Poema Morale: Difference between revisions
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
==Manuscripts and editions== |
==Manuscripts and editions== |
||
A seventeenth-century identification between the ''Poema'' and ''[[The Proverbs of Alfred]]'' by [[Gerard Langbaine the elder| |
A seventeenth-century identification between the ''Poema'' and ''[[The Proverbs of Alfred]]'' by [[Gerard Langbaine the elder|Langbaine]] was proven erroneous; Langbaine, who had an expectation of finding the Alfredian proverbs in the manuscript known as [[Bodleian Library]] Digby 4.<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|page=10}}</ref> The first modern critical study and edition (which used six manuscripts) was Hermann Lewin's 1881 ''Das mittelenglische Poema morale''.<ref name=Lewin>{{cite book|last=Lewin|first=Hermann|title=Das mittelenglische Poema morale: Im kritischen Text, nach den sechs vorhandenen Handschriften zum ersten Male hrsg. von hermann Lewin|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eMUUJsOeMnEC|accessdate=5 September 2012|year=1881|publisher=M. Niemeyer}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Paues1907">{{cite journal|last=Paues|first=Anna C.|year=1907|title=A Newly Discovered Manuscript of the ''Poema Morale''|journal=[[Anglia (journal)|Anglia - Zeitschrift für englische Philologie]]|volume=1907|issue=30|pages=217–237|issn=0340-5222|doi=10.1515/angl.1907.1907.30.217}}</ref> |
||
===Manuscripts=== |
===Manuscripts=== |
||
Revision as of 01:59, 6 September 2012
The Poema Morale ("Conduct of life"[1]) is an early Middle English moral poem outlining proper Christian conduct. The poem survives in seven manuscripts,[2] including the homiletic collections known as the Lambeth Homilies[3] and Trinity Homilies,[4] both dating from around 1200.
Content and form
The poem is sometimes referred to as a sermon,[5] sometimes as a homiletic narrative.[6] Following a Latin model, it employs a septenary line, according to R.D. Fulk possibly the first example of that line in English;[7] it contains, in its longest version, 200 rhymed couplets.[5] The length of the poem varies: the shortest is 270, the longest 400 lines; different manuscript versions also differ in wording. The Lambeth version is considered the oldest.[8]
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.[8]
Manuscripts and editions
A seventeenth-century identification between the Poema and The Proverbs of Alfred by Langbaine was proven erroneous; Langbaine, who had an expectation of finding the Alfredian proverbs in the manuscript known as Bodleian Library Digby 4.[9] The first modern critical study and edition (which used six manuscripts) was Hermann Lewin's 1881 Das mittelenglische Poema morale.[10] 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.[11]
Manuscripts
Of the seven manuscripts containing the poem, six were used in the compilation of the Middle English Dictionary:[12]
- Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, McClean 123
- Cambridge, Trinity College B.14.52 (335)
- London, British Library, Egerton 613
- London, Lambeth Palace Library 487
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 4
- Oxford, Jesus College 29, Part 2
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.
- ^ 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 Harsch, Ulrich. "Poema Morale, ca. 1170". Bibliotheca Augustana. Fachhochschule Augsburg. 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) - ^ 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.
- ^ a b Dunn, Charles W. (1990). Middle English Literature. Garland. pp. 46–48. ISBN 9780824052973. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ The Proverbs of Alfred. New York: Haskell. 1931. p. 10.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Entry for "Poema Morale" in Middle English Compendium HyperBibliography". Middle English Dictionary. University of Michigan. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
External links
- Online text from Lambeth MS 487