''Pearl'' () is a late 14th-century
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...
poem
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
that is considered one of the most important surviving Middle English works. With elements of medieval
allegory
As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...
and from the
dream vision
A dream vision or ''visio'' is a literary device in which a dream or vision is recounted as having revealed knowledge or a truth that is not available to the dreamer or visionary in a normal waking state. While dreams occur frequently throughout ...
genre
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
, the poem is written in a North-West Midlands variety of Middle English and is highly—though not consistently—
alliterative
Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a List of narrative techniques#Style, litera ...
; there is, among other stylistic features, a complex system of
stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...
-linking.
A father, mourning the loss of his (pearl), falls asleep in a garden; in his dream, he encounters the 'Pearl-maiden'—a beautiful and heavenly woman—standing across a stream in a strange landscape. In response to his questioning and attempts to obtain her, she answers with
Christian doctrine
Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...
. Eventually she shows him an image of the
Heavenly City, and herself as part of the retinue of
Christ the Lamb. However, when the Dreamer attempts to cross the stream, he awakens suddenly from his dream and reflects on its significance.
The poem survives in a single manuscript (London, British Library MS
Cotton MS Nero A X), which includes two other religious
narrative poems
Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need to rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may ...
: ''
Patience
or forbearance, is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances. Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect ...
'', and ''
Cleanness'', and the
romance ''
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English alliterative verse. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot comb ...
''. All are thought to be by the same author, dubbed the "Pearl Poet" or "
Gawain Poet", on the evidence of stylistic and thematic similarities. The first complete publication of ''Pearl'', ''Patience'' and ''Cleanness'' was in ''Early English Alliterative Poems in the West Midland Dialect of the fourteenth century'', printed by the
Early English Text Society
The Early English Text Society (EETS) is a text publication society founded in 1864 which is dedicated to the editing and publication of early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes contain editions of ...
in 1864.
Author
Though the real name of the "Gawain Poet" (or poets) is unknown, some inferences about them can be drawn from an informed reading of their works. The original manuscript is known in academic circles as ''Cotton Nero A.x'', following a naming system used by one of its owners,
Robert Cotton, a collector of medieval English texts.
Before the manuscript came into Cotton's possession, it was in the library of
Henry Savile Henry Savile may refer to:
*Henry Savile (died 1558) (1498–1558), MP for Yorkshire
*Henry Savile (died 1569) (1518–1569), MP for Yorkshire and Grantham
*Henry Savile (Bible translator) (1549–1622), English scholar and Member of the Parliament ...
of Bank in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
. Little is known about its previous ownership, and until 1824, when the manuscript was introduced to the academic community in a second edition of
Thomas Warton's ''
History
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
'' edited by
Richard Price
Richard Price (23 February 1723 – 19 April 1791) was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer and pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the F ...
, it was almost entirely unknown. Now held in the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
, it has been dated to the late 14th century, so the poet was a contemporary of
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
, author of ''
The Canterbury Tales
''The Canterbury Tales'' () is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. The book presents the tales, which are mostly written in verse, as part of a fictional storytelling contest held ...
''; however, it is highly unlikely that the two ever met. The three other works found in the same manuscript as ''Pearl'' (commonly known as ''
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English alliterative verse. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot comb ...
'', ''
Patience
or forbearance, is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances. Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect ...
'', and ''
Cleanness'' or ''Purity'') are often considered to be written by the same author. However, the manuscript containing these poems was transcribed by a copyist and not by the original poet. Although nothing explicitly suggests that all four poems are by the same poet, comparative analysis of dialect, verse form, and diction have pointed towards common authorship.
[Nelles, William. "The Pearl-Poet". ''Cyclopedia of World Authors'', fourth revised edition, Database: MagillOnLiterature Plus, 1958.]
What is known today about the poet is general. As
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
and
E. V. Gordon, after reviewing the text's allusions, style, and themes, concluded in 1925:
The poet is understood to have lived in the
North Shropshire
North Shropshire was a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Shropshire, England from 1974 to 2009. The district council was based at Edinburgh House in Wem. Other settlements included the towns of Ellesmere, Shropshire, Elles ...
/
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
/
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
dialect region.
Some scholars believe that the Gawain Poet was also the author of the poem ''
St. Erkenwald'', which bears stylistic similarities to ''Gawain''.
