the role of
instructress, show patience with their slow-learning
. wh'1te gowns. 30
stu d ents, an d are d resse d 1n
Her b ert P1'1 c h
examined several similarities between Pearl and the Romance
of the Rose on his way to pointing out basic dissimilarities:
Pearl is not a consistent allegory, does not take
place in "the gay May Garden," and rejects the mundi rosa
31
.
.
which is the f1nal
goal of t h e 1 over 1n
t h e Romance.
Dorothy Everett saw in Pearl, on a "small scale," a parallel
to the Divine Comedy in method, form, and perspective and
suggested that there are "far better grounds for thinking
the poet knew the Divina Commedia than some of the lesser
para 11 e 1 s t h at h ave b een c1. t e d . "3 2
8
Added together, all the possible sources for and influences on the poems of the manuscript form an impressive
medieval reading list, including contemporary works such as
Piers Plowman and Pety Job, continental works, like De Arti
Honesti Arnandi, works on church doctrine and history, including Augustine's sermons and Bede's Explanatio
Apocalypsis, and literary classics like the Aeneid and
Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy.
33
The last has
been developed in discussions of Pearl as a consolatio.
John Conley, trying to prove the poem was neither an elegy
nor an allegory, found Pearl "analogous in theme, situation, roles, and treatment to Boethius' then-revered
Consolation of Philosophy."
34
This research on literary influences, symbolism,
the poet's orthodoxy,_ and the elegy-allegory conflict
form the more unified areas of criticism on Pearl.
But
to omit from even so brief a survey as this one at least
a mention of the great variety of criticism that exists
would be to ignore some of the best and most original work
on the poem.
The figure of the dreamer, for example, has
now been studied more closely,
35
and studies of the
poet's diction and imagery abound.
36
Recent studies have
focused on numerical structure, literary and musical
motifs, even the presence of humor in the poem.
37
In his
1933 article, Rene Wellek charged that "the actual study of
the artistic value of the poem is still in its beginnings.''
9
Now, almost fifty years later, critics have risen to
Wellek's challenge and in doing so, provided students with
an impressive body of scholarship on Pearl.
A NOTE ON PEARL'S FORM
Pearl is a product of the Alliterative Revival of
the fourteenth century.
It and the three other poems of
the manuscript are grouped with a variety of romances,
chronicles, satires, and religious poems as members of the
Alliterative movement which flourished between 1350 and
1400.
However, two features of Pearl's form make it an
unusual member of such a group:
its carefully structured
rhymed stanzas and the grouping of the stanzas through
repeated words.
The style of Old English poetry revived during the
fourteenth .century was accentual and alliterative, unlike
the syllabic meters and rhymed verses of the French and
classical poetry popular after the Norman Conquest.
While
alliteration was a basic structural feature of Old English
poetry, it became a merely decorative feature of twelfth
and thirteenth century prose and verse.
The Harley Lyrics,
for example, contain poems which are rhymed, rhythmically
1
regular, and alliterative.
Like these, Pearl is based on
rhyme and ornamented by alliteration, but the poet abandons
even metric feet for the uneven pattern of lifts and drops
characteristic of the Alliterative Revival.
Each stanza of Pearl contains twelve rhymed and
10
ll
alliterating lines.
The rhyme scheme is rigid,
ababababbcbc, but the decorative alliteration varies quite
a bit:
often there is no alliteration at all, but some-
times two, three, or all four of the stressed syllables
2
alliterate.
The lines are built around four stressed
syllables, usually with a caesura between the second and
the third beats, and without a fixed number of unaccented
syllables, containing as few as seven or as many as
fourteen.
3
The other reason Pearl's form is atypical is the
sort of linking pattern the poet has chosen.
Each of the
one hundred and one stanzas is joined to the one preceding
and following, and the final stanza joined to the first,
by a link-word.
Line 12 ends "pearl without a spot" and
line 13 contains the word ''spot," which is repeated in the
opening and closing lines of each of the first five stanzas
and carried over into the sixth.
Thus, Pearl can be
divided into twenty groups of five linked stanzas.
4
Stanza-linking is a technique associated with the Alliterative Revival:
in his study "On the Origin of Stanza-
Linking in English Alliterative Verse," A. C. L. Brown
notes that "Stanza-linking and beginning and ending with
the same word are practices which were followed only in the
West Midland and North of England, in districts where, as
is well known, alliterative verse flourished."
5
But
despite its being a linked alliterative poem, Pearl varies
12
from other poems in the tradition.
The concatenation of
other linked alliterative poems, such as Sir Perceval,
repeats each link word only once--not five times.
Brown
suggests that poets in the North and West using this
simpler linking system were more likely to have been
influenced by the "great body of Welsh linked poetry"
than by the concatenatio of Romance or Latin verse. 6
Margaret Medary, in agreeing with Brown, notes that the
linkage in those Welsh and Irish poems was a device to
aid the memory of the speaker.
Yet Pearl, she argues,
was probably intended for readers rather than listeners
and "seems to show the influence of Romance or Latin
models." 7
In this, as in using a rhyme scheme, Pearl
differs from the other members of the Alliterative Revival
by making greater use of continental verse patterns.
In arguing Pearl was meant to be read rather than
heard, Medary suggests the linking was "not so much useful
as ornamental." 8
The concatenation is certainly useful,
but as a thematic, not mnemonic device.
simply repetition:
The linkage is not
"spot" in the opening lines of the
first stanza group refers to a physical place, presumably
the child's grave which the dreamer-father has come to
visit; yet the closing lines all end with the phrase
"pearl without spot," where "spot" means flaw or imperfection, and by extension sin.
Several other concatenation
words are used to signify, relate, or contrast two or more
13
things:
deme as "judgment" or "thought," date as "time"
or "limit," delyt as "delight" or "desire," mote as "city"
or "stain."
The concatenation contributes to both the meaning
and the beauty of the poem.
Dorothy Everett suggests these
repeated words "almost form a key" to the poem's
contents,
9
and 0. D. Macrae-Gibson expands Everett's idea
by showing the repetition of the link-words emphasizes
the poet's important themes.
For example, the function
of the link-word in the second stanza group, "adorned," is
simple reinforcement; the echo of "jeweler," however, is
more complex.
The dreamer's referring to himself as a
jeweler emphasizes the idea the pearl-maiden is his, so
"the inadequacy of his thought to cope with heaven" is
underscored.
10
Thus the repetition throughout is a guide
to the poem's structure.
W. A. Davenport suggests that
the concatenation does not function serially, but forms
"nets of cross-reference" which help the form and meaning
unite.
He notes that the repetition of "endless round"
in section eight, of "spot" in section sixteen, and of
the jewel images in section seventeen gives a sense "of
travelling back by the same road we came along.
1111
Turville-Petre also notes the theme of circularity; comparing Pearl to Gawain, he sees that the situation at the
end of each poem superficially resembles the beginning,
but it is the dissimilarity in the perception of Gawain
14
and the dreamer at each poem's end that creates the significance in the echo; Gawain and the dreamer have completed
a cycle and are ready to begin another, and the number of
stanzas, 101 in both poems, reflects this.
12
The concatenation also contributes to the beauty of
the poem.
More than one critic has called Pearl a "jewel,''
and it is not difficult to see how the poem has earned this
praise.
13
Though its theme and much of its imagery suggest
the metaphor, it is the craftsmanship of the poet that
gives Pearl its luster.
The flexibility and ingenuity
with which the poet manipulates the intricate linking of
stanzas is proof of his great technical skill.
C. G.
Osgood fears so complex a format limited the poet's "full
facility of expression and spontaneity of feeling," and
that the poem's syntax and dialogue are· often artificial
and distorted.
14
Gordon, while acknowledging occasional
obscurities in the poem, warns against accusing the poet
of faults which a modern critic might read into the poem;
a usage which to us seems distorted to a medieval audience
"may well have been both less puzzling and more effective
than it is to us." 15
Such a reminder is surely salutary.
We have seen that the Pearl-poet had before him a remarkable number of models to choose from in selecting his
the rich alliterative tradition, its
16
flourishing revival, Romance and Latin models,
rhymed
verse form:
verses like those in the Harley Lyrics, the linked stanzas
15
of Welsh verse.
The beauty and unity of a work wrought
from such variety must be counted a tribute not only to the
poet's skill but to his discernment.
Pearl's external
form complements precisely its content:
the "delight" of
the maiden, the dreamer, the Lamb, and all of heaven
builds and echoes throughout the nineteenth stanza group,
until the crescendo of joy is so great the dreamer feels
he must join in it or die in the attempt.
Such unearthly
delight expressed in so fitting a vehicle is reminiscent
of a bright Bach Magnificat, a perfectly crafted and
joyous celebration of God's friendship for His humble
servant.
A PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:
KYNDE IN PEARL
Even the most cursory examination of Pearl reveals a
carefully planned and elegantly crafted work wrought by a
poet intensely aware of the importance of words.
Through
repetition and contrast--especially of the poem's linkwords--important ideas and terms in the poem build up
meaning.
1
By tracing the repetition of two key terms
within Pearl, madde and kynde, I will argue that one of the
poet's themes was the clarification of the distinct
natures of heaven and earth.
2
These two terms appear in conjunction in stanza
twenty-three, a stanza which paints a portrait in miniature of the entire poem:
it contains a statement of the
pearl-maiden's separation from the world, her transformation, her comment on the dreamer's viewpoint, and the
first mention of the "pearl of price."
The maiden re-
bukes the dreamer for indulging in grief:
I believe you are set on a mad purpose
And worry yourself with transient woes:
For what you lost was but a rose
That flowered and failed as kynde gave it,
Now, through the kynde of the chest that encloses it
It has proved to be a pearl of price.
(267-272)
In essence, the maiden characterizes the dreamer's struggle
as "mad" because he cannot distinguish between the nature
16
17
of the rose he lost and the nature of the pearl of price he
mistakes for it.
The first of the key terms is "mad," used both in
the sense of the Modern English term, "foolish" or
"insane" and in the sense of "rage."
The poet uses both
senses of the term to build up the idea of the foolishness
of raging against or contending with God.
The second key
term, kynde, is often translated as the Modern English
"nature," but was a far more flexible and comprehensive
term.
The MED lists a range of meanings, including "the
universe, creation, natural physical phenomena; natural
order of things; man's innate or instinctive moral feeling;
action habitual or customary to a person; nature as a
source of living things."
which pertains to
li~e
270:
The last sense is the one
kynde or nature in the
earthly sense is what the dreamer is familiar with and its
use draws on the images of life, growth, death, and decay
in the first stanzas.
But now the rose-child who
"flowered and failed" according to kynde of earth has been
made a "pearl of price"; and it is again the kynde or
essential nature of her surroundings on the opposite shore
that prove her to be such.
She characterizes her garden
in terms of eternal bliss:
there she will linger "for
ever"
(261) where sorrow "never" can come (262).
This juxtaposition of kynde in lines 270 and 271
surely is deliberate, a device to state early in the poem
18
what will be expanded upon and returned to throughout:
distinct natures of heaven and earth.
the
The dreamer acts as
a representative of the kynde of earth in the poem, and it
is his early blunders that define for us just what that
kynde is.
The maiden rebukes the dreamer for his failure
to comprehend that she is utterly different from the maiden
he has known, saying he is "no kynde jeweler"
warning falls on deaf ears.
(276).
Her
Blithely ignoring the import
of her speech and wholly steeped in his earth-bound kynde,
the dreamer speaks of his wish to cross the stream and
dwell there with the maiden (284).
With the same word she
used earlier to characterize his error, the maiden rebukes
"Why do you
him (and the "madness" of all mortals) again:
men jest?
You are so madde"
(290).
His "madness" entails three errors.
First, he
relies on the evidence of his eyes, believing her there
before him only when he can see her, not trusting in the
word of God (302).
The second is that he values only his
own wish to join her.
In his selfishness he has violated
the system the maiden goes on to outline:
one should
speak properly to God and ask leave to live in His domain,
leave which might well be denied (313-316).
In his pre-
sumption, the dreamer has proved "discourteous"
(303).
His final error is believing he can cross the stream under
his own power, rejecting God's power to judge.
His failure
to "submit" to God's plan ( 319) promotes the maiden to
19
remind him that when he can go no further,
"tone fro,"
he must abide by God's judgment (347-348).
Thus his three
errors result from his lack of faith, courtesy, and submissiveness.
And in attributing such madness to all men
(290), the maiden implicitly identifies these failings as
the kynde of earth.
The maiden's explanation of the mystical marriage,
the importance of innocence, the Parable of the Vineyard
all contribute to the poet's portrait of the kynde of
heaven.
But throughout the debate the dreamer insists on
imposing the kynde of earth upon heaven, worrying about
"more and less"
(589-600) and the rewards due the righteous
being wrongly distributed (469-492).
Slowly the dreamer
comes to see that his understanding is mistaken and that
he must accept a different order, the true kynde of heaven
now revealed to him.
In stanzas 63 and 64, he begins to
question the maiden, seeking in his confusion the key to
understanding the essence of his revelation.
In each of the questions the term
kynd~
(or kyn) is
used, and each relates to one of the dreamer's "mad"
errors.
His first question is about the maiden's
"properties":
in life she had been a tiny child who could
not have hoped to please God, yet now her angelic beauty
is of a kynde' Aristotle could never have described nor
Pygmalion imitated (750-52).
Yet this is the change he
noted when the girl first appeared on the opposite shore,
20
long before the beginning of the debate when she accused
him of madness for believing his eyes in the first place.
The dreamer's question about the kynde of her properties-which he sees "carne never from nature"
(349)--is not about
her properties per se, but about their kynde; he asks, in
other words, "What is it in your beauty that I am unable to
see?"
The dreamer's second question immediately follows
the first in the text:
so spotless?"
(756).
"What kyn office I Bears the pearl
Her rank, as she has told him before,
is queen among many equal kings and queens.
This office
is both gladly shared and generously bestowed through
"courtesy"
(stanza group VIII).
The kynde of heavenly
courtesy is as incomprehensible to the dreamer as the kynde
of the maiden's properties are startling.
His earthly
sensibility is betrayed by his concern for the rewards due
those who earn them, a disbelief in any system other than
the one he knows.
He finds God's courtesy "too free," for
he cannot understand that such an insignificant entity as
the pearl-maiden was in life should surpass so mony a
comly onvnder cambe.
Yet his willingness to understand the
maiden's words, to give up the madness of earth, is reflected in the form his question takes:
"What kyn?"
His
first madness was thinking he understood what he saw; his
first question was about the kynde of what he saw.
second madness was thinking he could do as he wished
His
21
without first obtaining leave--a discourtesy to God.
Yet
this question follows the girl's explanation of courtesy;
thus when the dreamer asks "What kyn office?" he is asking
"What is it in the courteous kynde of your queenship that
I cannot understand?"
The dreamer's third question is the most significant.
He had taken for granted the kynde of Christ
earlier; in stanza five he acknowledges Christ's kynde
would comfort him, yet the clamor of his own wretchedness
drowns out his belief.
Now he returns to what he thought
he understood before, asking, "What kyn thing may be that
Lamb?"
Significantly, this is the only question answered
at length, and it is answered indirectly.
Because the
first two questions had, in effect, already been answered,
the maiden had replied briefly to them by saying her
"strength and beauty" were given her by Christ when He
called her to take the "office" of bride (763-65).
But in
reply to the dreamer's question about the nature of Christ,
she answered, "I'll tell you of Jerusalem I If you would
know what kyn He is"
(793-94).
But instead of speaking of
the city, she tells him about the crucifixion, recalling
Isaiah's prophecy, "As a sheep to the slaughter"
and John the Baptist's words, "Behold God's Lamb"
(801),
(822).
Her emphasis on the lamb-like meekness of Christ's suffering takes on special significance when we recall that the
dreamer's third madness was pride, his defiance of God's
22
plan.
