Medieval English Literature: religious & secular poetry

English Literature to 1500

Religious & secular poetry

OUTLINE of the LECTURE:
Medieval English poetry in general: themes and subject matter, genres, styles, messages and
models
Alliterative revival (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; The Pearl; Piers Plowman)
Text in focus: Piers Plowman (social and religious criticism; authorship, formal, structural,
generic and stylistic features)

Religious & secular poetry: classification

Poetry characterized by a greater versatility and diversity
Two distinct categories:
Miscellaneous: a large group comprised of various poetic genres (love-lyrics, pastourelle,
ballads, debates, didactic poems such as proverbs and bestiaries, moral lyrics, and
satires)
Alliterative Revival texts: a group of texts of the later date (late medieval poetry that
shares certain formal features echoing the rediscovery of AS alliterative verse)

Secular poetry
Secular rhymed English poetry was born in the Middle Ages
Its origin and influences still unknown.
Only a handful of texts marked by such characteristics was preserved.
Plenty of unreliable contesting theories on the origin and influences/sources of English lyrical
poetry:
a) national (AS) past could not make the basis of it;
b) the French poetic tradition made a great impact (no convincing evidence)
c) connecting lyric and the carol (as a dance-song of possibly French origin) proved equally
unsuccessful and fruitless

Secular poetry: subject matter & genres

Recurrent subject matter of secular rhymed verse in English love (treatment of it significantly
different from the French love-lyrics.)
Genres:
a) pastourelle - lascivious and erotic poem describing the love-making of a knight & a
shepherdess/a milkmaid after a brief flirtation (“The Meeting in the Wood”, “Wend fort ther ye
wenin better for to sped” & “Hey, troly loly lo, maid, whiter go yow”.)
b) love-lyrics praising female beauty, expressing simple expectation of a love returned. Unlike
the French chanson courtoise, these love lyrics suggest a happy ending (e.g. “Alysoun”; “Annot
and John”; or “The Fair maid of Ribblesdale”)
c) poems about the bad marriages (chanson de la mal mariee); the English poems exploit
merciless & blunt tone: suggesting the wives should stop complaining (“Tell me, Wight in the
Broom”); or discuss theme of the betrayed maiden (“Waly, waly” )
d) poems about the return of spring bringing mild weather and awakening of nature (“Cuckoo
Song”)
e) poems discussing drinking, seduction and ribald student songs-vocabulary on the verge of
obscenity (by late Middle Ages)

Religious poetry: themes, tone, genres

Far more numerous rhymed poems are religious in tone and subject matter.
Mostly dedicated to Virgin Mary and/or Jesus Christ :
a) praise songs;
b) poems dealing with important episodes from the life of the Virgin or Christ).
c) “moral lyric”: discussing serious and/or philosophical themes – typically the transitory human
life and/or human fear of dying

Religious & secular poetry: additional

Additional genres in the Miscellaneous Group:
a) ballads (narrative poems that focus on telling a story in a highly dramatic and impersonal
manner; its most common form is that of a dialogue; subject matter mostly a tragic event
of extraordinary circumstances; frequently involve themes such as death, murder, or latent
incest motif; examples “Demon Lover”; “Edward”; “Cruel Brother” etc)
b) debates (disputation on various subjects, ranging from more religious-philosophical to more
trivial ones; best example unfinished “The Owl and the Nightingale”)
c) didactic verse (proverbs - impart lessons in virtuous living, and/or are designed to give moral
instruction, such as “The Proverbs of Alfred”, c. 12th ; bestiaries - use animal allegory to
instruct or provide advice, example “Bestiary”)
d) satires (favourite targets monks who failed to uphold ideals of poverty, chastity, and service
to mankind ( “The Land of Cokaygne”), or the city corruption ( “London Lickpenny”, 15th
century)

Religious & secular poetry: the CHaucerians

The Chaucerians’ poetry:
poems by 15th century Scottish and English poets who wrote after the model of Chaucer, or
considered themselves to follow Chaucer.
Two better examples John Lydgate and Tomas Hoccleve (cf. Sostaric: English Literature to 1500,
2010, pp. 122-124).
They imitated external characteristics of Chaucer’s poetry: formal or generic conventions
Chaucer wrote in (such as rhyme-royal; or dream vision conventions) but could not copy
any of internal characteristics (Chaucer’s irony, subtlety or inventiveness).

