Poema Morale: Difference between revisions
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The narrator, a wise, old man, reflects on his life and his many failures; the homily ends with a description of the [[Last Judgment]] and the joys of heaven.<ref name=holtei/> Both personal sin and collective guilt (scholars have compared the narrator's stance to that of the [[Peterborough Chronicle]]r) are of concern.<ref name=Dunn/> |
The narrator, a wise, old man, reflects on his life and his many failures; the homily ends with a description of the [[Last Judgment]] and the joys of heaven.<ref name=holtei/> Both personal sin and collective guilt (scholars have compared the narrator's stance to that of the [[Peterborough Chronicle]]r) are of concern.<ref name=Dunn/> |
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The poem is sometimes referred to as a sermon,<ref name=Harsch>{{cite web|url=http://www2.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/anglica/Chronology/12thC/PoemaMorale/poe_intr.html|title=Poema Morale, ca. 1170|last=Harsch|first=Ulrich|work=Bibliotheca Augustana|publisher=Fachhochschule Augsburg|accessdate=5 September 2012}}</ref> sometimes as a homiletic narrative.<ref name=holtei>{{cite web|url=http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~holteir/companion/Navigation/Anonymous_Texts/Poema_Morale/poema_morale.html|title=Poema Morale|last=Holtei|first=Rainer (ed.)|year=2002|work=A Companion to ME Literature|publisher=Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf|accessdate=5 September 2012}}</ref> Following a Latin model, it employs a [[septenary line]], according to R.D. Fulk possibly the first example of that line in English;<ref name="Fulk2002">{{cite journal|last=Fulk|first=Robert D.|year=2002|title=Early Middle English Evidence for Old English Meter: Resolution in Poema morale|journal=[[Journal of Germanic Linguistics]]|volume=14|issue=04|issn=1470-5427|doi=10.1017/S147054270200017X}}</ref> it contains, in its longest version, 200 rhymed couplets.<ref name=Harsch/> |
The poem is sometimes referred to as a sermon,<ref name=Harsch>{{cite web|url=http://www2.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/anglica/Chronology/12thC/PoemaMorale/poe_intr.html|title=Poema Morale, ca. 1170|last=Harsch|first=Ulrich|work=Bibliotheca Augustana|publisher=Fachhochschule Augsburg|accessdate=5 September 2012}}</ref> sometimes as a homiletic narrative.<ref name=holtei>{{cite web|url=http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~holteir/companion/Navigation/Anonymous_Texts/Poema_Morale/poema_morale.html|title=Poema Morale|last=Holtei|first=Rainer (ed.)|year=2002|work=A Companion to ME Literature|publisher=Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf|accessdate=5 September 2012}}</ref> Following a Latin model, it employs a [[septenary line]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Myers|first1=Jack|last2=Wukasch|first2=Don C.|title=Dictionary of Poetic Terms|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=wUTP0ZP7yy8C&pg=PA329|accessdate=6 September 2012|year=2003|publisher=U of North Texas P|isbn=9781574411669|page=329}}</ref> "a seven-foot line usually in trochaic rhythm"; according to R.D. Fulk and others this is possibly the first example of that line in English;<ref name="Fulk2002">{{cite journal|last=Fulk|first=Robert D.|year=2002|title=Early Middle English Evidence for Old English Meter: Resolution in Poema morale|journal=[[Journal of Germanic Linguistics]]|volume=14|issue=04|issn=1470-5427|doi=10.1017/S147054270200017X}}</ref> it contains, in its longest version, 200 rhymed couplets.<ref name=Harsch/> |
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The lengths of the different versions of the poem vary greatly: the shortest is 270, the longest 400 lines; different manuscript versions also differ in wording. The Lambeth version is considered the oldest.<ref name=Dunn>{{cite book|last=Dunn|first=Charles W.|title=Middle English Literature|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UHu-USqZujYC&pg=PA46|accessdate=5 September 2012|year=1990|publisher=Garland|isbn=9780824052973|pages=46–48}}</ref> In fact, there is so much "metrical, lexical and scribal variation" that it seems there is no "correct" version: "each copy represents a reshaping within an established rhythmical and metrical structure."<ref name=Sciacca>{{cite book|last=Sciacca|first=Claudia di|editor=Merja Stenroos|others=Martti Mäkinen, Inge Srheim|title=Language Contact and Development Around the North Sea|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=k0mAoV-K52MC&pg=PA181|accessdate=6 September 2012|year=2012|publisher=John Benjamins |isbn=9789027248398|pages=169–86|chapter=For Heaven's Sake: The Scandinavian contribution to a semantic field in Old and Middle English}}</ref> |