In this case, the answer to the dreamer's question
must be inferred; the maiden describes the Lamb in many
ways, but the adjectives repeated most often are "meek"
and "spotless," and these tally with the dreamer's later
description of the bleeding Lamb, simple, gentle and perfectly white (1133-36).
These two qualities, then, best
answer the question, "What kyn thing?"
When the pearl-maiden leaves the dreamer to join her
fellow pearls in the procession following the Lamb, his
disobedient madness returns.
Driven by his senses, not
his reason, "delight drove me in eye and ear"
(1153),
rejecting God's courtesy in allowing him the vision, and
asserting his own will in attempting to cross, the dreamer
is guilty of the same faults for which the maiden first
rebukes him.
This act he realizes not only denies the
fundamental difference between the kynde of heaven and
that of earth, but is an evidence of the madness he had
tried to overcome:
madness"
he admits, "my man's mind melted into
(1154).
What the dreamer gains from his experience is the
knowledge that there exists indeed a heaven of a wholly
new kynde, and while he might not completely understand
it, he can, by rejecting the "madness" that bars him from
it, learn to please God.
His lack of faith, courtesy, and
submission--which inspired his grief, fueled his contention, and caused his being flung from heaven--he rejects,
23
saying, "Lord, mad they are who strive against you"
(1199).
By the final stanza he sees that, through faith (committing his pearl to God's care), courtesy (trusting God as
his Lord and Friend), and submission (becoming one of
God's humble servants), mortal man can take part in the
kynde of heaven and thus themselves become "precious
pearls."
A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION
In the introduction to his edition of The Pearl,
Gordon wrote that the poem's difficult rhyme and alliteration schemes were appropriate to "the jewel it encloses,"
and it is this jewel-like quality, so characteristic of
The Pearl, that is difficult to preserve in the translation.
To wrest it from its proper setting and place it
in Modern English seems a great disservice to the poem,
because so much of the beauty of the language can be lost
in a word-for-word translation.
The most obvious example
of this is the difficulty in carrying over the link-words:
"date" is used in stanzas 41-45 in a variety of ways to
express time or measurement, and our modern "date" can't
be made to fit most of these instances.
The "date of
year," "date of day of evensong," "dear the date to labor
in the vineyard"--these can be replaced with the word
"time."
But when the dreamer objects that the maiden's
having become a queen is "too dear a date," and she
responds that God's goodness has no "date," a different
word (I chose "end") must be substituted, and the concatenation breaks down.
But despite its delicate beauty,
The Pearl has a vitality that reaches beyond the loveliness
of the language:
the poignant grief of the dreamer, his
joy when he recognizes the Pearl, the Maiden's somewhat
24
25
archly patient explanation of her role in the new
Jerusalem which grows into an enraptured account of the
bliss of heaven, the dreamer's determination to join in
the delight of the many worshipping the Lamb, all these
would surely come through even if The Pearl were not so
finely crafted a work.
To study this poem properly, a student should have
it before him in a form that would preserve the beauty and
vigor of the original, give a reliable reading of the
poem's content, and convey something of the music and
pleasure that cannot be had when laboring over every line.
Thus an ideal translation would include a copy of the
Middle English text, a "literal" translation with a full
glossary and careful notes explaining difficult words and
passages,
l
and a modern version of the poem with the
complex rhyme scheme intact.
2
The present translation is
at best a compromise between the second and third parts of
the ideal:
although the lines don't rhyme, I tried to
follow as closely as possible the four-stress rhythm of
each line, and whenever I could, use alliteration.
But
while always attempting to retain the sense of the
original, I often decided to use words and phrases which
were not strictly literal.
A look at the method of trans-
lation will, I believe, make this process more clear.
My first step was to make an absolutely literal
translation of a group of about ten stanzas.
I wrote out
26
in Modern English the words I recognized and copied out in
Middle English those I did not know or was unsure of,
placing brackets around them, skipping a line each time.
My first draft of lines 565-570 looks like this:
More whether [louyly] is my gift
To do with mine so what I like
Or else your eye to [lyPer] is lift
For I am good and none [bysuyke3]
Thus shall I said Christ it [skyfte]
The last shall be the first that [stryke3]
My second step was to consult the glossaries of four
different editions of the poem
3
for possible alternate
readings of the bracketed word or phrase, keeping track of
discrepancies between the lines on the first draft.
All
agreed that louyly, for example, meant "lawful," and I
adopted that reading.
If all the editors were not in
agreement, however, I checked the Middle English Dictionary, or the Oxford English Dictionary; and I occasionally
consulted a concordance to the four poems in the manuscript4 to see in which ways the poet used that particular
word elsewhere.
With all this in mind, I returned to the
poem and wrote a second draft, trying to shape the stanza
into its four-beat meter and to modernize the syntax.
The
only word in these six lines causing any disagreement was
skyfte:
unlike the other three editors who gave "apportion,
arrange"
(citing the Old Norse skifta), Hillman gives
"shift, arrange"
(from the Old English sciftan).
The
sense of distributing rewards after a certain principle is
obvious in the context, so I looked no further.
The
27
second draft reads:
Also, is it not lawful for me
To do with what's mine as I choose?
Or else, is your eye turned on evil
Since I am good and tr~ck no one? .
"Thus," said Christ, "will I apportion it:
The last shall be the first to receive."
The third line is a good example of the choices
made.
Lyfte is the Middle English, but because the
alliteration with lyper is lost, and because we tend to
think of "lifting" our eyes to heaven rather than evil, I
substituted "turned."
Also, in the sixth line, stryke3
(from the Old English strican, to strike) is consistently
interpreted in the four editions "go," but I substituted
"receive" because "go" has so many modern idiomatic
interpretations, and "receive" fit the idea of the passage.
However, in the third draft where further changing
and polishing was done, I replaced "to receive" with "in
line" as the latter is more in keeping with the parable of
the vineyard and fits the rhythmic structure more closely.
Admittedly, it's not what the poet wrote, but it is a near
approximation and, I believe, entirely within the spirit
of the stanza.
read:
Similarly, the third line was altered to
"Or is it that you seek out wrong?"
This seems to
me an equivalent wording, though perhaps it might not seem
so to everyone.
Later in the stanza, another problem arose.
has said, "Thus poor men their part always pyke3''
The poet
(1.573).
Both Gordon and Hillman gloss pyke3 as "pick, gather, get,"
28
but Andrew and Waldron omit "pick."
Though all agree on
"get" and "gather," saying "a poor man always gathers his
share" is quite a different thing from saying "a poor man
always gets his share."
In the context of the stanza,
however, "gather" seemed the more appropriate choice; and
thus the final draft reads:
gather their part."
"Thus poor men are able to
Here again, "are able" is editorial:
I guessed the Pearl-maiden did not mean to suggest that
poverty was a guarantee of salvation.
is not absolutely literal.
Obviously the line
Emendations such as the ones
discussed above, though not common, are certainly present.
I have made every effort to put Pearl into a form
that is accessible, appealing, and accurate.
It is not a
word-for-word translation; rather it is my best guess about
the poet's ideas and intentions and ought, perhaps, to be
read as such.
TEXT OF PEARL
I.
1
Pearl, pleasing to a prince's joy,
Flawlessly set in purest gold,
In all the East, I boldly say
I have never seen her beauty matched:
In every setting, so perfect, so round,
So dainty, so fine are her smooth sides;
Wherever I've judged fine bright gems
I considered her imcomparably dear.
Alas, I lost her in a garden
It slipped from me through grass to earth.
10
I mourned, pierced by the force of love lost,
For my own pearl without a spot.
2
Since it sprang from me, in that same spot
Have I often waited for that wealth
That lately had cast away all my sorrow
And raised high my health and good fortune-Yet this but wounds my heart the more.
My swollen breast is seared by sorrow,
Yet I never imagined so sweet a song
As stole to me softly in a moment's hush:
Truly, several have come to me so.
To think her colors are covered by earth,
Oh mold, you mar a lovely jewel:
My own pearl without a spot.
29
20
30
3
This place of spices must surely spread,
Such richness runs to rot below;
Blossoms white and blue and red
Keep their true colors against the sun:
For fruit and flower shall not fade
Where my pearl has dropped down in the earth. 30
Living grass springs but from dead grains
(No wheat could otherwise be grown) ;
Each good thus springs from other goods:
So seemly a seed could never fail-Could sprigs and spices not spring up
Of that precious pearl without a spot?
4
To that spot which I describe in speech,
To that green garden did I go
In August, at the summer's height
When grain is cut with sharp-edged scythe.
The hill where the pearl had tumbled down
Was shaded by bright and pleasing plants:
Gilly flower, ginger, and gromwell,
With peonies scattered among the rest.
Though it was lovely to look upon,
A fairer fragrance floated from it.
There dwelt that dear one, I well knew,
My precious pearl without a spot.
40
31
5
Before that spot I rubbed my hands,
For the chill of grief enveloped me,
50
And the din of sorrow deafened my heart.
Though I knew reason would bring me peace
I longed for my pearl imprisoned there
With fierce thoughts that battled within:
Though I knew Christ would comfort me
My wretched will
~uffered
in sorrow.
I fell upon that flowery ground;
Its fragrance flooded my weary mind.
I slipped into a deep slumber
On that precious pearl without a spot.
II.
6
60
From that spot my spirit sprang away
While my body remained on earth in sleep.
My ghost was carried by God's grace
In a journey to a land of marvels.
I knew not where on earth it was,
But I found myself near towering cliffs.
And so turned my face toward a woods
Where precious stones could be seen all about;
Shining with a light beyond man's knowing
The gleaming glory of them glowed.
No fabrics woven by human hands were
Adorned half so preciously.
70
32
7
All the hillsides were adorned
With crystal cliffs that naturally shone;
Bright forest lands surrounded them
And the boles of the trees were indigo.
Polished silver slid along the leaves
That trembled thick on every bough
When gleams of light glistened on them
With a shimmering sheen, shining bright.
80
The gravel crunching underfoot
Was all of precious eastern pearl.
The sun's bright beams were dark and blind
In the light of such adornment.
8
The adornment of those precious hills
Made my soul forget its grief.
The fruits' sweet fragrance was so fresh
Like food, I found it strengthened me.
Through the woodlands flew together
Bright-hued birds, both small and large:
No instrument devised by man
Could imitate their joyful song.
And when those birds soared toward the sky
They gaily sang in one sweet voice:
No man could find more gracious bliss
Than to listen, and see their adornment.
90
33
9
Thus all around was dearly adorned
Where Fortune led me through the wood;
A true description of this splendor
No man is worthy enough to tell.
100
I wandered in happy admiration,
No bank so big as to hinder me,
And the further I walked, the fairer arose
The plain, the plants, the spices, the pears,
And hedgerows, and borders, and rich rivers
Their steep banks edged in filigree.
I arrived at the side of a swift-flowing stream:
Lord, dear was its adornment.
10
The adornment of those splendid depths
Was bright beryl, which formed the banks.
110
Swirling sweetly, the water swept by
With a whispering voice, flowing swift and
smooth.
In the river bed bright stones were sprinkled,
Which glowed through the glittering glass of
the water
As streaming stars gaze from the skies
On a winter night when mortals sleep.
For every pebble placed in that pool
Was an emerald, sapphire, or other fine gem,
So that all the depths shone with their light-So dear was their adornment.
120
34
III.
11
The precious adornment of hills and dales,
The woods, the waters, and splendid plains
Built joy in me, calmed all my grief,
Overcame my distress, ended my suffering.
I followed a stream that strongly flowed,
Head bowed with the bliss which filled my mind.
The more I saw this stream-filled vale
The more my heart strained with bounding joy.
As Fortune journeys where she will-She often sends solace, often pain--
130
But the one to whom she gives her favor
Shall come to have always more and more.
12
More treasure was there in that land
Than I could tell, had I enough time,
For an earthly heart cannot comprehend
Even a tenth of those glad joys.
So I imagined Paradise lay
Beyond the broad bank of this stream.
I supposed the water a device,
A border between two lands of joy:
Across the brook, past slope and dale,
I hoped a city was situated.
But the water was deep; I dared not wade
And ever I longed, and more and more.
140
35
13
More and more, and even more
I wished to see beyond the brook,
For if it were fair where I now ventured,
Still lovelier was the distant land.
I stopped and all around me stared,
And diligently searched to find a ford,
150
Growing certain this was dangerous
The further I searched along the strand.
But always I thought I should not shrink
In fright, such wondrous wealth was there.
Then something new came into sight
That moved my mind even more and more.
14
More marvels daunted by judgment then,
For I saw beyond that merry stream
A crystal cliff reflect the light;
Many a royal ray shone there.
A child sat at the foot of it,
A maiden courteous and poised;
Glistening white was all her garb:
I knew her well--I had seen her ere.
Like lustrous gold a man has carved
Shone that fair one on the other shore.
Long I gazed across at her:
The longer, I knew her more and more.
160
36
15
The more my eyes searched her fair face,
When I had noticed her delicate form,
170
A gladdening glory grew within me
As little before could ever have caused.
Great longing urged me to call out
But grave confusion struck my heart:
I saw her in so strange a place
The shock had made my heart quite numb.
Then she turned up her fair forehead:
Her visage, white as pure ivory,
Stung my poor bewildered heart;
And ever the longer, the more and more.
IV.
16
180
More than I liked, my dread arose
I stood full still and dared not call.
With eyes wide open and mouth clamped shut
I stood quiet as a hawk in hall.
Thinking this meeting must be miraculous,
I dreaded what would happen should
That one I'd found escape from me
Before I was able to ask for a word.
That grace-filled child without a spot,
So small, so smooth, so sweetly slight,
Arose, arrayed in royal garb-A precious pearl in pearl all clothed.
190
37
17
Pearls of royal price thus set
One might have seen with God's good grace
When she, fresh as a fleur-de-lys,
Carne directly toward the bank.
All glistening white was her rich robe,
Open at the sides and fastened with
The merriest pearls, I do believe,
That these eyes have ever seen.
200
And well I know those graceful sleeves
Were trimmed in double pearl, as was
Her skirt adorned in matching style,
With precious pearls embroidered round.
18
She wore a decorated crown,
Made all of pearl--no other stone:
Its pinnacles were clear white pearls
With figured flowers daintily sewn.
On her head she wore no other band.
Her radiant face shone all around,
As grave as the face of a duke or earl
Her coloring fairer than whale bone.
Her hair was bright as burnished gold
Where it lay loose upon her shoulders;
Yet her own complexion was as pure
As the precious pearls set in her clothes.
210
38
19
Her wristbands and hems were set with pearls:
At her hands, her sides, and at her throat
Were white pearls and no other gems.
Burnished white was all her vesture,
Yet one wondrous
220
pearl without a stain
At the center of her breast was set securely;
A man's reason would be utterly baffled
Before mind might come to know its worth.
I fear no tongue is able to
Speak of the sweetness of that sight:
It was so clean and clear and pure-That precious pearl where it was set.
20
All in pearls that precious one
Beyond the stream approached the shore.
230
From here to Greece was no gladder man
Than I when she had reached the edge.
She was nearer to me than aunt or niece;
My joy, therefore, was much the more.
That special spice seemed ready to speak:
She bent her head, as a woman would,
Removed her crown of great value,
And hailed me in a light, sweet voice.
Glad was I to have ever been born
To answer my sweet one clothed in pearl.
240
39
V.
21
"Oh pearl," I asked, "set all in pearl,
Are you my pearl whom I have mourned,
Lamented alone through each dark night?
Much longing for you have I hidden
Since you slipped from me into the grass.
Pensive, suffering, I felt great pain;
But you, in a life light and pleasant
Abide in Paradise, unworried by strife.
What fate has brought my jewel here
And left me in such agony?
250
From the time we two were torn apart
I have been a joyless jeweler."
22
That jewel decked in noble gems
Then turned up her gray-eyed gaze,
Replaced her crown of eastern pearl,
And, having done so, solemnly spoke:
"Sir, you do misspeak indeed.
