Early English Alliterative Poems 2
A TEMPEST ON ÞE SEE.
There a tempest _hom_ toke on þe torres hegh:--
A _rak_ and a royde wynde rose in _hor_ saile,
A myst & a _merkenes_ was mervell to se;
With a _routond_ rayn ruthe to be-holde,
Thonr{et}[13] full _throly_ with a thicke haile;
With a leuenyng light as a _low_ fyre,
Blas{et} all the brode see as it bren wold.
The flode with a felle cours flow{et} on hepis,
Rose uppon rockes as any _ranke_ hylles.
So wode were the waghes & þe wilde _ythes_,
All was like to be lost þat no lond hade
The ship ay shot furth o þe _shire waghes_,
As qwo clymbe at a clyffe, or a clent[14] hille.
Eft _dump_ in the depe as all drowne wolde.
Was no _stightlyng_ with stere ne no stithe ropes,
Ne no sayle, þat might serue for _unsound_ wedur.
But all the buernes in the bote, as _hom_ best liked,
Besoght unto sainttes & to sere goddes; (p. 65)
A STORME ON THE SE.
All the company enclin{et} cair{yn} to ship;
Cach{yn} in cables, knyt up _hor_ ancres,
Sesit vp _hor_ sailes in a sad hast;
_Richet_ þere rapes, rapit unto see.
Hokit out of hauyn, all the hepe somyn,
_Hade bir at hor bake_, blawen to þe depe;
Sail{yn} forthe _soberly_, somyn but a while,
Noght fyftene forlong fairly to the end.
. . . . . . . . . . .
When sodenly the softe aire _unsoberly_ rose;
The cloudis overcast, _claterrit_ aboute;
Wyndes full wodely _walt_ up the ythes;
Wex _merke_ as the mydnighte mystes full thicke:
Thunret in the _thestur throly_ with all;
With a _launchant laite_ lightonyd the water;
And a _ropand_ rayne _raiked_ fro the heuyn.
The storme was full stithe with mony stout windes,
Hit _walt_ up the wilde se vppon wan hilles.
The ffolke was so ferd, that _on flete_ were,
All drede for to drowne with dryft of the se;
And in perell were put all the proude kynges. --(p. 150.)
[Footnote 1: Edited by Sir Frederic Madden for the Bannatyne Club,
under the title of “Syr Gawayn and the Grene Knyȝt,” and by me for
the Early English Text Soc., 1865.]
[Footnote 2: Wyntown nowhere asserts that Huchowne is a
Scotchman.]
[Footnote 3: Edited for E. E. T. Soc. by Rev. G. G. Perry, M.A.]
[Footnote 4: This is evident from the following particulars:--
I. In old Scotch manuscripts we find the guttural _gh_ (or ȝ)
represented by _ch_; thus, _aght_, _laght_, _saght_, _wight_, are
the English forms which, in the Scotch orthography, become _aucht_
(owed), _laucht_ (seized), _saucht_ (peace), _wicht_ (active). It
is the former orthography, however, that prevails in the Morte
Arthure.
II. We miss the Scotch use of (1) _-is_ or _-ys_, for _-es_ or
_-s_, in the plural number, and of possessive cases of nouns, and
in the person endings of the present tense indicative mood of
verbs; (2) _-it_ or _-yt_, for _-ed_ or _-d_, in the preterites or
passive participles of regular verbs.
III. There is a total absence of the well-known Scotch forms
_begouth_ (began), _sa_ (so), _sic_ (such), _throuch_, _thorow_
(through). Instead of these _bigan_, _so_, _syche_, _thrughe_
(_thurgh_) are employed. See Preface to Hampole’s Pricke of
Conscience, pp. vii, viii.]
[Footnote 5: This is shown by the frequent employment of _-es_ as
the person ending of the verb in the present tense, plural number.
The corresponding Southern verbal inflexion _-eth_ _never_ occurs;
while the Midland _-en_ is only occasionally met with in the third
person plural present, and has been introduced by a later copyist.
There are other characteristics, such as the predominance of words
containing the A.S. long _a_; as _hame_ (home), _stane_ (stone),
_thra_ (bold), _walde_ (would), etc.; the frequent use of _thir_
(these), _tha_ (the, those), etc.]
[Footnote 6: The peculiarities referred to do not appear to be
owing to the copyist of the Lincoln manuscript (Robert de
Thornton, a native of Oswaldkirk in Yorkshire), who, being a
Northumbrian, would probably have restored the original readings.
The non-Northumbrian forms in the Morte Arthure are-- 1. The
change of _a_ into _o_, as _bolde_ for _balde_, _bote_ for _bate_,
_one_ for _ane_, _honde_ for _hande_, _londe_ for _lande_;
2. _they_, _theyre_, _them_, _theym_, for _thay_, _thaire_,
_tham_; 3. _gayliche_, _kindliche_, _semlyche_, etc., for _gayly_,
_kindly_, _seemly_, etc. (the termination _lich_, _liche_, was
wholly unknown to the Northumbrian dialect, being represented by
_ly_ or _like_); 4. _churle_, _churche_, _iche_, _mache_, _myche_,
_syche_, _wyrche_, etc., for _carle_, _kirke_, _ilk_, _make_,
_mykelle_, _swilk_, _wyrk_, etc.; 5. infinitives in _-en_, as
_drenschen_, _schewenne_, _wacchenne_, etc.; 6. the use of _eke_,
_thos_, for _als_ (_alswa_), _thas_; 7. the employment of _aye_
for _egg_. The former word _never_ occurs in any pure Northumbrian
work, while the latter is seldom met with in any Southern
production.]