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Though a seventeenth-century identification between the ''Poema'' and ''[[The Proverbs of Alfred]]'' by [[Gerard Langbaine the elder|Langbaine]] was proven erroneous (Langbaine was led astray because he had an expectation of finding the Alfredian proverbs in the manuscript known as [[Bodleian Library]] Digby 4). There are, however, connections between the ''Poema'' and the Proverbs: a couplet of the ''Poema'' was written (in the same hand as the main text) in the margin of a manuscript containing the Proverbs ([[Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery|Maidstone Museum]] A.13). At least one echo of the ''Poema'' was noted in the ''[[Ancrene Wisse]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Proverbs of Alfred|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZS0xLDwXETQC&pg=PA10|year=1931|publisher=Haskell|location=New York|pages=10, 63}}</ref> |
Though a seventeenth-century identification between the ''Poema'' and ''[[The Proverbs of Alfred]]'' by [[Gerard Langbaine the elder|Langbaine]] was proven erroneous (Langbaine was led astray because he had an expectation of finding the Alfredian proverbs in the manuscript known as [[Bodleian Library]] Digby 4). There are, however, connections between the ''Poema'' and the Proverbs: a couplet of the ''Poema'' was written (in the same hand as the main text) in the margin of a manuscript containing the Proverbs ([[Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery|Maidstone Museum]] A.13). At least one echo of the ''Poema'' was noted in the ''[[Ancrene Wisse]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Proverbs of Alfred|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZS0xLDwXETQC&pg=PA10|year=1931|publisher=Haskell|location=New York|pages=10, 63}}</ref> |
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==Manuscripts== |
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Seven manuscripts contain the poem,<ref name=Sciacca/> six of which were used in the compilation of the [[Middle English Dictionary]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/hyp-idx?type=byte&size=First+100&byte=3764883&ms=%3CMS%20REF%3D%22Oxford%2C%20Bodleian%20Library%2C%20Digby%22%3E%3CCITE%3E4%3C%2FCITE%3E%3C%2FMS%3E|title=Entry for "Poema Morale" in Middle English Compendium HyperBibliography|work=[[Middle English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[University of Michigan]]|accessdate=6 September 2012}}</ref> |
Seven manuscripts contain the poem,<ref name=Sciacca/> six of which were used in the compilation of the [[Middle English Dictionary]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/hyp-idx?type=byte&size=First+100&byte=3764883&ms=%3CMS%20REF%3D%22Oxford%2C%20Bodleian%20Library%2C%20Digby%22%3E%3CCITE%3E4%3C%2FCITE%3E%3C%2FMS%3E|title=Entry for "Poema Morale" in Middle English Compendium HyperBibliography|work=[[Middle English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[University of Michigan]]|accessdate=6 September 2012}}</ref> |
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*Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, McClean 123 (M) |
*Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, McClean 123 (M) |
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*Oxford, Jesus College 29, Part 2 (J) |
*Oxford, Jesus College 29, Part 2 (J) |
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In addition, snippets are found in three |
In addition, snippets are found in three other manuscripts.<ref name=Sciacca/> |
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==Editions== |
==Editions== |
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Revision as of 03:29, 6 September 2012
The Poema Morale ("Conduct of life"[1] or "Moral Ode"[2]) is an early Middle English moral poem outlining proper Christian conduct. The poem survives in seven manuscripts,[3] including the homiletic collections known as the Lambeth Homilies[4] and Trinity Homilies,[5] both dating from around 1200.