To say your pearl is wholly lost
When it is placed in such a coffer
As is this garden, gracious and gay.
Here will I linger and enjoy
Where sorrow and tears may never come.
Such indeed were a treasure chest for you
Were you a gentle jeweler.
260
40
23
But, gentle jeweler, if you will lose
Your joy for a gem once dear to you
I believe you to be moved by madness
And worry yourself with transient woes.
For what you lost was but a rose
That flowered and failed as was its nature;
270
The chest that now encloses it
Has proved it to be a pearl of price,
Yet you have called your fate a thief
Which made you, clearly, out of nothing.
You blame the cure for your misfortune-You are no natural jeweler."
24
This guest was to me a jewel
And jewels· were her gentle words;
I told her, "My only source of bliss,
My great distress you have dismissed.
Please forgive my hasty words-I thought my pearl gone from the world.
Now I have found it:
I will celebrate,
And dwell with it amid cheerful woods,
And love my Lord and all his laws
That brought me near this happiness.
Were I with you, beyond these waves,
I were a joyful jeweler."
280
41
25
"Jeweler," spoke that pure gem,
"Why must men jest?
Speak as if mad?
290
You said three things within one speech;
Ill-considered were all three.
You don't know what in the world one means;
Your tongue flies far ahead of your thoughts.
You say you think me in this vale
Because you see me with your eyes;
You say as well that in this land
Along with me you shall live here;
And third, you'll pass across this stream:
That may no joyful jeweler."
VI.
26
300
"Scant praise is due that jeweler who
Trust but ·what he can see with his eyes;
Blameworthy and discourteous, too,
Who thinks our Lord would speak a lie.
He faithfully promised to raise your life
Which Fortune had decreed would die.
You count his words an empty pledge
Believing nothing till it's been seen:
This is a sign of pridefulness.
It ill becomes a good man to
Believe that he can never trust
But what his reason alone approves.
310
42
27
"Think now if you spoke heedlessly
Or as man should offer up words to God:
You say you'll live within this realm;
Better first to ask for leave
Which yet might not be granted you;
You wish to cross beyond this stream-First you must bow to another plan:
Through cold earth must your body sink
320
For it was lost in Paradise,
As Adam poorly guarded it.
Each man will bow to dreary death
Before God's judgment across this stream."
28
"Will you doom me again," I asked, "my sweet,
To
furthe~
woe?
I shall waste away.
Now I have found what I had lost-Must I lose it twice before I die?
Why must I both find and lose it?
My precious pearl does me great pain.
What use has treasure but to make men weep?
When, with great grief, it is later lost?
I care no more for health nor wealth
Nor how far from earth men may fling me:
When I am left without my pearl
What can I expect but endless rue?"
330
43
29
"You judge by your own pain alone,"
Then said that one.
"Why do you so?
Lamenting over some little loss
Many men fail to gain a greater.
340
It would be better to bless yourself
And love the Lord through weal and woe.
For anger won't gain you a jot:
Who must suffer shall:
be not so bold
Though you may dance as any doe,
Or flaunt and fling your furies fierce,
When you may move no more, this way or that,
You must abide by His judgment.
30
"Judge the Lord, ever accuse Him,
He will
s~ray
not one footstep from His
path;
350
Your opposition matters not a mite.
Though heartache holds you from happiness,
Still--stop your struggle, cease your strife
And swiftly seek the good Lord's grace.
Your prayers may secure his pity
So that mercy may make known its power:
His comfort can soothe all your sorrow
And easily banish all your losses.
For rage or rave or hide your grief,
All lies in Him to ordain and judge."
360
44
VII.
31
Then I said to that damsel sweet,
"Let not my Lord think me angry if,
In heedless raving, I stumble in speech:
The weight of woe was to my heart
Like water spilling from a spring.
I place myself in God's mercy always;
I've not deserved your cruel rebuke.
My dearest, though I am at fault,
Yet kindly show your comfort to me-Think compassionately on this:
370
What first acquainted me with care
Was you, once ground of all my bliss.
32
"You have been both my joy and grief,
Yet much the larger was my woe;
When you were carried beyond my reach
I never knew where my pearl had gone.
Now seeing it has soothed my suffering.
When we were parted, we were as one-God forbid our anger now,
For seldom anywhere may we meet.
Although you can speak courteously,
I am but dust and lack such speech;
But Christ's mercy, and Mary and John
These are the ground of all my bliss.
380
45
33
11
I find you blissful, surrounded by joy,
And I, mere man, subdued by sorrow;
You take little notice of this, indeed,
Though I often endure burning wrongs.
But now I have you here before me-Answer, I beg you, without debate
390
And tell me, please, in solemn truth,
What life you lead both early and late.
I rejoice to think your lot has changed
To one of honor and plenty, indeed.
This is the high gate to all my joy
And is the ground of all my bliss ...
34
11
Now may bliss be with you, sir,
11
Said that one, lovely in form and face.
11
To walk and bide here you are free,
For now your words are dear to me.
Imperious mood and high-handed pride
Assuredly are hated here.
My Lord does not like to admonish
For all who live near Him are meek.
And when you come before His throne,
Be deeply devout, wholly humble
Such demeanor is ever loved by the Lamb,
Who is the ground of all my bliss.
400
46
35
"A blissful life you say I lead,
And want to know my degree therein,
410
As you know, when your pearl dropped down
I was quite young, of tender years;
For through his God-head my Lord the Lamb
Brought me unto His marriage
And crowned me queen to thrive in joy
For all of time, which shall ever be;
And endowed with all His heritage
Is His beloved.
I am entirely His.
His virtue, His value, His noble valor
Are at the root of all my bliss."
VIII.
36
420
"My bliss!" I cried, "can this be true?
Please be not angry if I speak amiss,
But can you be blue heaven's queen
Whom all the world must reverence?
We reverence Mary, who grew in grace
And bore a babe of virgin flower.
Who could take her crown away
Unless she were eclipsed in favor-Yet for her sweetness, unsurpassed,
We call her Phoenix of Araby
Which flew unblemished from its Maker
As did the queen of courtesy."
430
47
37
"Courteous queen!" she then exclaimed,
And knelt and covered up her face.
"Matchless Mother and Merriest Maid,
The blessed origin of every grace."
After a moment, she stood up
And spoke toward me saying, "Sir,
Many here seek and gain reward,
But none in this place would usurp.
440
In her sway our Empress has
The earth and hell and all of heaven,
Yet holds none back from his heritage
For she is queen of courtesy.
38
"The court of the living Lord's kingdom
Has treasure in its very self;
And everyone who there arrives
Is king or queen of all the realm.
And one would never deprive another,
For all rejoice in their brother's reward
And wish his crown worth five times more
If such embellishment could be.
But my lady, of whom Jesus sprang,
Rules her empire far above us;
And none of our number is displeased,
For she is queen of courtesy.
450
48
'i
39
"By courtesy, as Saint Paul says,
We all are members of Jesus Christ:
As head and arm and leg and navel
Are joined faithfully to His body,
460
In his way is each Christian soul
A limb of the Master of Mystery.
See whether hate or bitterness
Is fixed in or among your limbs:
Your head feels neither wrath nor spite
Against arm or finger, though you wear a ring.
Thus do we fare, in love and joy,
Each king or queen by courtesy."
40
I said, "I am sure that courtesy
And charity are great among you all.
470
Don't be offended at my speech.
*
*
*
You set yourself too high in heaven-You were so young to call yourself queen.
What greater honor is held for him
Who steadfast stood within the world,
Who lived his life in long penance,
Who endured evil to earn his joy?
How could he gain a greater goal
Than to be king by courtesy?
480
49
IX.
41
"Those courteous deeds are too freely done
If all that you have said is so:
You lived not two years in our land,
And could not please the Lord, for you
Knew neither Creed nor Paternoster:
Yet the first day you are made queen.
So help me God, I can not think
The Lord would take so wrong a turn.
Indeed, my girl, a countess' place
Is high enough if held in heaven,
490
Or even a lady of lesser degree-But queen!
42
It is too high an end."
"Yet of His goodness there is no end,
II
That worthy one then said to me.
"For all that He ordains is truth,
And nothing can He do but right.
You see in the mass what Matthew tells,
In the true gospel of Almighty God:
The Lord aptly spoke in a parable
Which likens your world to heaven bright.
'My kingdom on high,' He said,
'is like
A vineyard kept by a lord I know.'
The harvest season had arrived
And time to work in the vineyard was dear.
500
50
43
"The workers knew well that time of year:
At the break of day the lord arose
To hire workers for his vines.
He found some who would suit his ends
And who agreed to the wage he named:
A penny a day.
So they went forth
510
To toil and travail, and taking great pains,
They cut and gathered and bound the grapes.
At nine he went to the market-place
And found more idlers standing there;
He asked 'Why are you loafing here?
Do you not know the hour is late?'
44
"'Before the dawn we did come here,'
Each answer he sought was just the same,
'And have been standing since sunrise,
Yet no man bids us to any work.'
'Go into my vineyard; do what you can,'
The lord said, making this agreement:
'A reasonable wage accrued by dusk
You will be paid in deed and thought.'
So into the vineyard they went and worked.
And thus all day the lord went about;
Bidding new laborers into his field
Until the day had almost passed.
520
51
45
"And at the time of evensong,
One hour before the sun drops down,
530
He saw strong men were idle still
And spoke to them on a sober note:
'Why stand you idle all day long?'
They said that they could find no work.
'Young yeomen, go to my vineyard
And work, and do all you are able.'
But soon the world became quite dark:
The sun was set and it grew late.
The lord bid all collect their wage,
For daytime had completely passed.
X.
46
540
"That time was gone the lord knew, so
He called his reeve,
'Man, pay the workers;
Give them the payment that I owe.
Further, that none might upbraid me,
Put all of them in one long row
And give each man alike one penny.
Start with the last one in the line
And work your way toward the first.'
And then the first voiced a complaint:
'While we have labored long and hard,
Scarce one hour have these strained:
We think ourselves entitled to more'
550
52
47
"'We've served far more, i t seems to us,
Who have endured the heat of day,
Than these that have not toiled two hours.
And yet they're treated as we are.'
The lord then said to one of them:
'My friend, no wrong have I done you.
Take what is your own and go.
You agreed one penny was your wage--
560
Why begin to bargain now?
Was not a penny our agreement this morning?
More than this covenant you cannot claim.
Why, then, will you ask for more?
48
"'Moreover, is it not for me
To give what's mine as I see fit?
Or is it that you seek out wrong?
For I am good and deceive no one.'
'Thus,' said Christ,
'shall I ordain:
The last shall be the first in line;
The first, the last, though he be swift,
For many are called, but few are chosen.'
Thus poor men are able to gather their part
Though they come late and are low-born
And their small strength is too soon spent:
The mercy of God is all the more.
570
53
49
"Here I have more happiness,
Great ladyship, and life's best bloom
Than might be won by a world of men
Who ask reward for righteousness,
580
Although my toil began just now.
I came to the vineyard at eventide;
The Lord gave me my wages first:
I was paid in full immediately
Though there were others who labored longer,
Who strained and sweated many hours:
They have as yet received no wage
And may get no more all year long."
50
Then I spoke once more, and plainly said:
"I think your tale unreasonable.
590
God's ready justice is forever supreme,
Or Holy Writ is but a fable.
The Psalms hold a plain-spoken verse
Which speaks to a well-determined point:
'You requite each man as he deserves
Oh You, High King of right judgment.'
Yet you came to be paid before
A man who stood strong through the day.
The less work done, the more can be had
And so it goes:
the less, the more."
600
54
XI.
51
"There lies no risk of more or less
In God's Kingdom," that mild one said.
"For there each man is fully paid
Whether his reward is large or small.
Our noble Ruler does not begrudge,
Whether His dealings be gentle or harsh:
His gifts flow out, like water from a spring
Or a stream which never changed its course
Large is the inheritance of
One who has been saved from sin:
610
No happiness is kept from him,
For the grace of God is great enough.
52
"Yet now you argue, to confound me,
That I have taken my penny wrongly;
You tell me I have come too late
And am not worthy of such reward.
Where have you known any man abide,
Ever so holy in his prayer,
That he did not forfeit at some time
Or in some way bright heaven's reward?
And ever the oftener, the older men grew,
They strayed from right to work evil.
These must be guided by mercy and grace,
For the grace of God is great enough.
620
55
53
"But innocents have enough of grace,
Because as soon as they are born
They descend in due course into baptismal water,
And then are brought into the vineyard.
The day is soon infused with dark
And sinks into the night of death.
630
The Gentle Lord then pays His servants
Who did no wrong before they came:
They did His will, for they were there-Why should He not accept their work?
And pay them too, first and in full?
For the grace of God is great enough.
54
"It's known enough that mankind great
Had been created for perfect bliss;
Our first father forfeited it,
Through the apple that he bit into.
For that fruit we all were damned
To die in sorrow, far from bliss;
And after, face the heat of hell
And remain therein without respite.
But a cure for that ill came at once:
Rich blood ran down the rough-hewn cross
With precious water--and at that plight
The grace of God grew great enough.
640
56
55
"Enough there flowed out of that well,
Blood and water from that broad wound:
650
The blood has bought us from hell's pain
And delivered us from the second death;
The water, truly, is baptism
That followed the cruelly sharpened spear.
It washes clean the sins most foul
With which we had been drowned in death.
There is nothing, now, in all the world
Between us and bliss, which was withdrawn
And is restored in that holy hour,
For the grace of God is great enough.
XII.
56
660
"Grace enough may that man win
Who sins again, if he repents;
But he must beg, contrite and sore,
And suffer the pains his sins deserve.
But the unchanging reason of right
Saves evermore the innocent:
That the guiltless should be punished
Is a judgment God never gave.
The guilty must embrace contrition
And be led through mercy into grace,
But one who never turned toward guile
Is rightly saved by innocence.
670
57
57
"Thus in this case I know right well
Through reason, God will save two men:
The righteous man shall see His face;
The innocent shall come to Him.
The Psalmist says it in a verse:
'Oh Lord, who shall climb Your high hill
Or rest within your holy place?'
He is not slow to answer himself:
680
'One who worked no ill with his hands,
Who is both clean and pure of heart,
Shall find a place to stay his steps.'
The innocent is ever saved by right.
58
"The righteous man shall certainly
Approach that lovely castle, too:
They that did not waste their lives
Or cheat their neighbors with flattery.
Solomon said how one righteous man
Knightly honor did acquire:
Through narrow paths he took himself
And briefly glimpsed the realm of God,
As one who says,
'Yon lovely isle!
You may win it if you are brave.'
But, without peril, surely is
The innocent ever saved by right.
690
58
59
"Of righteous men yet says a man,
David--whose Psalms you may have seen-'Lord, call never your servant to judgment:
No man alive is justified before you.'
700
Therefore, when you come to that court
Where all our causes shall be heard,
Rely on your right and you may be denied,
As it says in the verse I repeated just now.
May He who died bloody on the cross-His hands painfully pierced through-Give you to pass, when you are tried,
By innocence and not by right.
60
"Let him who can rightly understand
Look on the Book, and come to know
710
How Jesus walked among people of old
Who brought their children unto Him:
For the health and blessing which issues from
Him,
They meekly asked Him to touch their babes.
His disciples, wrongly, said,
'Let Him be,'
Restraining many with their reproofs.
Sweetly, Jesus said unto them:
'Step back, let the children come to me,
For the riches of heaven are brought before
such.'
The innocent, always, 1s saved by right.
720
p
•
59
XIII.
61
"Jesus called His mild ones to Him,
And said,
'No one may win My Realm
Unless he comes there like a child;
Otherwise, he may never enter.'
Guiltless, truthful, undefiled,
Without a speck of tainting sin:
When such as this knocks at the dwelling
The gate shall be opened hastily.
There is the bliss that cannot end,
Which the jeweler sought in precious gems,
730
Who sold all his goods, both wool and linen,
To purchase a pearl that was stainless.