Alliterative revival
Three poems class: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; The Pearl; Piers Plowman
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, romance & “Pearl”, dream allegory, found in the same
manuscript, indicating the same anonymous author.
The conventions of dream allegory include a poetic persona of a dreamer falling asleep, retelling
a highly symbolical dream, and upon waking up, summing up insights received from the
dream (which serve as a direct didactic message to the reader). Additional elements: river
bank, & month of May/ or spring season.
Best known: Roman de la Rose, Guillame de Lorris & Jean de Meun
ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL: PIERS PLOWMAN
Piers Plowman
Considered one of the greatest poems of the Medieval English Literature, due to complexity in
structure, wide array of themes and use of the diverse established genres & literary
conventions of the age
Preserved in at least 50 manuscripts of the text, disclosing its popularity in the 14th century (date
of its composition)
Author: Langland William/Will, name of its poetic voice; William Langland, the son of a Stacy
de Rokayle (Dublin manuscript)

ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL: PIERS PLOWMAN

Date of composition situated in between 1362 (A-text); 1377 (B-text) and 1393-1398 (C-text)
B-text is usually regarded as supreme achievement; this version the basis of many modern
editions of Piers Plowman.
STRUCTURE: 2 major parts, called Visio (vision of Piers Plowman) and Vitae (the vision of
ideal of Christian life)
GENRE: Gigantic dream allegory that consists of series of visions given by the dreamers and
poem’s narrator, dreamer Will, which are concerned with proper ways of attaining salvation
of the soul.
Allegory: narratives that serve as extended metaphors, written in the form of fables, parables,
poems, stories or any style or genre (generally); Chief purpose to tell a story with characters
and a setting and symbols, of both literal and figurative meaning while attempting to
convey abstract ideas

ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL: PIERS PLOWMAN

Piers Plowman is a profoundly religious poem, with a very strong didactic element (type of
spiritual manual for proper Christian life)
Substructure: Chapters author calls Passus (a step); Each individual passus outlines dreamer’s
step-by-step spiritual progress.
B- text contains 20 passuses in total:
Prologue +
Visio (1-7 Passuses) +
Vita (8-20 passuses).
The purpose: to educate his audience; its style: simple and straightforward

ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL: PIERS PLOWMAN

The Prologue: using both dream allegory and estate satire genre
(criticism of theory of the three estates determining the social structure and the interdependence
of the three chief strata of society –
(1) the clergy (main social role to ensure that the nation assures a spiritual salvation);
(2) the nobility with the monarch on top (chief role to ensure sheer existence by defending
the nation from both inside and outside threats);
(3) the labourers/farmers (key societal function to help preservation of the body, by
producing the food).
The theory reflected the social stratification of the medieval feudal society; often used as a
form of indoctrination enabling the status quo and the dominance of church and
nobility.
 ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL: PIERS PLOWMAN
Prologue attempts religious instruction imparted to the common man, also a criticism of social
corruption (main sting of the satire aiming at predominantly clerical estate, yet also on the
military estate)
In the latter part of Visio, the poem shifts to individual members of society, the ordinary
Christians, threatened by the seven deadly sins (allegorically represented as personifications)
Piers Plowman: symbolical figure; a role-model for the common believer & an example of
simple, honest, hardworking man who servers God by accepting his social position; Appears
at the very ending of the first part; Piers is the only one who knows the way to Truth
The moral of the Visio: believer is to accept the responsibility of living a decent life through the
fulfilment of his daily duties & accepting the position appointed to him by God

ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL: PIERS PLOWMAN

Socio-historical context: The themes and the satirical treatment of different professions echo
the injustice and corruption in England of the late medieval period with references to
historical facts of the Plague, Peasants’ Revolt and Lollardy
Author’s message IS NOT an invitation to a revolution (!) but a genuine concern for the society
and individual members of it, affected by corrupt clergy, or by overall spiritual corruption.

ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL: PIERS PLOWMAN

Allegory used consistently throughout the poem;
Most prominent allegorical figures:
Holy Church,
Lady Meed (stands for wealth & earthly possessions that trap ordinary human being),
Truth (pursuit of spiritual treasure);
Reason and Conscience (partake in a metaphorical ‘battle for the souls’ winning it temporarily at
the very ending of Visio);
Seven Deadly Sins (presented through subchapters and in the form of confessions)

ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL: PIERS PLOWMAN

Vita: far more philosophical part which begins with another Prologue
Prologue to Vita: Will decides to seek Truth on his own (suggesting that a believer has to find truth
by himself and within himself), on which voyage he learns about the three models & stages
of proper Christian living:
(1) life of Do-Well (obey the law, do extensive study and meticulously gain education);
(2) life of Do-Bet (love your friends as well as your enemies; practice Charity);
(3) life of Do-Best (express spiritual care about others & help and heal everyone equally).
The final message: no salvation can be expected of degenerated churchmen, but only from Charity
in all its multiple meanings.