Content and form
The narrator, a wise, old man, reflects on his life and his many failures; the homily ends with a description of the Last Judgment and the joys of heaven.[6] Both personal sin and collective guilt (scholars have compared the narrator's stance to that of the Peterborough Chronicler) are of concern.[7]
The poem is sometimes referred to as a sermon,[8] sometimes as a homiletic narrative.[6] Following a Latin model, it employs a septenary line,[9] "a seven-foot line usually in trochaic rhythm"; according to R.D. Fulk and others this is possibly the first example of that line in English;[10] it contains, in its longest version, 200 rhymed couplets.[8]
The lengths of the different versions of the poem vary greatly: the shortest is 270, the longest 400 lines; different manuscript versions also differ in wording. The Lambeth version is considered the oldest.[7] In fact, there is so much "metrical, lexical and scribal variation" that it seems there is no "correct" version: "each copy represents a reshaping within an established rhythmical and metrical structure."[2]
Though a seventeenth-century identification between the Poema and The Proverbs of Alfred by Langbaine was proven erroneous (Langbaine was led astray because he had an expectation of finding the Alfredian proverbs in the manuscript known as Bodleian Library Digby 4). There are, however, connections between the Poema and the Proverbs: a couplet of the Poema was written (in the same hand as the main text) in the margin of a manuscript containing the Proverbs (Maidstone Museum A.13). At least one echo of the Poema was noted in the Ancrene Wisse.[11]
Manuscripts
Seven manuscripts contain the poem,[2] six of which were used in the compilation of the Middle English Dictionary.[12]
- Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, McClean 123 (M)
- Cambridge, Trinity College B.14.52 (335) (T)
- London, British Library, Egerton 613
- contains two versions: fols. 7r-12v (E), fols. 64r-70v (e)
- London, Lambeth Palace Library 487 (L)
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 4 (D)
- Oxford, Jesus College 29, Part 2 (J)
In addition, snippets are found in three other manuscripts.[2]
Editions
The first modern critical study and edition (which used six manuscripts) was Hermann Lewin's 1881 Das mittelenglische Poema morale.[13] Lewin did not yet have the version from Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS McClean 123, a manuscript given to the museum in 1904; the version of the Poema Morale in it wasn't described until 1907.[14]
References
- ^ Conti, Aidan (2006). "The Gem-Bearing Serpents of the Trinity Homilies: An Analogue for Gower's Confessio Amantis". Modern Philology. 106 (1): 109–16.
- ^ a b c d Sciacca, Claudia di (2012). "For Heaven's Sake: The Scandinavian contribution to a semantic field in Old and Middle English". In Merja Stenroos (ed.). Language Contact and Development Around the North Sea. Martti Mäkinen, Inge Srheim. John Benjamins. pp. 169–86. ISBN 9789027248398. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
- ^ Laing, Margaret (2000). "Never the twain shall meet: Early Middle English--the East-West divide". In Irma Taavitsainen (ed.). Placing Middle English in Context. Walter de Gruyter. p. 111ff. ISBN 9783110167801. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ Trips, Carola (2002). From Ov to Vo in Early Middle English. John Benjamins. p. 22. ISBN 9789027227812. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ Treharne, Elaine (June 2012). "Cambridge, Trinity College, B. 14. 52". The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ a b Holtei, Rainer (ed.) (2002). "Poema Morale". A Companion to ME Literature. Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
{{cite web}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ a b Dunn, Charles W. (1990). Middle English Literature. Garland. pp. 46–48. ISBN 9780824052973. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ a b Harsch, Ulrich. "Poema Morale, ca. 1170". Bibliotheca Augustana. Fachhochschule Augsburg. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ Myers, Jack; Wukasch, Don C. (2003). Dictionary of Poetic Terms. U of North Texas P. p. 329. ISBN 9781574411669. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
- ^ Fulk, Robert D. (2002). "Early Middle English Evidence for Old English Meter: Resolution in Poema morale". Journal of Germanic Linguistics. 14 (04). doi:10.1017/S147054270200017X. ISSN 1470-5427.
- ^ The Proverbs of Alfred. New York: Haskell. 1931. pp. 10, 63.
- ^ "Entry for "Poema Morale" in Middle English Compendium HyperBibliography". Middle English Dictionary. University of Michigan. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
- ^ Lewin, Hermann (1881). Das mittelenglische Poema morale: Im kritischen Text, nach den sechs vorhandenen Handschriften zum ersten Male hrsg. von hermann Lewin. M. Niemeyer. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ Paues, Anna C. (1907). "A Newly Discovered Manuscript of the Poema Morale". Anglia - Zeitschrift für englische Philologie. 1907 (30): 217–237. doi:10.1515/angl.1907.1907.30.217. ISSN 0340-5222.
External links
- Online text from Lambeth MS 487