62
"This matchless pearl, so dearly bought,
For which the jeweler gave all his goods,
Is like the glorious realm of heaven:
So said the Father of land and sea.
For it is spotless, clean, and clear,
Endlessly round, inherently joyous,
And shared by all who are righteous.
Behold, it shines here on my breast.
My Lord, the Lamb, who shed His blood,
Placed it here in token of peace.
I tell you now, forsake the world
And buy for yourself a stainless pearl."
740
60
63
"Oh spotless pearl, in pearls pure,
Who wears," spoke I, "the pearl of price,
Who formed for you your fair figure?
Who made your robes?
He was all wise.
Such beauty as yours carne not from Nature,
Nor could Pygmalion paint that face;
750
Neither did Aristotle, in all he wrote,
Speak of the properties you now possess:
Your color surpasses the fleur-de-lys,
Your angelic manner, all courteous.
Tell me, bright one, what sort of office
Bears such a pearl, so spotless?"
64
"My Matchless Lamb, Who can heal all,
My Dearest-Destiny," said she,
"Chose me to be His bride, although
Once such a union seemed unfit,
When I went from your world's sorrow.
He called me to His blessedness:
'Corne hither to me, my sweet beloved,
For in you is neither speck nor spot.'
He gave me strength and beauty both,
And in His blood He cleaned my clothes
And crowned me, pure in virginity,
And placed me all in spotless pearls."
760
61
65
"Why, spotless bride, who brightly shines,
With royal attributes, rich and many,
770
What is the nature of that Lamb
Who would choose you his wedded wife?
You climb too high, past all the rest,
To lead a gracious life with Him.
So many a lovely and noble one
Has lived in strife for the sake of Christ;
Yet you would drive these dear ones out-Barring all others from that bond,
And yourself alone, so strong and sure,
A matchless bride, and spotless."
XIV.
66
780
"Spotless," spoke that joyous queen,
"Unblemished I am, without a blot,
And this with truth I do maintain:
But 'matchless queen' I never said.
We are the Lamb's wives in bliss,
One hundred forty thousand strong,
As in the Apocalypse it was told:
Saint John saw them all in a company
On Mount Zion, that sweetest hill;
He saw them there in a ghostly dream,
Arrayed for the wedding on that hilltop-The new city of Jerusalem.
790
62
67
"I'll tell you of Jerusalem.
If you would know the nature of
My Lamb, my Lord, my Dear Jewel,
My Joy, my Bliss, my generous Love.
The prophet Isaiah did speak of Him
And of His meekness with great pity,
That glorious, guiltless One men slew
Without the excuse of any crime.
800
Like a lamb to the slaughter was he led;
Like a sheep to the shearers was he taken.
He closed his mouth to all questions
When Jews judged Him in Jerusalem.
68
"My beloved was slain in Jerusalem:
He was torrr on the cross by wrong-doers.
All of our sins He willingly bore,
All of our cares He took on Himself.
With stiff blows was His face battered
Which was so fair to look upon.
He set aside His life for sin
Although He had none in Himself.
He let Himself be beaten, bent,
And stretched upon the cross for us.
Meek as a lamb, He made no complaint,
But died for us in Jerusalem.
810
63
69
"Jerusalem, Jordan, and Galilee
Were where the good Saint John baptized.
The words of Isaiah he echoed when
He saw the Lord come toward him.
820
He spoke this prophecy of Him:
'Behold God's Lamb, as sure as stone,
Who does away with the heavy sins
Which have been worked by all the world;
Though He had never committed sin,
Yet all of them He claimed Himself.
Who can declare His generation
Who died for us in Jerusalem?'
70
"In Jerusalem thus my Beloved bled.
Twice did He take the part of a lamb,
830
By the truthful record of both prophets-In His gentle words and mild ways.
The third time complements these well:
Unmistakably, in the Apocalypse,
Amid the saints encircling the throne,
Was the Lamb seen by the Apostle John.
He was opening a book with square-edged leaves.
Seven seals were set upon its seam.
At that sight, every creature bowed
In hell, in earth, in Jerusalem.
840
64
XV.
71
"This Jerusalem Lamb had never a hint
Of color other than radiant white:
No speck or spot might cling to Him
For His wool is white and rich and thick.
Therefore, each soul not stained by sin
Is t.o that Lamb a worthy wife.
And though each day He welcomes more
Neither wrath nor rancor comes among us;
And each new-comer we would were five
The more the merrier--may God bless me--
850
For our love can thrive if we are many
In honor more and never the less.
72
"None can lessen the bliss cf those
Who wear the pearl upon their breasts:
No angry words occur to those
Who bear the symbol of spotlessness.
Although our bodies rot in earth,
And you grieve ever, without rest,
Our understanding now is perfect:
Our hopes arise from the one death.
The Lamb gladdens us, casts out our cares,
And at every mass we rejoice in Him.
Each one's joy is fullest and best
And never one's honor is yet the less.
860
65
73
"Should my tale of wonder seem less than so,
In the Apocalypse this verse is written:
'I saw,' says John,
'the Lamb who stood
On the Mount of Zion, strong and proud.
Around Him a hundred thousand maidens
And four and forty thousand more.
870
I found written on every forehead
The name of the Lamb and His Father's as well.
Then I heard a cry from heaven-Like the crash of floodwaters, rushing forth,
Like the roar of thunder, pounding the skies.
That sound, I believe, was never the less.
74
"'Nevertheless, though the sound did pierce
And though'the voices were loud indeed,
It was a sound entirely new
Whose loveliness pleased my listening ears.
As harpers play upon their harps,
They sang that new song sweet and clear:
Those noble words in ringing tones
Made a beautiful song they sang together.
Standing right before God's chair,
Before the four beasts that obey Him,
Before the elders' sober faces,
They sang their new song, nevertheless.
880
66
75
"'Nevertheless, never were any so skilled,
In all the arts men ever knew,
890
That they might sing a note of that song
Except the company who follows the Lamb.
For they are redeemed from far-off earth:
They are the first fruits due to God,
And are joined to Him, the Gentle Lamb,
For in color and speech they are like Him.
Never a lie nor untrue tale
Has touched their tongues, despite distress,
That spotless company shall never part
From that Spotless Master--never the less'"
XVI.
76
900
"Let my thankfulness never be thought less,
My pearl," ·said I, "though I question much.
I should not doubt the wisdom of
One whom Christ called to His chamber:
For I am but of dust and dirt,
And you so rich a fresh-blown rose
Who abides beside this blissful bank
Where the joy of life may never dim.
Now, gracious one who simplicity contains,
I would put a question to you plainly,
And, though I am foolish as a clown,
Let my petition prevail nevertheless.
910
67
77
"I call on you directly, nevertheless.
If you can see this thing performed,
As you are glorious and pure
Deny not my sad-hearted plea:
Have you no home within a castle?
No manor, where all gather and dwell?
You speak of Jerusalem, that rich realm
Where dearest David was raised to the throne; 920
But that city can't be in these woods
For it stands nobly in Judea:
As you are spotless under the moon,
Your home should be spotless as well.
78
"The spotless throng of which you speak-So huge a company, formed by thousands-Requires a city, for you are many
And ought to have one, without doubt.
For so fair a group of gorgeous gems
To sleep outdoors would be a disgrace.
Yet though I've wandered near these banks,
I've seen no building anywhere.
I think you come alone and linger
To gaze on this gracious, glorious stream.
If you live elsewhere, within strong walls,
Take me to that lovely city now."
930
68
79
"The city you speak of in Judea,"
That special spice then spoke to me,
"Is the city that the Lamb sought out
To suffer in sorely for man's sake.
940
We know this as Old Jerusalem
Where the old sin was overcomeL
But the new, sent down by God's command,
John took as his theme in the Apocalypse.
The Lamb, without any black spot,
Has gently led his fair flock there;
And as they all are without a stain
So is His city without spot.
80
"Thus, simply stated, the two cities
Are both Jerusalem nevertheless.
950
This may mean no more to you
Than 'City of God' or 'Vision of Peace.'
In one, our peace was guaranteed,
For the Lamb chose it to suffer in;
But in the other is only peace
Which ever shall be, without an end.
This is the city we hasten toward
At the time our flesh is laid in earth.
There glory and bliss shall always increase
For the company who are without spot."
960
69
81
"Spotless maiden, meek and mild,"
I said then to that lovely flower,
"Take me to that pleasing place
And let me see your blissful home."
That bright one said, "That God forbids:
You may not come within His towers
But I have acquired the Lamb's leave,
Through great favor, for you to see
The outside of that city wall.
This you may, but you've no power
970
To stir a step on the streets within
Except you be clean, without a spot.
XVII. 82
"If I shall reveal to you that city,
Then walk toward the river's source,
And I will follow on this shore
Until you have been brought to a hill."
Then I tarried not one moment more,
But hurried amidst branches beautifully leaved,
Until I glimpsed it upon that hill,
And pressed on 'til I saw the city.
Beyond the brook, before my eyes,
It sparkled brighter than the sun.
Its nature is shown in Apocalypse,
Described by the Apostle John.
980
70
83
As Saint John saw it in a vision,
So saw I that city of great renown:
New Jerusalem:
regally arrayed,
Sent down from heaven by mighty God.
The city was all of pure, bright gold,
Which gleamed as bright as polished glass
990
With noble gems ranged round beneath.
Twelve stair-like layers formed the base;
Each one joined richly to the next
And every tier was a separate stone.
Just as was said of this same town
By John in the Apocalypse.
84
Because John named these gems in scripture
I knew each name by his report.
The first gem is named jaspar,
Which I saw on the lowest layer:
1000
It sparkled green as the first tier.
Sapphire held the second place;
Flawless chalcedony, gleaming pale,
Was the third in the foundation.
Fourth was the emerald's bright green surface,
And sardonyx followed, the fifth stone.
The sixth was ruby--as it was seen
In Apocalypse by the Apostle John
71
85
Next John added the chrysolite,
The seventh gem in the foundation.
1010
The beryl came eighth, clear and white;
And twin-hued topaz was the ninth.
Chrysoprase was set in the tenth tier,
And jacinth was the noble eleventh.
Twelfth, gentle in every setting,
The bluish-purple amethyst.
The wall which rose above these tiers
Of glistening jaspar shone like glass.
I recognized it by the record
Of John in the Apocalypse.
86
1020
I saw them just as John described:
These twelve tiers were both broad and steep.
That city stood above, all square-Of equal height and length and breadth.
The streets of gold all gleamed like glass,
The jaspar walls shone white as eggs;
The dwellings within were richly adorned
With every stone one might imagine.
Each square wall of this manor was
Twelve furlongs; and the city square:
In height, in length, in breadth the same
For the Apostle saw it measured so.
1030
72
XVIII.
87
And as John wrote, still more I saw:
Each side of that palace held three gates,
And so I discovered twelve in a row.
These portals were encrusted with rich metals
And each gate held a margery-A perfect pearl which never fades.
Inscribed in each gate were the names
Of Israel's children, all arranged
1040
According to the order of birth:
The eldest was ever placed first thereon.
Such light there gleamed in all the streets
They needed neither sun nor moon.
88
They had no need of sun nor moon,
For God Himself was their lamplight,
The Lamb, their unfailing lantern:
The city shone brightly by His light.
Through walls and dwellings my gaze wandered,
For all was clear and stopped no sight.
One might see there the holy throne,
With all its adornment arrayed around,
Exactly as John the Apostle did write.
High God Himself was seated there.
And from that throne a river ran,
Brighter than both the sun and moon.
1050
73
89
Neither sun nor moon has shone so sweet
As the water which flowed from that place.
Swiftly it coursed through every street
With neither filth nor dirt nor slime.
1060
There was no temple in that city,
Nor had a chapel ever been built;
The Almighty was their Church most meet,
And the Lamb the sacrifice for their renewal.
The gates have never yet been closed,
But evermore open at every entry:
No one enters to find refuge
Who bears any spot beneath the moon.
90
The moon may take from there no power;
She is too·spotty and grim a thing,
And, also, night is never there--
1070
Why should the moon then climb to heaven
To struggle with that glorious light
Which shines upon the broad bank's brim?
The planets are too poor to compete,
And even the sun is far too dim.
Near these waters shimmering trees
Richly bear twelve fruits of life,
Twelve times a year in quick succession,
Renewing themselves with every moon.
1080
74
91
So great a marvel under the moon
No fleshly heart could ever bear:
As I looked upon
that city,
So wondrous in its fashioning,
I stood as still as a dazed quail.
So wondrous was that noble realm
That I felt no sense of ease or strain,
So ravished was I with radiance.
With a clean conscience, I assert
Had a bodily person survived that sight,
1090
Though all the world's wise men cared for him
His life were lost under the moon.
XIX.
92
Just as the bright full moon arises
Before the 'sun's last gleam is gone,
Thus, suddenly, in a wondrous way,
I was aware of a procession.
That noble city of rich renown
Was, without summons, suddenly full
Of maidens, in the same costume
As had been worn by my blissful one.
All were crowned in the same fashion,
Adorned with pearls and robed in white.
On each one's breast, securely set,
Was the joyous pearl of great delight.
1100
75
93
They moved as one with great delight
Over golden streets that gleamed like glass.
I believe a hundred thousand were there,
And their apparel was all alike.
Hard to guess the gladdest face!
Before all, the Lamb proudly passed
1110
With the sound of seven red-gold horns;
His robes were of the
most~prized
pearls.
Though all made their way toward the throne
Yet was there no crowding:
they were many
But mild as maidens seem at Mass-And they drew forth with great delight.
94
The delight which arose through the Lamb's
approach
Was far too great a joy to tell:
For at His coming all the elders
Fell to the ground before His feet;
1120
Legions of Angels summoned together
Scattered their sweetly scented incense;
Glory and gladness were then given voice
As all sang their love to that radiant Jewel.
That sound must carry through earth to hell
Which the angels of heaven sing out for joy.
To praise the Lamb with all the company
I thought, indeed, a great delight.
76
95
Desire to see and praise the Lamb,
And much marveling, carne over me.
1130
He was the gladdest, the best to honor
Of any I ever have heard praised:
His garments were most worthily white
His expression simple, Himself so gentle.
But I could see a wide wound bleed:
Through the torn skin of His white side,
Close to His heart, His blood poured out.
Alas, thought I, who'd work such spite?
Any heart ought to have burned with grief
Rather than have a desire for that.
96
1140
No one could doubt the Lamb's delight:
Though He was hurt and had that wound,
In His face no pain was ever seen
So gloriously glad His gaze.
I searched among His shining throng,
Filled to the brim with life were they,
When I suddenly saw my little queen
Who had stood near to me in the dale.
Lord, she made much merriment there
Among her fellows, all so white.
That sight made me think that I might cross
For love-longing in great delight.
1150
77
XX.
97
Delight of eye and ear drove me,
Madness melted my mortal mind;
When I saw my fair one I would be there
Though she was beyond the waters.
I thought that nothing would hinder me-Either harm my body or halt my progress-And none should stay my plunge in the stream,
To swim its width, though I died trying.
1160
But my mind was shaken of that idea,
For as I was about to leap
I was called away from that attempt:
It was not at my Prince's pleasure.
98
It pleased Him not that I thus charged
So madly toward the water's edge.
Though I was rash and rushed headlong,
Yet even more swiftly was I restrained.
For as I sprang toward the bank
That effort wrenched me from my dream;
Then, in that fair garden, I awoke.
My head was laid upon the hill
Where my pearl had strayed into the ground.
I reached up, then crumpled in deep dismay.
And, sighing to myself, I said,
"Now all be to please that Prince."
1170
78
99
It little pleased me to be flung,
So suddenly, from that fair land
And from those sights, vibrant and dear.
A heavy longing made me helpless,
1180
And sorrowfully I mourned aloud:
"Oh pearl," I cried, "of rich renown,
It was dear to me, what you did show,
In this truthful dream of heaven.
If all this teaching is real and true
And you are thus set in a crown,
Then I rejoice in my prison of grief
That you are pleasing to that Prince."