[Footnote 7: The poems are _Northern_ in contradistinction to
_Southern_, but they are not Northern or Northumbrian in
contradistinction to _Midland_.]
[Footnote 8: Printed by Mr. D. Laing in his “Inedited Pieces,”
from a MS. of Mr. Heber’s. Other copies are in the Vernon MS., and
Cotton Calig. A. ii.; the latter imperfect.]
[Footnote 9: Other specimens of this dialect will doubtless turn
up. Mr. Brock has found a MS. in British Museum (Harl. 3909) with
most of the peculiarities pointed out by me in the preface to the
present work, and I believe that this dialect was probably a
flourishing one in the 13th century. See O.E. Homilies, p. li.]
[Footnote 10: (1) _en_ as the inflexion of the pres. tense pl.,
indic. mood of verbs; (2) _s_ in the second and third pers. sing.
of verbs; (3) _ho_ = she; (4) _hit_ = its; (5) _tow_ = two;
(6) _deȝter_ = daughters, etc.]
[Footnote 11: See p. 36, ll. 1052-1066; p. 37, ll. 1074-1089; pp.
161-162, ll. 4956-4975.]
[Footnote 12: See pp. 25, 26 (Jason’s unfaithfulness); pp. 74, 75,
ll. 2241-2255; p. 75, ll. 2256-2263; p. 69, ll. 2267-2081; p. 158,
ll. 4839-4850; p. 189, ll. 4881-4885; p. 165, ll. 5078-5086, etc.]
[Footnote 13: In the Harl. MS. 3909, nearly all the p. part. and
preterites end in _-et_ (_-ut_ and _-et_ occur in Romances ed. by
Robson).]
[Footnote 14: This seems to furnish an etymology for _Clent_
Hills, Worcestershire--_brent_ is the term employed in
Alliterative.]
The poems in the present volume, three in number, seem to have been
written for the purpose of enforcing, by line upon line and precept upon
precept, Resignation to the will of God; Purity of life as manifested in
thought, word, and deed; Obedience to the Divine command; and Patience
under affliction.
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, a
girl of two years old, whom he describes as a
Perle plesaunte to prynces paye
_Pearl pleasant to princes’ pleasure,_
To clanly clos in golde so clere
_Most neatly set in gold so clear._
Of her death he says:
Allas! I leste hyr in on erbere
_Alas! I lost her in an arbour,_
Þurȝ gresse to grounde hit fro me yot
_Through grass to ground it from me got._ --(p. 1.)
The writer then represents himself as visiting his child’s grave (or
arbour) in the “high season of August,” and giving way to his grief
(p. 2). He falls asleep, and in a dream is carried toward a forest,
where he saw rich rocks gleaming gloriously, hill sides decked with
crystal cliffs, and trees the leaves of which were as burnished silver.
The gravel under his feet was “precious pearls of orient,” and birds “of
flaming hues” flew about in company, whose notes were far sweeter than
those of the cytole or gittern (guitar) (p. 3). The dreamer arrives at
the bank of a stream, which flows over stones (shining like stars in the
welkin on a winter’s night) and pebbles of emeralds, sapphires, or other
precious gems, so
Þat all the loȝe lemed of lyȝt
_That all the deep gleamed of light,_
So dere watȝ hit adubbement
_So dear was its adornment._ --(p. 4.)
Following the course of the stream, he perceives on the opposite side a
crystal cliff, from which was reflected many a “royal ray” (p. 5).
At þe fote þer-of þer sete a faunt
_At the foot thereof there sat a child,_
A mayden of menske, ful debonere
_A maiden of honour, full debonnair;_
Blysnande whyt watȝ hyr bleaunt
_Glistening white was her robe,_
(I knew hyr wel, I hade sen hyr ere)
_(I knew her well, I had seen her before)_
At glysnande golde þat man con schore
_As shining gold that man did purify,_
So schon þat schene an-vnder schore
_So shone that sheen (bright one) on the opposite shore;_
On lenghe I loked to hyr þere
_Long I looked to her there,_
Þe lenger I knew hyr more & more
_The longer I knew her, more and more._ --(pp. 6, 7.)
The maiden rises, and, proceeding along the bank of the stream,
approaches him. He tells her that he has done nothing but mourn for the
loss of his Pearl, and has been indeed a “joyless jeweller” (p. 8).
However, now that he has found his Pearl, he declares that he is no
longer sorrowful, but would be a “joyful jeweller” were he allowed to
cross the stream (p. 8). The maiden blames her father for his rash
speech, tells him that his Pearl is not lost, and that he cannot pass
the stream till after death (p. 10). The dreamer is in great grief; he
does not, he says, care what may happen if he is again to lose his
Pearl. The maiden advises him to bear his loss patiently, and to abide
God’s doom (p. 11). She describes to him her blissful state in heaven,
where she reigns as a queen (p. 12). She explains to him that Mary is
the Empress of Heaven, and all others kings and queens (p. 13). The
parable of the labourers in the vineyard[15] (pp. 15-18) is then
rehearsed at length, to prove that “innocents” are admitted to the same
privileges as are enjoyed by those who have lived longer upon the earth
(p. 18). The maiden then speaks to her father of Christ and his one
hundred and forty thousand brides (p. 24), and describes their blissful
state (p. 26). She points out to him the heavenly Jerusalem, which was
“all of bright burnished gold, gleaming like glass” (p. 29). Then the
dreamer beholds a procession of virgins going to salute the Lamb, among
whom he perceives his “little queen” (p. 33). On attempting to cross the
stream to follow her, he is aroused from his dream (p. 35), laments his
rash curiosity in seeking to know so much of God’s mysteries, and
declares that man ever desires more happiness than he has any right to expect (p. 35).
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