Class notes
Middle English Lecture Notes
- Course
- Institution
22 page document of lecture notes from the module Middle English.
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
cyannfielding
Content preview
Middle EnglishLyrics
(a)
-Use of of
-‘my mistress she must be’
-2 quatrains
-refrain
-Use of fair to liken to a woman
-‘blossoms most sweetly’
(b)
-‘I am from Ireland’
-‘I am of Ireland’
-2 quatrains
-‘for sake of holy charity’
-repetition by a female soloist
(c)
-My mysterious ‘maiden’ sleeps out on the more for seven nights in a
shelter of roses and lilies, eating primroses and violets and drinking
spring water. Scholars have identified her, variously, with the virgin
Mary, Mary Magdalene, a dead child, a water sprite; but it is doubtful
whether the singers would have known or cared who she was
-Pathetic fallacy
-repetition
-Alternative line rhyme
-Sevenyst – ‘seven nights’ an uninflected plural – here presents the ‘yogh’
sound
(h)
-to tourney ‘into the world’ – The opening six lines are very similar to
those of a debate poem, The Thrush and The Nightingale, in Carleton
Brown,
-wynne wele – ‘blissful joy’
-Miles probably ‘animals’; a rare welsh loan
-‘I know I am one of those unhappy for love’
-Perhaps ‘Animals whisper to their secret loves in order to speak their
minds’ In this reading derne, ‘secret (ones)’, is an adjective used as a
noun
-Cloude ‘earth’
,-‘Women become very splendid, so well does it (i.e. spring, love, etc) suit
them’. Proude may connote haughtiness and also elegance in dress
-‘If I shall fail to have my joy of one’
(k)
-The traditional image of the wounding dart of love is here presented
with unusual vigour
-dep ‘causes’
-‘For one expression of love’
-The lines continue the image of love’s wound that only one suregeon can
heal
-I.e. green with sickness
-Licoln, Lindsey, Northhampton and Lound are all in the east midlands,
at no very great distance apart
-‘As (the one) I am in chains for’
-‘About the one whom it concerns’
(l)
-This lullaby addressed to the Christ child is adapted from an earlier
secular lullaby CB. Where the earlier poem laments the general miseries
of human life – Grimestone’s version concerntrates on sorrow specific to
Christ: the contrast between his present earthly and his past heavenly
existence, and especially his future passion and death on the cross
-The ‘thing that was your own’ is humanity which god himself created
-‘You are sent into this world as if you have been abandoned’
-Werd is a Norfolk form
-Me listet wol litel singe ‘I have very little desire to sing’
-Bleyk an blak ‘pale and wan’ (not black)
-drize ‘ dry, withered’ in death
-weping dale ‘vale of tears’
-binne – that is, the manger
-as ‘as if’
-pou ‘though’
-‘You have come among those who will prepare you for death’
-pin ore ‘(I beg for) your mercy’
-‘Bet yet, if we would only be loving and live by your teaching and
abandon sin for love of you, you would no more be troubled’
(q)
-The speaker is crucified Christ. His love for mankind brought him to
earth and caused him to become man’s companion and equal.
-me lettet ‘causes me to remain, detains me’
, -‘I am happy to possess you’ Taken from the following line, of Christ
winning mankind like a knight winning his lady by force of arms
Lecture Two
The Canterbury’s Tales – The Reeve’s Tale
Chaucer’s Life
• Born in 1340s
• Son of London wine merchant, John Chaucer
• By 1357 entered royal service
• Captured in France during 1359-60 campaign
• 1366: Marries Philippa de Roet (lady in waiting to Queen
Phillipa of England)
• In 1368: becomes an esquire of the royal household
• Documented Business trips to Italy in 1372-3, France in
1377-81; Italy again (Lombardy) in 1378, etc
• 1374 Onwards: Customs officer
• 1380: Birth of son, Lewis
• 1385-9: Becomes Justice of the Peace for Kent
• From 1389-91: Clerk of the King’s Works
• Died 25 October 1400
Chaucer’s Writings
1) Early Work (dream poems)
c. 1360s: The Romaunt of the Rose (Translation of
the Roman de la Rose)
c. 1368-9: Book of the Duchess
c. 1378: House of Fame
c. 1380: Parliament of Fowls
2) Epic and Romance
c.1379: Anelida and Arcite
c.1380-1: Palamon and Arcite (aka Knight’s Tale)
c.1386-7: Troilus and Criseyde
3) Philosophy and Astronomy
c.1381-6: Boece (translation of Boethius’ Consolation of
Philosophy)
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller cyannfielding. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $8.51. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
62890 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now