100
Had I but followed that Prince's pleasure
And yearned for no more than given me
1190
And kept myself strong in that resolve,
As I was bid by that fair pearl,
I might have been brought before God
And drawn to more of His mysteries.
But a man would ever take more happiness
Than does belong to him by right
And thus my joy was soon shattered
And I cast from everlasting lands.
Lord, mad are those who vie with You
Or do those things which please You not.
1200
79
101
To please and draw near to this Prince
Is easy for the good Christian,
For I have found Him day and night
A God, a Lord, a Perfect Friend.
On this hill, I accepted this destiny:
Prostrate for sorrow, mourning my pearl,
I then committed her to God's care
With Christ's dear blessing, and with mine,
Which in the form of bread and wine
The priest offers to us every day.
He gives us to be His humble servants,
And precious pearls unto His pleasure.
Amen.
Amen.
1210
~
.
COMMENTARY
1.
"joy."
The concatenation word (see Introduction,
p. 9) in the final section of the poem is
~,
which means
pleasure or satisfaction, and which I translated as "to
please," "pleasing," "pleasant," or "pleasure," depending
on the context.
In the first line of the poem, and here
alone, the poet also uses the word plesaunte, and the repetition, "Pearl pleasing to a prince's pleasure," seemed
unwarranted when the word "pleasing" was already in place.
For a discussion of the link-word structure, see Dorothy
Everett's Essays on Middle English Literature (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1959) and 0. D. Macrae-Gibson's "Pearl:
the Link-Words and the Thematic Structure"
52
(Neophilologus,
(1968) 54-64. rpt. in The Middle English Pearl:
Critical Essays, ed. John Conley, Notre Dame:
Univ. of
Notre Dame Press, 1970), in which he argues the repeated
words "form a key to the whole structure."
11.
"the force of love lost."
The poet's compound
luf-daungere recalls the Romance of the Rose.
There,
Danger, the opposite of Fair Welcome, keeps the Lover from
the rose-garden.
Andrew and Waldron gloss daungere as
"feudal power," suggesting the compound "signifies the
power of the mistress over her suitor," and recall the Song
80
81
of Solomon, which the poet quotes later in the poem.
Luf-
daungere also sets the tone of much of the rest of Pearl:
the Dreamer addresses the Maiden in the lover-like terms
which she will later apply to the Lamb (cf. 414n and 763-4).
25-36.
My translation of the third stanza reflects
the readings offered by Gordon, Hillman, and all other
editors prior to 1965.
Briefly, the reading entails the
idea that plants have already sprung up from the "richness
run to rot below":
line 25 says the existing spices will
spread, and 27-8 say that blossoms now, shine in the sunlight.
Charles Luttrell's "Symbolism in a Garden Setting"
(Neophilologus, 49 [1965], 160-176) suggests that the spices
and flowers are yet to grow and, rearranging the lines
somewhat, translates:
"That spot, where such riches have
run to rot, must surely spread with spices, and yellow,
blue and red flowers shine there brightly in the sun."
Edward Vasta, however, uses the idea of the pearl's future
decay as part of his thesis that the pearl is a "metaphor
for a person who died within a matter of days" and that
the poem's theme is a Christian reconciliation ("Immortal
Flowers and the Pearl's Decay," Journal of English and
Germanic Philology, 66 [1967], 519-531).
He also posits
that may not be fede should be understood "may not be
permitted to feed" rather than "shall not fade," translating fede as the past participle of the Middle English
feden ("to feed").
82
31-2.
A reference to John 12:24, "Except a corn of
wheat falleth into the ground and die, it abideth alone:
but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit."
This is the
first of the harvest images which run throughout the poem.
See 39, 50lff, etc.
39.
"the summer's height." literally "high season."
Many critics have understood "high" to mean holy and have
searched the church calendar for an appropriate identification.
The three candidates are the Transfiguration of
Christ, Assumption of the Virgin, and Larnrnas.
favors the Feast of the Assumption:
August was and is the Assumption."
Hillman
"The 'high day' of
Gordon prefers Larnrnas
because of "the emphasis on the cutting of the corn."
Moorman suggests, far more tentatively, that
~
could be
an alternate spelling.or scribal error for "hay."
I chose
to avoid the controversy.
4lff.
"hill."
There has been some uncertainty
about the huyle upon which the dreamer fell asleep.
("The Pearl:
Wellek
An Interpretation of the Middle English
Poem," Studies in English by Members of the English Seminar
of Charles University, 4 [1933]. rpt. Conley, p. 24)
states:
"Nor can there be any doubt that the poet has
fallen asleep on her grave."
Others, who prefer an alle-
gorical interpretation of the poem, choose to think of it
as simply a hill in a garden.
Marie Hamilton, in "The
Meaning of the Middle English Pearl"
(PMLA, 70 [1955]
83
pp. 805-24), discusses the setting in terms of Biblical
gardens (Eden, Gethsemane, the garden of the Canticles)
and hills (Calvary, Olivet).
The most thorough treatment
of huyle and erbere, and the significance of the flowers
and spices growing there, is Luttrell's "Symbolism"
(25-36n.).
He finds, after comparing Pearl's imagery with
that of its contemporaries, the poet's erbere is designed
to exploit a "range of meaning."
46.
"a fairer fragrance."
MS fayr reflayr was
amended by Gollancz to fayrre flayr.
means fragrance (flair:
Flayr like reflayr
odor, fragrance, MED) and though
fayrre would be an unusual form, the context strongly suggests a comparison:
more fragrant.
if it was beautiful to see, it was yet
Suche odour (58) echoes this reading, so
I followed it, although neither Gordon nor Hillman does.
49.
"I rubbed my hands."
The MS is spenned,
taken from the Old Norse spenna, and usually translated
"clasped" or "wrung."
Line 50 has care ful colde (my
"chill of grief"), and I tried to carry over to 49 the
idea of coldness, hence "rubbed."
51.
"The din of grief deafened my heart."
words in this passage are troublesome:
Two
deuely is
usually translated "lonely" or "desolating" from deaflic
(MED gives defli, "dull, desolate") but Hillman prefers
"devilish, diabolical, wicked," connecting deuely with
the Middle English deuel, devil.
She believes the dreamer
84
"corrunents thus on his own culpability" because he covets
his material pearl ("Some Debatable Words in Pearl and Its
Theme," MLN, 60 [1945] 241-248).
de[r]uely, "sudden."
C. G. Osgood reads
Also, denned is most often translated
"lodged" or "lurked" from the Old English denn, although
dennan ("resounded'') is another, perhaps less likely possibility.
Though "a desolating grief lodged in my heart" is
a more widely accepted wording, I chose to use dennan:
the sense of the stanza is that the dreamer is torn
between his overpowering grief and the knowledge that
reason and Christ offer comfort; "deafened my heart"
seemed more appropriate to the dreamer's internal battle.
55.
"Christ would comfort me."
Literally, "the
nature (kynde) of Christ taught me comfort."
See Intro-
duction pp. 16-23 for ·a discussion of kynde.
61.
space."
"spirit sprang away."
Literally, "sprang in
Gordon notes that "in space" means "after a time,"
not "into space"; he cites The Destruction of Troy 2811 as
an "unambiguous use of the phrase."
Moorman notes that
Morton Bloomfield "argues that space here means 'space'
and reflects the theory that in sleep the soul travels 'in
space'"
("Some Notes on SGGK and Pearl," Studies in
Language, Literature, and Culture of the Middle Ages and
Later, ed. E. Bagby Atwood and Archibald A. Hill, Austin,
1969).
(Not seen.)
69ff.
Here, as elsewhere, the dreamer emphasizes
85
the inability of any mortal to fully comprehend the depth
of the beauty surrounding him.
Thus the idea of separa-
tion, the uncrossable river, is carried through the poem.
See 99-100, 133-4, 223-6, etc.
78.
"That trembled thick."
con quiver."
Literally, "That thick
Con is an auxiliary verb, the Midlands vari-
ant of the Old English gin(nen), which was replaced after
the 15th century by "did."
Thus, very simply stated,
"con" usually puts a verb into past tense.
The Pearl poet
often uses this form, rather than inflecting the verb, to
move the infinitive to the end of the line.
Gordon notes
that in Pearl, and no other poem in the Cotton Nero MS,
"con" is also used as a present tense (see his note on
cone3, 482) again speculating that such a use is "due to
the greater exigencies of metrical structure."
Throughout
the translation, I tried to change the "con + verb"
structure to a simple past:
"con state"
"stopped"; "con my darn adount"
my judgment."
(149) becomes
(157) becomes "daunted
When the sense of "con" was clearly present
(this use probably arose through "con" being confused with
"con close"
"can"), I kept the verb in present:
becomes "encloses"; "con fle"
(271)
(294) becomes "flies."
I
have made such syntactic changes throughout the text of
the translation.
91-92.
"No instrument •
"
Literally, "But
the string of the cithern and cithern player I Their
86
lovely mirth might not reproduce."
Because the cithern
(a type of guitar) is unfamiliar to twentieth century
readers, I made the image more general.
116.
slepe."
of
"when mortals sleep."
MS "quen strobe-men
As Andrew and Waldron note, "the precise meaning
stro~e
.
. is uncertain," yet all editors agree with
Gordon's derivation of it from the Old English stro3
(marshy land).
Thus
stro~e-men,
he says, "is probably used
in a generalized sense to mean men of this world."
altered the syntax to read more smoothly.
I
Originally:
"As streaming stars when strot)e-men sleep I Shine in the
sky in winter night."
139-40.
A difficult passage, in which three words
are troublesome.
The first, deuyse, Hillman, Gordon, and
Andrew and Waldron all gloss as "division"
boundary, division").
(MED:
"a
I, however, retained "device,"
hoping to keep the idea of the dreamer's separation from
Paradise, avoid repetition, and add the idea of deliberate
division, a "tool" to keep the dreamer on his own side.
I translated "merea" as "boundary."
Again, it is more
often translated "streams" or "pools" {MED:
pond).
But Hillman prefers "boundary"
lake, pool,
(also in the MED,
from maare) which I think more sensible because of the
presence of the word "water" in the line above and the
emphasis on separateness throughout.
Finally myrpez is
simply "joys," but Osgood translates "pleasure gardens"
87
based on an analogy with the Romance of the Rose.
Mine
reads "lands of joy" as a compromise.
16lff.
This passage recounts the dreamer's first
glimpse of the maiden.
She appears here radiant and be-
jeweled--a jewel herself--and the jeweler is abashed.
The maiden's transformation and the dreamer's slow
acceptance of it are reflected in his courtly, respectful
mode of addressing her.
184.
"quiet."
The MS reads hende, which usually
means "noble" or "gracious," but for this usage the MED
gives "humble, obedient, patient, tame, demure."
The line
has suggested slightly different things to different
editors:
Andrew and Waldron gloss "meek, well-behaved";
Gordon gives "quiet, still"; Hillman suggests "ready to
hand, alert."
I chose "quiet" because it seemed best in
the context (i.e., "dared not call," "mouth closed").
186-7.
lines scan.
I
altered the word order slightly to make the
Literally:
"I dreaded concerning what should
befall I Lest she escaped me that I
189.
"child."
there saw."
The MS has "gay."
Gay can be either
an adjective ("bright, beautiful, fine") or a noun,
"excellent person, noble lady, gallant knight, fair one"
(MED).
See 7, 260, 1124 where gay appears as an adjective
and 433n as a noun.
197.
"rich robe."
The MS has beaumys or, perhaps,
beau-uiys; the "ui" or "m" is not clear (cf. 630n).
I
88
based my translation on Hillman's derivation:
takes as a prefix meaning
appears
wrap.
11
11
about, around,
11
"Be-" she
a form which
in words referring to clothing"; aumys is a linen
Her reading is thus
11
mantle or surcoat.
11
Gordon
amends the word to read beau biys, "fine linen," based on
Rev. 19:8, a description of the Lamb's bride in white linen.
209.
"band.
11
The MS has werle, a nonce word
usually translated "circlet"
Waldron).
(Gordon, Hillman, Andrew and
MED gives "garland."
The idea of a circular
head piece is clear.
210.
"radiant face."
The MS reads lere leke.
Osgood amended his edition to read here leke, "hair
locks,
and a number of similar variations (hair hanging,
11
hair floating, etc.), all assuming the MS lere is wrong.
Hillman, however, retains lere, taking it from the Old
Norse hloer, "cheek. 11
Although her derivation is unlikely,
Hillman is certainly correct in noting that the maiden's
hair is described later in the stanza; thus by following
her translation, I hoped to make the stanza read more
smoothly.
218.
"at her throat."
The MS ouerture means
"neck-opening," but as the series begins "hands and sides,"
I used
11
throat" to keep parallel.
224.
~ure"
"come to know its worth."
The MS
11
malte in hit
is given in Hillman's literal translation as "dis-
solve in appraisal of it."
Gordon construes malte ("melt")
89
more figuratively:
comprehend."
malte in, he says, means "enter into,
The MED gives "be overcome; ascertain the
value of, perceive its worth."
233.
"Nearer to me than aunt or niece."
This line
is one of the most significant in the establishment of the
elegi~c
interpretation, along with 412 and 483-85.
Hillman,
who sees Pearl as allegorical, suggests "aunt or niece"
may simply be a rhyme-tag.
235.
"That special spice."
The dreamer's reference
to the maiden here and that in 938 recalls the description
of the spice garden in the opening stanzas.
Andrew and
Waldron note that "spice is a traditional metaphor for an
admired woman," though Hillman, Gordon, and Moorman all
gloss spyce as "person, being."
The OED also notes that,
in a figurative sense, spice was "sometimes applied to
persons."
The line following describes the Pearl's bow to
him "in wommon lore," which in conjunction with his description of her underlines the child's transformation.
250.
"such agony."
259.
"placed."
Literally, daungere.
See lln.
MS, clente, a form of clenchen,
"to fasten or make fast (with nails or rivets)."
The HED
notes that, in this particular line, the sense of the word
is "to enclose."
269.
"but a rose."
The maiden here makes distinct
the difference between what the jeweler lost and what it
has now become.
Rose is a traditional symbol for beauty
90
which cannot last as well as for a sought-after woman
(cf. Romance of the Rose).
270-74.
poem.
One of the most difficult passages in the
Line 245 has just reminded us that the Pearl dis-
appeared into gresse, and the maiden has spoken of the
rose's flowering and failing according to kynde.
A
literal reading of 271 is "Now through the nature (kynde)
of the chest that does enclose it .
." and Hillman and
others assume that the "chest" is the earth.
The maiden,
however, calls her new surroundings (pis gardyn) a
"coffer" and the transition-word "now" makes the heavenly
garden a choice not only more logical but more consistent
with the poet's theme of two worlds (see Introduction,
p. 16).
The repetition of kynde in 270 and 271 emphasizes
the distinct natures of the mutable and perfected worlds:
the dreamer later asks, "quat kyn ping may be pat Lambe?"
and it is precisely the kynde of heaven that the dreamer
cannot comprehend.
And thus it is the maiden's summons
to heaven, her being one of its kynde, that proves her to
be a pearl of price.
Line 274 is notorious:
naught has made thee clear."
Gordon asserts
that~
is
"'that has clearly made for you something out of
dative:
nothing,
literally, "that aught from
1
i.e., has made an eternal pearl out of a short-
lived rose"
(p. 57).
Hillman 1 s translation is very similar,
but she interprets it to mean that "the loss of the
91
pearl . • • will make clear to him the difference between
the
n~3t
of earthly treasure and the 03t .
treasure, i.e., the soul"
(p. 86).
. of heavenly
Alfred Kellogg
(Traditio, 12 (1956), 406-7. rpt. Conley, above) suggests
a reference to the Augustinian concept of creatio ex
nihilo, that the dreamer "should be praising God for his
very existence."
303.
"discourteous."
Part of the poet's continuing
use of the earthly system of courtesy to represent heavenly
grace.
See 445ff.
307.
"an empty pledge."
My translation follows
Hillman's, who believes the MS westernays is Old English
weste plus ernes:
"empty pledge."
Gordon and others think
westernays, a nonce word, may have come from the Old French
bestorneis, "turned round, reversed" which was often said
of churches.facing west, not east, and thus may have been
influenced by the English word "west."
I chose the first
because it fits the logic of the passage and the rhythm of
the line better.
313.
"spoke heedlessly."
The MS dayly might be
construed "trifle, dally" from the Old French dalier, or
"contend" from the Old Norse deila.
The MED gives "con-
verse intimately, chat, jest''; "trifle" seems to fit with
the sort of advice the maiden gives.
329.
"find and lose."
343.
"jot."
In the MS, "lose and find."
The MS gives cresse, literally "a
92
watercress," but here it means "a thing of no value"
344. "Who must suffer shall:
(MED).
be not so bold."
ally, "who needs shall pole, be not so pro."
Liter-
fole,
according to the OED, is "to be afflicted with; to bear,
suffer, endure, undergo."
The OED lists this use of pro
under the second definition:
"angry, wroth, furious,
violent," but gives as the more usual sense "stubborn,
obstinate, persistent."
345.
"dance."
The MS daunce usually means "dance,"
but the MED notes that when used to speak of animals it
means "prance, hop, scamper."
351.
"opposition."
The MS mendep is glossed in the
MED as "recompense, reparation, damages."
But Hillman
asserts that to say "that amends are valueless before God
is to impute to the heavenly visitant a doctrine unChristian and cruel."
She suggests mende3 is a form of
mynde ("mind"), hence, "opinions, thoughts."
The context
clearly gives the idea of a struggle against God's will,
so I substituted "opposition" for "opinions."
353.
"struggle."
The OED glosses strot as "strife,
contention; a quarrel, wrangle or contest."
358.
"banish all your losses."
The MS reads leme,
but my text follows Gordon in reading fleme, from the Old
English fleman, "to drive"
(MED: "beat off, drive away").
Leme might come from the Old English leoma, "light" and is
sometimes translated "shine through your losses."
Gordon
93
maintains, however, that the expectation of alliteration
may have provoked an error, and "banish'' seems a better
choice syntactically because that construction is parallel
with that of the preceding line.
368.
"at fault."
The MED gives for forloyne "to
stray from (something)." In the stanza, the dreamer protests that he has strayed from obedience only because of
his misery; thus "at fault" is used in the sense of
"erred."
"dearest."
I translated "my dear endorde" as simply
Endorde was glossed "adored" until 1976, when
Gert Ronberg (English Studies, 57, p. 198) suggested it
carne from the Old French, endorer--adorned with gold.
375.
"beyond my reach."
Gordon translates wope "peril"
The MS reads fro vch a
(OED:
wo~e.
"the condition of
being exposed to injury or harm"), but Hillman prefers
"hunt, search" from the Old English wap, literally "path."
I thought "path" perhaps could be construed, in context, to
mean "further than I could follow," whence my version.
377.
Again I had trouble making the line scan in
Modern English.
Literally:
"Now I it see, now lessens my
grief."
382.
"such speech."
This passage has been emended
several ways by several editors.
might mean "botcher's"
The MS has rnarere3 which
(Osgood), but this makes less sense
in context than either Hillman's mare re3 or Gordon and
Gollancz's rnanerez, "manners."
Mare is the comparative of
94
"much" and re,3, she argues, though literally meaning
"flood, onrush," here means "eloquence," and she cites
other examples of the use of re3 to signify speech.
My
version is meant to incorporate both eloquence and manners:
the dreamer notes that the maiden speaks "courteously," so
"such speech" retains the notion of "manners," picks up
Hillman's "eloquence," and keeps the MS alliteration.
397.
"sir."
The MS burne is an instance of the
courtly diction used throughout Pearl.
dressed as burne, "knight"
Gawain is ad-
(1071, GGK), and much of the
language of exchange between the maiden and the dreamer
would be equally appropriate in Bercilak's court.
In
line 441, Mary's heavenly domain is characterized as
bayly, a chivalric term derived from the Old French
baillie.
In line 542; my "workers" is a rather flat
translation of the more courtly meyne, "retinue."
Noble Ruler" is the MS "the gentle Cheuentayn''
"Our
(605),
another word taken from French, which usually means "The
head of a political organization:
lord, etc."
(MED).
laneous sense:
414.
ruler, governor, baron,
This line is listed under a miscel-
"the supreme ruler, the Lord."
This is the first mention of the mystical
marriage of the Pearl-maiden (and by extension, all the
innocents) to the Lamb.
Based on Isaiah (61:10), Revela-
tion, and the traditional interpretation of the Song of
Solomon as Christ's love for His Church, marriage as a
95
metaphor for salvation recurs significantly throughout
Pearl.
417.
"endowed."
The maiden claims she is "sesed
in alle Hys herytage," that is, made legal possessor of
Christ's bounty, another feudal construction.
425.
"who grew in grace."
See 397n.
The MS reads "pat grace
of grewe," usually translated "from whom grace grew"
(Andrew and Waldron) or "from whom Grace sprang"
(Hillman).
I worded it this way to avoid repetition in the next
line,
"~at
431.
ber a barne."
"unblemished."
The MS in freles
less) and most translators follow this.
(MED:
fault-
Marie Hamilton
suggested fereles, "without equal, peerless," because
the passage emphasizes not Mary's Immaculate Conception,
but her synglerty, "uniqueness."
433.
"she."
Literally, "then said that gaye."
See 189n.
437.
"after a moment."
up and did pause."
The MS has:
"Then she rose
I needed to shift syllables to make the
first part of this stanza scan.
I used "after a moment" to
convey the sense of "pause" simply for metrical reasons.
457.
"as Saint Paul says."
A reference to I Cor. 12;
469.
Here the debate which forms the center section
14ff.
of the poem begins.
The dreamer argues that those who
have "endured in the world strong" should be rewarded, but
96
the maiden insists that innocence alone entitles one to
salvation.
Her use of the Parable of the Vineyard (see
Matt. 20:1-16) has provoked a controversy over the Pearlpoet's orthodoxy.
Carlton Brown ("The Author of the
Pearl Considered in the Light of his Theological Opinions,"
PMLA [1904], 115-53) believes that the Pearl-maiden is
guilty of the Jovinian heresy, asserting the exact equality
of heavenly reward (cf 603n).
That the poem does not
contradict Church doctrine has been securely established.
For a discussion of this point, see Wellek (op. cit) and
D. W. Robertson, Jr., "The 'Heresy' of the Pearl," Modern
Language Notes, 65 (1950), 152-55.
472.
483-5.
A line is missing in the MS.
Lines very difficult to contend with if the
elegaic interpretatiori is entirely discounted.
The Pater
Noster and Nicene Creed are the first prayers a young child
would learn.
492.
"an end."
Literally, "date," a word used to
express time or measurement.
The MED gives several defini-
tions for this word, and as it is a link-word, more than one
definition applies.
The definition includes "a point of
time within a certain period; a period or stretch of time,
season; a limit or end."
Here the word is used figura-
tively, as it is in 493.
Throughout the telling of the
Parable of the Vineyard, "date" is translated "time."
a discussion of the difficulties of translation, see "A
For
97
Note on the Translation," p. 24.
509.
"And who agreed to the wage he named."
ally, "Into accord they consented."
Liter-
I added "wage he
named" to fill out the four-stress line.
512.
"They cut.and gathered and bound the grapes."
Literally, "Cut and tied and made it secure."
There is no
antecedent for "it"; I supplied "grapes," and in doing so
assumed that the vineyard was being harvested.
Williams (The Pearl-Poet:
Margaret
His Complete Works, New York:
Random House, 1967) translates with the idea of "dressing
the vines"
(504); thus she has it that the vineyard was
being cultivated, by pruning and securing the vines, not
the grapes.
524.
"will be paid."
Every editor of Pearl but
Morris (in 1864) and Hillman (in 1961) has emended the
MS "pray" to read "pay."
Hillman takes pray to mean "I
call on you," but because of the strong emphasis on payment, "pray" is most probably an error in the MS.
"In
deed and thought" is an example of the legalistic formulae
the poet uses.
(See P. M. Kean, The Pearl:
tion, New York:
558.
An Interpreta-
Barnes and Noble, 1967, p. l85ff.)
"no wrong have I done you."
The MS wanig
occurs nowhere else, and though Hillman suggests that it is
derived from the Old English wan, "lack," most other
editors emend it.
Hillman's version of the MS "no wanig I
wyl pe 3ete" is "I will not concede thee lacking."
David
98
Fowler ("Pearl 558:
Waning," MLN, 74 [1957], 581-4) amends
it to waning (loss, deprivation):
lamentation."
"I will allow you no
Morris suggested "wrang" as a possibility
and I adopted it, though it is further orthographically
from the MS, because it most closely resembles, "Friend, I
do thee no wrong"
572.
(Matt. 20:13), the poet's source.
"chosen."
Again, I chose the word from the
biblical source rather than follow the l\15 reading.
(OED:
"friends," derived from the Latin arnicas).
Myke:~
Gordon
and others understand to mean "chosen companions," influenced, as I was, by the Vulgate "electi"
597-8.
These lines are transposed.
(Matt. 20:16).
Literally, "Now
he that stood the long day firm I And you to payment came
before him."
603.
"each man .is fully paid."
In this passage I
was at pains to avoid the "heresy" imbroglio.
The MS is:
"For there (heaven) is each man paid inlyche," and it is
inlyche (MED:
alike, equally) that caused Carlton Brown to
suggest the poet went against the orthodox belief in degrees
of heavenly reward.
Brown derived inlyche from the Old
English ilyche, "alike," but, as James R. Sledd noted,
"alike" does not necessarily mean "identically,"
("Three
Textual Notes on Fourteenth Century Poetry," Modern Language
Notes, 55 [1940], 379-82).
Hillman believes the word is
more properly derived from the Old English inlice, "in full"
(see her "Pearl:
Inlyche and Rewarde," Modern Language
99
Notes, 56 [1941], 457-58), and I followed that reading.
607.
"spring."
Literally, "ditch," but a trench
full of muddy water seemed to me an inappropriate source
for God's gifts.
609-10.
sage.
A terribly difficult and much debated pas-
The punctuation supplied by different editors varies
a good deal, and the pronouns can be confusing.
The MS has:
Hys fraunchyse is large bat eyer dard
To hym pat matz in synne rescoghe
The main problem is in translating dard:
it could
have been taken from the past tense of either durran "dare"
or darian "lurk in dread."
Hillman prefers the second and
notes that dare is used on 839:
at the sight of the Lamb
opening the book, every creature con dare.
This passage,
based on Rev. 5:13-4, .gives the sense of "worship."
She
concludes that hiding one's face or falling prostrate
(both of which occur in Pearl and could be thought of as
"lurking in dread'') are ways of expressing "medieval
feelings of awe, respect, and reverence."
the passage are equally troublesome:
Other words in
"Hys fraunchyse"
could mean "his privilege," referring to the sinner or
"His generosity" speaking of God.
or "always."
"Ever" might mean "once"
With all these variables, a large number of
combinations are possible.
The demands of
th~
rhythm made
the translation even more difficult, so I tried to concentrate on the undebatable ideas in the passage:
largesse and His rescue of sinners.
God's
100
617.
abate
The MS reads:
"Where wyste
pou any bourne
Gordon translates abate (MED:
II
bow humbly)
as a form of abyde, "endure''; the sense of his translation
is that no man can abide, however prayerful, without falling into sin.
Hillman feels this is "contrary to
Christian teaching" and tries to remedy this by translating
abate as "slacken, lose zeal," and works out an argument
which I think strains the sense of the passage.
626-7.
due course."
"as soon as they are born I they descend 1n
Literally 626 ends "born by lyne."
Hillman
translates "in order of birth," Gordon gives "in regular
succession," and Andrew and Waldron have "in due course,"
the reading I adopted.
The MED lists this use under
"rightly, justly, fairly; also in order, in succession."
I added "because" at the beginning of the line to regularize the meter and to supply a transition.
630.
"the night of death."
The MS is not clear and
readers have disagreed over whether it reads
my~t
or niy3t.
Gordon points out that there is no clear dot over the "i"
of niy;-:;t in other instances in the MS (in Gawain and
Cleanness) where "night" is clearly the correct translation.
The "might of death" makes sense, but I think
"night" fits the passage's imagery better.
631-3.
I transposed lines, hoping to make them read
more smoothly, so "who" follows--not anticipates--"His
servants."
The MS has:
"Who worked never wrong before
101
they left I The gentle Lord then pays his servants I They
did his command; they were therein."
644.
"remain."
"Dwell" would be a more accurate
translation, but I used "remain" because it suggests
detention more strongly than "dwell," and because it
alliterates with "respite."
667-8.
Again, I rearranged the lines to put the
subject before the verb.
Literally, "It is a judgment
never God gave I That ever the guiltless should be
punished."
689-94.
I found this the single most difficult
passage in the entire text.
The MS is as follows:
Of pys ry :3 twys sa-3 Salamon playn
How kyntly onre con aquyle
By waye3 ful stre3t he con hym strayn
& scheued hym the rengne of God a whyle
As quo says lo 50n louely yle
pou may hit wynne if Pou be wx~te
This passage referring to Solomon (Wisd. 10:10) is:
"She
[wisdom] conducted the just, when he had fled from his
brother's wrath, through the right ways, and shewed him
the kingdom of God, and gave him the Knowledge of holy
things .
II
(quoted in Andrew and Waldron's edition).
All editors agree that the MS is defective in 690, and
ideas for "repairing" it are legion.
Line 690 is the problem:
kyntly, Hillman says is
simply a form of kyndly ("natural, courteous") and reads
onre "on[ou]re"
(hence "fittingly honor"); Osgood and
Gollancz also retain kyntly, but read oure and added
102
"Kyng hym."
Henry Bradley (Academy 38 [1890], 20lf. [not
seen], who first noted the poet's use of Wisdom 10:10, suggested some word for "wisdom" needed to be substituted for
the defective kyntly, and chose koyntise.
This is followed
by Gollancz (second edition), Gordon, Andrew and Waldron,
and Moorman.
This fits the reference, but necessitates
changes in pronoun gender (he to ho in 691) and the substitution of hym for how (in 690).
complicated.
I thought that too
Kyntly is close to kny3tly, "courtly" and
it corresponds with wy3te, "brave, valiant."
Wisdom
showed Jacob the kingdom of God, according to Solomon,
but nowhere charged him to win it as one might conquer a
lovely isle, so
I
thought "knightly" an acceptable sub-
stitution which required only that hym in 691 be considered
reflexive.
Further problems with the passage are:
that
~
is
construed by most as "says," but as "sees," "perceives"
by Hillman; that onre is unclear in the MS and could easily
be oure ("our"); that the pronouns switch from the singular
"he" to the plural her ("their") and back again; and that
the demonstrative
~
has no antecedent.
My translation
fits the general sense of the group of stanzas distinguishing between innocents and the righteous and reflects the
poet's use of courtly metaphors throughout.
703.
"rely on your right."
Alegge (MED:
to make a
formal declaration in court) could be treated either as
103
an imperative ("claim your right," "urge your privilege")
or as a conditional ("If you claim
"
etc.)
The
second seems the more sensible in context, but I ran out
of syllables, so I followed the MS syntax, trusting the
idea would be clear in context.
721.
"Jesus."
The MS clearly reads "Jesus" but
because 721 is the only line without a link-word, several
editors have added "BY.:i_!" before "Jesus" to mean "immediately" or substituted "Ry3t" for "Jesus," where Jesus is
to be understood as the personification of righteousness.
I chose to do neither.
"His mild ones" is sometimes taken
to mean the Apostles, sometimes the little children.
As
Luke 18:16 is not clear, I let the ambiguity remain in my
translation.
740.
"shines."· Editors often read the MS stode as
"stood," but Marie Hamilton suggested that it was more
properly derived from the Old English stod, "shine."
749-52.
This is usually considered a direct refer-
ence to the Romance of the Rose, a reasonable identification, I believe, especially if we recall that the Pearlpoet cited Jean de Meun in Cleanness (1057-64).
Herbert
Pilch ("Pearl and the Romance of the Rose," rpt. Conley,
above) argues that if the poet was indeed thinking of the
Romance, he was not merely alluding to it but transforming
it into an argument for his own, and quite different,
values.
104
761.
"world's sorrow."
I went from your world wete."
The Pearl-maiden says, "when
Editors beginning with Morris
in 1864, followed the MS "wet," devising all sorts of
explanations:
the contrast between "the rainy climate of
the world and the eternally bright atmosphere of heaven"
(Gordon) or between "the natural world of flower and
flesh .
. and the world of eternity, as embodied poeti-
cally in the jewelled, urban imagery of the New Jerusalem"
(Andrew and Waldron).
Hillman finds this "forced" and
suggests deriving the word from the Old English wite,
"woe."
This reading was more natural, so I followed it.
763-4.
Taken directly from Song of Solomon 4:7-8:
"Thou art all fair my love; there is no spot in thee.
with me from Lebanon, my spouse .
775.
Corne
II
Literally, "so many a comely one under cornbe."
Moorman notes that this is a "conventional courtly compliment."
Line 1100 also uses this form:
ful
under crown."
on~
778.
"bond."
literally "bliss-
The MS has "marriage" but I chose
"bond" because it fits the rhythmic and alliterative pattern
better.
802.
men."
The MS reads "as lornbe
at clypper in hande
Men is obviously an error; nern (MED:
nirnen, "to
take'') rhymes with "Jerusalem" and makes better sense.
Hillman argues the MS actually says londe, and her translation reads "as a lamb the shearer seizes on heath."
105
However, Gordon's examination of the MS convinced him the
correct reading was "hande," which does, as he says, give
"a more natural sense."
I rearranged slightly the word
order to follow Isaiah 53:7, which the poet clearly was
using, and to make lines 801 and 802 parallel.
Thus,
neither "hand" nor "land" is in my version.
806.
"by wrong-doers."
As in line 721
("his mild
ones"), editors disagree as to the identification of
boye3 bolde.
Most assume wyth means "along with"; the
boye3, then, are the thieves between which Christ was
crucified.
Others recall the mystery plays' frequent
portrayal of the cruelty of the Roman soldiers and identify
them as the boye.5 bolde.
I used "by" instead of "with,"
hoping to keep both possibilities open.
812.
The MS has:
I skirted'another linguistic controversy here.
"That never had none himself to wolde."
Walde comes either from the Old English wealdan ("control,
subdue") or the noun wield (OED:
"command, control,
possession") thus, the reading is either "no sins in Himself to subdue" or "no sin in His possession."
I saw no
particular advantage in either, so my translation reads
simply "in Himself."
826.
"claimed."
The MS clem has usually been
interpreted claim after Isaiah 53:11 ("bear their iniquities").
Hillman takes clem from the Old English claeman
("to smear"), translating "Which on Himself did wholly
106
smear."
She finds this "appropriate to the loathsomeness
of sin."
MED gives both meanings, but does not list this
occurrence under either of them.
841.
The fifteenth stanza group is the only one in
the poem which contains more than five stanzas.
Some
editors have suggested that the second (Osgood) or sixth
(Gordon) might be an "extra" stanza which the author intended to cancel.
860.
reasons.
"the one death."
I added "the" for metrical
"One death" is often taken to mean Christ's
death, but 0. F. Emerson ("Some Notes on the Pearl," PMLA
37 [1922], 52-93) disagrees:
noting that the maiden has
just referred to her body buried in earth, he translates
"we certainly know that of one death (the second) our hope
is fully settled."
Hillman also feels the "one death"
means freedom from the "mors secunda."
862.
"mass."
I had a difficult time choosing
between the Old French mes ("meal") and "mass."
Most
editors don't provide an explanatory note here, but the
difference between the two is considerable.
note to 1064) Hillman insists:
Heaven."
there.
Later (in her
"There is no Mass in
The dreamer reports that no chapel was ever built
Yet there is no mention of feasting either, and the
rejoicing in the Lamb, the Sakerfyse, seemed closer to a
church service than a meal, so I used "mass."
876.
"pounding the skies."
I tried to echo the
107
structure of line 875, and did not keep the literal sense
"as thunder rolls in torrez dark."
of the MS:
Torrez is
either from the Old English torr, "hill" or Old French tur
"tower."
If the second is correct, "tower" must be thought
of as a metaphor for towering clouds.
886ff. Cf. Rev. 4:4-8.
The presence of aldermen,
"elders," would contradict the accusations of heresy.
905.
"but of dust and dirt."
and mul among."
The MS has "bot mokke
Among is variously read "mingled"
(Hillman, Gordon, and others), "meanwhile" (Gollancz and
Osgood), or as "beside you"
911.
(Wright).
"foolish as a clown."
Blose is not known in
Middle English; it might be a form of boce (MED:
"a lump of
a man") or derived from the Old French blos, "prive de bon
sens"
(from Moorman's·note).
uncouth person";
"clod."
Andre~
Gordon translates "rough,
and Waldron "peasant''; and Hillman
I was thinking of the character in Shakespeare's
The Winter's Tale when I chose this reading.
948.
Pearl.
An instance of the word play characteristic of
The word for city here is mote, which is also the
word for spot; the MS reads, "so is His mote without
moote."
Compare with the pun on Lamb and lamp (1046-7).
989.
992ff.
"pure."
Literally, "refined."
"Twelve stair-like layers."
My lack of
familiarity with the vocabulary of buildings, medieval or
otherwise, led me to substitute words like "tier" and
108
"layer" for the more technical architectural terms:
bantele.3 [992], according to Gordon, were "the tiers or
coursings (tabelment)
(foundemente3)
[994] which served as the foundations
[993] of the city.
the form of steps."
They were arranged in
Hillman also notes that "the bantele3
were identical with the tiers of the foundation.
She translates tabelment "plinth"
stones supporting a wall).
"
(a continuous course of
Hemme (1001) is given as "edge,
step'' by Andrew and Waldron, and "projecting edge, forming
a step" by Gordon.
Clearly, however, these are the
"twelve foundations" of Rev. 21:14.
Each of the gem-
stones in the base is symbolic of an ideal.
are as follows:
Briefly, they
Jaspar signifies faith, strength and
fortitude; Sapphire, hope; Chalcedony, good works; Emerald,
chastity; Sardonyx, repentance; Ruby, the blood of Jesus;
Chrysolite, the miracles of Jesus; Beryl, the Resurrection;
Topaz, the nine orders of angels; Chrysoprase, the labor of
men; Jacinth, the banishment of idle thoughts and sorrow;
and Amethyst, the garments of Christ.
Milton R. Stern
("An Approach to The Pearl," Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 54 [1955], 685-92) and Robert Blanch
("Precious Metal and Gem Symbolism in Pearl," Lock Haven
Review, 7 [1955] rpt. in Blanch's Sir Gawain and Pearl,
Bloomington, Indiana, 1965, 86-97) relate the poem's
content to the gems' significance using the information
found in several medieval lapidaries.
109
1031.
"Twelve furlongs."
This is the MS reading,
although the figure in Revelation is twelve-thousand
furlongs.
"~owsande"
Gollancz adds
in his edition, but
other editors leave the figure as is.
Moorman speculates
that a city "measuring a little over a mile and a third
is much more imaginable" than one 1,364 miles long on
every side.
"in a row."
1035.
or "in pourseut"
The MS is either "in poursent"
(Gordon notes that the "n" and "u" are
indistinguishable).
The first means "in the enclosing
wall," the second "in succession."
The MED, Osgood,
Moorman, and Hillman prefer the latter, but Gordon notes
that such a usage "is not known in Middle English" and
that Cleanness 1385 gives an unambiguous use of the word
in the sense of "compass."
Andrew and Waldron follow
this, giving as an alternative reading "precinct."
"sight."
1050.
The MS
"~"
is identical with the
final word in 1046; as the poet does not usually use identical rhyme, and "stop" and "sight" alliterate, I followed
Gollancz's emendation.
"unfailing."
1047.
1063-4.
Literally "without doubt."
The MS is:
P.e Almy,3'ty watz her mynyster mete
pe Lambe pe sakerfyse per to reget
The source of this passage, Rev. 21:22, reads:
no temple therein:
"And I saw
for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are the temple of it."
The MS mynyster is probably a
110
scribal error for mynster (MED:
monastery).
the church or chapel of a
Reget is unknown elsewhere and is either an
error for refet, "refresh," or a nonce word.
Hillman sup-
poses it to mean "get again, redeem," but Gordon insists
this is "unsuitable in the context'':
those in heaven are
already saved and need no redemption.
I thought my ver-
sion, "renewal," would avoid the unsuitability of "redeem."
1086.
fygure."
"that noble realm."
The MS reads
"~at
freuch
The Pearl's first editor could not make sense of
freuch and substituted frelich, "noble," a reading Gordon
followed.
He notes that freuch is "unintelligible" and
adds that "li," if the "1" were short, might be taken as a
"u" or "n."
Gollancz and Hillman suggest freuch is a
"northern form, from O[ld] E[nglish] fresh (fr~h) ."
MED notes that it
is~
The
form of frough ("weak, loose"),
speculating that the sense might be "delicate."
Andrew and
Waldron suppose freush an error for fresch, "fresh."
1093.
The link-word in this section is "delight,"·
which also could mean desire (MED:
enjoy something").
"a desire to have or
I tried to use "delight" throughout, but
was unable to get a satisfactory reading in each case.
(See Introduction for discussion of concatenation and an
account of the trouble translating "date.")
1104.
The MS is withouten delyt, but has usually
been emended to with gret delyt (Morris) because there are
three other instances of this phrase in the stanza group,
111
and it makes better sense.
Hillman retains the MS reading,
glossing "beyond delight."
1121.
"summoned."
The MS uoched comes from the Old
French vocher, "to call, summon, invoke, claim"
(OED).
This word, like sesed (417n.), is a legal term, usually
meaning call or summon into court.
"heaven's angels."
1126.
heaven."
Literally, "the virtues of
The virtues are one o£ the nine orders of angels
devised by Dionysius, the Pseudo-Aeropagite.
They are
Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Powers, Virtues,
Dominations, Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim.
Lewis, The Discarded Image (Cambridge:
See C.
s.
Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1964), pp. 71-4.
1141.
to wene."
"no one could doubt."
The MS has "non lyste
Wene (OED:· to think, surmise, suppose, con-
ceive) is most often construed "doubt," but Hillman
prefers "imagine."
In its other occurrences in Pearl,
the word is used in the sense of "think true."
However,
taking the next line into account, I thought "doubt" the
best choice.
1158.
"Either harm my body or halt my progress."
The MS reads "To fech me bur & take me halte."
difficult line.
Hillman translates:
for myself and to spring high (lit:
speed and take me high)."
This is a
"to work up speed
to get for myself
Halte, she says, comes from the
French halt, and bur from the Old Norse byrr.
Gordon
112
disagrees:
"by striking me a blow or halting my advance."
He derives bur from byrr too, but translates it "blow"
(byrr means strong wind).
meaning "blow."
Burre occurs in line 176, also
The second half of the phrase, he con-
tinues, might mean "strike me lame"
"take hold of me."
(Old English halt) or
As the next line has "stay my plunge"
I thought that adopting the sense of Gordon's translation
was the better alternative because bur, "a blow" was a
more reasonable derivation.
To "fetch a blow" is to do
harm, and either laming or holding is to halt progress,
and I tried to construct a sensible, alliterating,
parallel line which properly fit the context.
1164.
word
See ln. for a brief discussion of the link
~-
1208.
"With Christ's dear blessing, and with mine."
Norman Davis researched occurrences of this phrase in
letters and other documents dating from Medieval and
Renaissance times, and discovered such a blessing was
characteristic of parents addressing their children.
of course, supports the elegiac interpretation.
This,
("A Note
on Pearl," rpt. in Conley, above.)
1211.
"He gives."
Hillman suggested that the MS
"He gef" is not a subjunctive ("May He grant .
past tense form ("He gave.
.").
.") but a
Because the rest of the
stanza is in present tense, I altered the MS to read
"gives."
NOTES
Historical and Critical Background
1
Early English Alliterative Poems, EETS, No. 1, 1864,
rpt. 1869.
2
Pearl: An English Poem of the Fourteenth Century
(London, 1891) p. 42, reported in Wellek, below.
In his
1921 edition, Gollancz speculates the child was not the
issue of a married poet but illegitimate.
3
Gollancz, again in the 1921 edition, suggested a
possible identification with Ralph Strode (p. 46). This
and other tentative identifications are conveniently summarized on pp. 11-12 of Margaret Williams' translation,
The Pearl Poet (New York: Random House, 1967).
4
The Art of the Gawain-Poet (London:
Press, 1978), p. 6.
5
The Althone
"The Pearl and Its Jeweller," PMLA, 47 (1928),
177-81.
6
"The Author of The Pearl in the Light of His
Theological Opinions,·~ PMLA, 19 (1904), 115-53.
7
See lines 601-604.
8
"The Allegory of The Pearl," JEGP, 21:1-21, esp.
9
Wellek, pp. 21-23.
17-18.
10 "The 'Heresy' of the Pearl," MLN, 65 (1950),
152-55.
11
Because in a case such as this, accuracy is vital
and no metrical constrictions apply, my translation of
certain lines within the introduction differs from that in
the text of the poem.
12
Robertson, p. 155.
13 "The Nature and Fabric of the Pearl," PMLA, 19
(1904) 1 115-153.
113
114
14
These included Osgood (see below), Gollancz (see
above), and C. G. Coulton, "In Defense of the Pearl," MLR,
Vol. 2 (1907), 39-43.
15
"The Pearl: An Interpretation," University of
Washington Publications in English, Vol. 4, No. 1, April
1918. Cited in Wellek, p. 17.
16
Pearl: A Study in Spiritual Dryness (New York:
Appleton, 1925), pp. 89, 199.
17
"Interpretation," in The Pearl (New York:
of St. Elizabeth Press, 1961), pp. xi-xiii.
18
19 0 6 )
1
19
20
21
22
"Introduction," in The Pearl (Boston:
XXXV i.
College
D. C. Heath,
p.
Wellek, p. 18.
Wellek, pp. 21-23.
Wellek, p. 34.
"The Pearl as Symbol," MLN, 65 (1950), 161.
23
"Symbolic and Dramatic Development in Pearl," MP,
60 (1962), l.
24
25
26
27
28
Wellek, p. 35.'
See stanzas 83-86 and 992n.
"An Approach to The Pearl," JEGP, 54
(1955), 390£.
Luttrell, p. 176.
Schofield, p. 175.
29
The Complete Works of the Gawain-Poet (Chicago:
Chicago University Press, 1965), p. 10.
30 "The ~earl Maiden and the Penny," Romance
Philology, 17 (1964), p. 615ff.
31 "Pearl and Roman de laRose," rpt. in The Middle
English Pearl: Critical Essays, ed. John Conley (Notre
Dame:
University of Notre Dame Press, 1970), pp. 180-81.
32
Everett, p. 9 5.
115
33
These are conveniently summarized in Williams,
p. 14.
34
"Pearl and a Lost Tradition," JEGP, 54 (1955), 34 7.
35
See Charles Moorman's "The Role of the Narrator in
Pearl," MP, 53 (1955), 73-81 and Elton D. Higgs' "The
Progressof the Dreamer in Pearl," Studies in Medieval
Culture, 4 (1974), 388-400.
36
There is a great variety of these studies. A good
general beginning is Wendell S. Johnson's "Imagery and
Diction of The Pearl, ELH, 20 (1953), 161-180. The most
recent is S. L. Clark and J. N. Wasserman's "The Pearlpoet's City Imagery," Southern Quarterly, 16 (1978),
297-309. For a brief discussion of diction, see "A Note
on Pearl's Form," pp. 10-12.
37 Maren-So f"le Rostv1g,
.
" Numer1ca
.
1 compos1t1on
. .
.
1n
Pearl: A Theory," ES, 48 (1967), 326-32, and C. 0. Chapman,
"Numerical Symbolisrnin Dante and The Pearl," MLN, 54
(1939), 256-59. Lynn S. Johnson, "The Motif of the Noli
Me Tangere and its Relation to Pearl," American BenediCtine
Review, 30 (1979), 93-106, and Sandy Cohen, "The Dynamics
and Allegory of Music in the Concatenations of Pearl,"
Language Quarterly, 14 (1976), 47-52. M. J. Wright, "Comic
Perspective in Two Middle English Poems," Porergon, 18
(1977), 3-15. These citations are meant to suggest the
wealth of criticism on Pearl, not form a comprehensive
listing. See also the "Commentary" and the Bibliography
for a fuller idea of the variety of work extent.
Note on Pearl's Form
1
Thorlac Turville-Petre, The Alliterative Revival
(Cambridge: D. S. Brewer Ltd., 1977), p. 18.
2
In the first stanza, for example, line 1 has four
alliterating words; lines 2, 4, and 8 have three; lines 5,
6, 7, 10, and 12 have two; and lines 3, 9, and 11 have
none.
3
4
Gordon, p. 90.
Line 721 is the only one within the poem in which
the concatenation fails. The fifteenth stanza group also
is irregular in that it has six stanzas rather than the
usual five.
See 72ln. and 84ln.
116
5
"On the Origin of Stanza-Linking in English
Alliterative Verse,'' Romanic Review, 7 (1916), 274.
6
Brown, p. 283.
7
"Stanza-Linking in Medieval Verse," Romanic
Review, 7 (1916), 265.
8
Medary, p. 265.
9
Essays on Middle English Literature (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1955), p. 89.
10
"Pearl: The Link-Words and Thematic Structure,"
Neophilologus, 52 (1968), 54ff.
11
12
13
Davenport, pp. 47-49.
Turville-Petre, p. 68.
Wellek, p. 4 and Gordon, p. xxxlvi.
14
The Pearl: A Middle English Poem (Boston:
Heath, 1906), p. lv.
15
16
D. C.
Gordon, p. xxxix.
See "Historical and Critical Background," p. 8.
A Personal Interpretation
1
See pp. 9-12 above.
2
This is Wendell Johnson's thesis (see note 36
above).
I have approached the problem much more narrowly
in that my essay covers only two words while Johnson traces
the poet's imagery throughout.
Note on the Translation
1
Such a translation might be difficult to find.
For example, Sister Mary Vincent Hillman's translation
(The Pearl, New York: College of St. Elizabeth Press,
1961) purports to be literal; however, her construction of
many key words and passages is colored by her interpretation of the poem--an interpretation not generally accepted.
117
2
Marie Boroff's 1977 translation (New York: W. W.
Norton & Company) would be an excellent candidate.
She, by
the way, adroitly retains the concatenation by using
"due" in place of "date."
3
They are Malcolm Andrew and Ronald Waldron, The
Poems of the Pearl Manuscript (Los Angeles:
University of
California Press, 1979); E. V. Gordon, Pearl (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1953); Sister Mary Vincent Hillman, The
Pearl (see note 1 above); and Charles Moorman, The WorkS of
the Gawain Poet (Jackson, Miss.:
University Press of
Mississippi, 1977).
4
Barnet Kottler and Alan M. Markman, A Concordance
to Five Middle English Poems:
Cleanness, St. Erkenwald,
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, Pearl
(Pittsburgh:
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1966).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Editions
Early English Alliterative Poems. ed. Richard Morris.
Early English Text Society, No. 1, 1864.
Pearl.
ed. and trans. I. Gollancz, with Boccaccio's
Olympia. London: Chatto and Windus, 1921.
(rev. ed.)
D. C. Heath &
The Pearl. ed. Charles G. Osgood.
Co., 1906.
Boston:
Pearl.
Clarendon Press, 1953.
ed. E. V. Gordon.
Oxford:
The Pearl. ed. and trans. Sr. Mary V. Hillman.
College of St. Elizabeth Press, 1961.
New York:
The Pearl. ed. Sara deFord, trans. deFord and others.
Northbrook, Ill.: AHM Publishing Corp., 1967.
The Works of the Gawain-Poet.
ed. Charles Moorman.
Jackson, Miss.:, University of Mississippi Press,
1977.
The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript. ed. Malcolm Andrew and
Ronald Waldron. Berkeley:
University of California
Press, 1979.
Translations
Boroff, Marie. Pearl:
Norton, 1977.
Gardner, John.
Chicago:
A New Verse Translation.
New York:
The Complete Works of the Gawain-Poet.
Chicago University Press, 1965.
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl,
and Sir Orfeo.
Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1975.
Williams, Margaret.
House, 1967.
The Pearl-Poet.
118
New York:
Random
119
Background
Baugh, Albert.
"The Alliterative Revival" in A Literary
History of England. New York: Appleton, Century,
Crofts, 1948.
Brewer, D. S.
"Courtesy and the Gawain-Poet" in Patterns
of Love and Courtesy: Essays in Memory of C. S.
Lewis, ed. John Lawlor. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1966.
Brown, A. C. L.
"On the Origin of Stanza-Linking in
English Alliterative Verse." Romanic Review, 7
(1916), 271-83.
Davenport, W. A. The Art of the Gawain-Poet.
The Althone Press, 1978.
London:
Everett, Dorothy.
"The Alliterative Revival" in Essays on
Middle English Literature, ed. Patricia Kean.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955.
Hieatt, Constance. The Realism of Dream-Visions.
Hague: Mouton and Co., 1967.
The
Kottler, Barnet and Alan Markman, eds. A Concordance to
Five Middle English Poems. Pittsburgh: University
of Pittsburgh P~ess, 1966.
Lewis, C. S. The Allegory of Love.
University Press, 1936.
---------The Discarded Image.
University Press, 1964.
Moorman, Charles.
1968.
The Pearl-Poet.
Oxford:
Cambridge:
New York:
Oxford
Cambridge
Twayne,
Patch, Howard R.
The Other World According to Descriptions in Medieval Literature. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1950.
Piehler, Paul. The Visionary Landscape: A Study in
Medieval Allegory. London: Edward Arnold Ltd.,
1971.
Richardson, Alan. ed. A Dictionary of Christian Theology.
Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1969.
120
Spearing, A. c. The Gawain-Poet: A Critical Study.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970.
---------Medieval Dream Poetry. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Tristram, Philippa. Figures of Life and Death in Medieval
English Literature. New York: New York University
Press, 1976.
Turville-Petre, Thorlac. The Alliterative Revival.
Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, Ltd., 1977.
Books and Articles
Ackerman, Robert W.
"The Pearl-Maiden and the Penny."
Romance Philology, 17 (1964), 615-23. rpt. Conley.
Blanch, Robert J.
"Precious Metal and Gem Symbolism in
Pearl." Lock Haven Review, No. 7 (1965), 1-12.
----------. ed. Sir Gawain and Pearl: Critical Essays.
Bloomington, Ind.:
Indiana University Press, 1966.
"The Pattern of Traditional Images in
Blenkner, Louis.
Pearl," SP, 68 (1971), 26-49.
---------"The Theological Structure of Pearl."
Traditio, 24 (1968), 43-75. rpt. Conley.
Bloomfield, Morton w.
"Symbolism in Medieval Literature."
MP I 5 6 ( 19 58 ) I 7 3- 81 •
Brown, C. F.
"The Author of The Pearl Considered in the
Light of his Theological Opinions." PMLA, 19
(1904) 1 115-53.
-Cargill, 0. and M. Schlauch.
"The Pearl and its Jeweller."
PMLA, 43 (1928), 105-123.
"Aspects of Elegy in the Middle
Carson, Mother Angela.
English Pearl." SP, 42 (1964), 17-27.
Chapman, C. 0.
"The Authorship of the Pearl."
(1932), 346-53.
PMLA, 47
Clark, S. L. and Julian N. Wasserman.
"The Pearl-poet's
City Imagery." The Southern Quarterly, 16 (1978),
297-309.
121
Conley, John.
"Pearl and a Lost Tradition."
(1955), 332-47.
JEGP, 54
---------- ed. The Middle English Pearl: Critical Essays.
Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1970.
Coulton, G. G.
39-43.
"In Defence of The Pearl."
MLR, 2 (1906),
Davis, Norman.
"A Note on Pearl." Review of English
Studies, 17 (1964), 403-05. rpt. Conley.
Earl, James W.
"Saint Margaret and the Pearl Maiden," MP,
70 (1972-3), l-8.
Elliott, R. W. V.
"Pearl and the Medieval Garden: Convention or Originality?" Langues Modern, 45, (1951)'
85-98.
Emerson, 0. F.
52-93.
"Notes on The Pearl."
---------"More Notes on Pearl ...
807-31.
Finlayson, John.
"Pearl:
71 (1974), 314-43.
PMLA, 37 (1922),
PMLA, 42 (1927),
Landscape and Vision."
Fletcher, J. B.
"The Allegory of the Pearl.
(1921), l-21.
11
SP,
JEGP, 20
Fowler, David C.
"On the Meaning of Pearl, 139-140."
MLQ, 21 (1964), 27-29.
11
Pearl 558:
'Waning'."
MLN,74
(1957), 581-84.
Grant, Judith C. et al.
"Note on the Rhymes of Pearl."
SN, 50 (1978), 175-78.
Greene, W. K.
"The Pearl:
40 (1925), 814-27.
A New Interpretation."
PMLA,
Hamilton, Marie P.
"The Meaning of the Middle English
Pearl ... PMLA, 70 (1955), 805-24. rpt. Blanch.
"NotesonPearl.
11
11
JEGP, 57 (1956), 177-91.
The Orthodoxy of Pearl, 603-604."
(1943), 307.
----------
MLN, 58
122
Hart, E.
"Heaven of Virgins."
Heiserman, A. R.
MLN, 42 (1927), 113-25.
"The Plot of Pearl."
PMLA, 80 (1964),
164-71.
Hieatt, Constance.
SN I 3 7 ( 19 6 4)
"Pearl and the Dream-Vision Tradition."
I
13 9-4 5 •
Higgs, Elton D.
"The Progress of the Dreamer in Pearl."
Studies in Medieval Culture, 4 (1974), 388-400.
Hillman, Sister Mary Vincent.
MLN I 5 9 ( 19 4 4 ) I 41 7- 2 0 •
---------( 4 3 2 ) • II
----------
"Pearl:
"The Pearl:
'west ernays'
MLN , 5 8 ( 19 4 3 ) I 14 3- 4 5 •
"Pearl:
'Lere Leke,' 210."
(307);
Inlyche and Rewarde."
'Fasor'
MLN, 56 (1941),
457-59.
---------"Some Debatable Words in Pearl and Its Theme,"
MLN, 60 (1945), 241-54. rpt. Conley.
"Pearl:
mare rez mysse?"
MLN, 68 (1953),
42-47.
Hoffman, Stanton de Voren.
"The Pearl: Notes for an
Interpretation.'~
MP, 58 (1960), 73-80. rpt. Conley.
Holman, C. H.
"Marerez Mysse in the Pearl."
MLN, 66
(1951)' 33-36.
Johnson, Lynn S.
"The Motif of the Noli Me Tangere and
its Relation to Pearl." American Benedictine Review,
30
(1979)' 93-106.
Johnson, Wendell S.
"The Imagery and Diction of The Pearl:
Towards an Interpretation." ELH, 20 (1953), 161-80.
rpt. Conley.
Kean, P. M. The Pearl: An Interpretation.
Barnes & Noble, 1967.
New York:
Kellogg, Alfred L.
"A Note on Line 274 of the Pearl."
Traditio, 12 (1956), 406-07. rpt. in Conley under
the title "Pearl and the Augustinian Doctrine of
Creation," 335-37.
Knightly, William J.
76
(1959)'
"Pearl:
97-102.
the 'hy_3 seysoun'."
MLN,
123
Levine, Robert.
"The Pearl-Child Topes and Archetype in
the Middle English Pearl." Medievalia et Humanistica, 8 (1977), 243-51.
Lucas, Peter J.
"Pearl's Free-Flowing Hair."
(1977)' 94-95.
ELN, 15
Luttrell, C. A.
"The Medieval Tradition of the Pearl
Virginity." MAE, 31 (1962), 194-200.
---------"Pearl: Symbolism in a Garden Setting."
Neophilologus, 49 (1965), 160-76. rpt. Blanch and
Conley.
Macrae-Gibson, D.
Structure."
Conley ..
"Pearl: The Link-Words and the Thematic
Neophilologus, 52 (1968), 54-64. rpt.
Madeleva, Sister Mary. Pearl: A Study in Spiritual
Dryness. New York: Appletqn, 1925.
Milroy, James.
"Pearl: The Verbal Texture and the
Linguistic Theme." Neophilologus, 55 (1971), 195208.
Moorman, Charles.
"The Role of the Narrator in Pearl."
MP, 53 (1955), 73-81. rpt. Conley.
Northrup, C. S.
"The'Metrical Structure of Pearl."
P MLA , 12 ( 18 9 7 ) , 3 2 6- 4 0 •
Pilch, Herbert.
"Das mittelenglische Perlengedicht:
Sein Verhaltnis zum Rosenroman." Neu. Mitt. 65
{1964), 427-46. appears in Conley, 1970, tr.
Heide Hyprath, as "The Middle English Pearl:
Its Relation to the Roman de laRose."
Reisner, Thomas A.
"The 'Cortaysye' Sequence in Pearl:
A Legal Interpretation." MP, 72 (1974-5), 400-03.
Robertson, D. W., Jr., "The Heresy of the Pearl" and "The
Pearl as a Symbol." MLN, 65 (1950), 152-61. rpt.
Conley.
Ronberg, Gert.
"A Note on 'Endorde' in Pearl {368)."
ES, 57 (1976), 198-99.
Rupp, Henry R.
"Word Play in Pearl, 217-238."
(1955)' 558-59.
MLN, 70
124
Savage, Henry Littleton. The Gawain Poet: Studies in his
Personality and Background. Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Press, 1956.
Schofield, W. H.
"The Nature and Fabric of The Pearl."
PMLA, 19 {1904), 115-53.
---------"Symbolism, Allegory, and Autobiography in
The Pearl." PMLA, 24 {1909), 585-675.
Sklute, Larry M.
"Expectation and Fulfillment in Pearl."
Philological Quarterly, 52 {1973), 663-79.
Sledd, James.
"Three Textual Notes on Fourteenth-Century
Poetry." MLN , 5 5 {19 4 0 ) , 3 81 .
Spearing, A. C.
"Symbolism and Dramatic Development in
Pearl." MP, 60 {1963), 1-12. rpt. Blanch.
Stern, Milton R.
"An Approach to The Pearl."
{1955), 684-92. rpt. Conley.
JEGP, 54
Tristman, Richard.
"Some Consolatory Strategies in
Pearl." appearing in Conley, 1970.
Vissner, F. Th.
"Pearl 609-611."
{1956), 20-2~pt. Conley.
Watts, V. E.
34-36.
English Studies, 34
"Pearl as a Consolatio."
MAE, 32 {1961),
Wellek, Rene.
"The Pearl: An Interpretation of the
Middle English Poem." Studies in English, 4,
Charles University in Prague (1933), 5-33. rpt.
Conley.
Wood, Ann D.
"The Pearl-Dreamer and the 'Hyne' in the
Vineyard Parable." PQ, 52 (1973), 9-19.
Wright, E. M.
"Additional Notes on The Pearl," mistitled
in print. JEGP, 39 (1940), 315-18.