The most commonly suggested candidate for authorship is
John Massey of Cotton, Cheshire, though he has been dated by some scholars to a time outside the Gawain poet's era.
Thus, ascribing authorship to John Massey is still controversial and a number of critics are not confident to go beyond saying the Gawain poet cannot yet be confidently identified beyond the region he came from.
Genre and poetics
Since the time of the poem's first publication in the late 19th century, a great deal of critical discussion has taken place on the question of to which genre the poem belongs. Early editors, such as Morris, Gollancz and Osgood, took for granted that the poem was an elegy for the poet's lost daughter (presumed to have been named Margaret, i.e. 'pearl'); several scholars however, including
W. H. Schofield,
R. M. Garrett, and W. K. Greene were quick to point out the flaws in this assumption and sought to establish a definitive allegorical reading of the poem. There is no doubt that the poem has elements of medieval
allegory
As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...
and
dream vision
A dream vision or ''visio'' is a literary device in which a dream or vision is recounted as having revealed knowledge or a truth that is not available to the dreamer or visionary in a normal waking state. While dreams occur frequently throughout ...
(as well as the slightly more esoteric genre of the verse
lapidary
Lapidary () is the practice of shaping rock (geology), stone, minerals, or gemstones into decorative items such as cabochons, engraved gems (including cameo (carving), cameos), and faceted designs. A person who practices lapidary techniques of ...
), but all attempts to reduce the poem's complex symbolism to a single interpretation have fallen flat. More recent criticism has pointed to the subtle, shifting symbolism of the pearl as one of the poem's chief virtues, recognizing that there is no inherent contradiction between the poem's elegiac and its allegorical aspects, and that the sophisticated allegorical significance of the Pearl Maiden is not unusual but in fact has several quite well-known parallels in medieval literature, the most celebrated being probably
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
's
Beatrice.
Besides the symbolic, on a sheer formal level, Pearl is almost astounding in its complexity, and is recognized to be, in the words of one prominent scholar, "the most highly wrought and intricately constructed poem in Middle English" (Bishop 27). It is 1212 lines long, and has 101
stanzas
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...
of 12 lines, each with the
rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.
An example of the ABAB rh ...
ABABABABBCBC. Stanzas are grouped in sections of five (except for XV, which has six), and each section is marked by a capital letter in the manuscript; within each section, the stanzas are tied together by the repetition of a key "link"-word in the last line of each section, which is then echoed in the first line of the following section. The oft-praised "roundness" of the poem is thus emphasized, and the final link-word is repeated in the first line of the whole, forging a connection between the two ends of the poem and producing a structure that is itself circular.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " Pe ...
is used frequently, but not consistently, throughout the poem, and there are several other sophisticated poetic devices.
Structure and content
The poem may be divided into three parts: an introduction (or "Prologue"), a dialogue between the two main characters in which the Pearl instructs the narrator, and a description of the
New Jerusalem
In the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible, New Jerusalem (, ''YHWH šāmmā'', YHWH sthere") is Ezekiel's prophetic vision of a city centered on the rebuilt Holy Temple, to be established in Jerusalem, which would be the capital of the ...
with the narrator's awakening.
Prologue
Sections I–IV (stanzas 1–20)
The narrator, distraught at the loss of his Pearl, falls asleep in an "erber grene" – a green garden – and begins to dream. In his dream he is transported to an other-worldly garden; the divine is thus set in opposition to the terrestrial, a persistent thematic concern within the poem. Wandering by the side of a beautiful stream, he becomes convinced paradise is on the other shore. As he looks for a crossing, he sees a young maid whom he identifies as his Pearl. She welcomes him.
Dialogue
Sections V–VII (stanzas 21–35)
When he asks whether she is the pearl he has lost, she tells him he has lost nothing, that his pearl is merely a rose which has naturally withered. He wants to cross to her side, but she says it is not so easy, that he must resign himself to the will and mercy of God. He asks about her state. She tells him that the Lamb has taken her as His queen.
Sections VIII–XI (stanzas 36–60)
He wonders whether she has replaced Mary as Queen of Heaven. He also objects that she was too young to merit such an exalted position through her works. She responds that no one envies Mary's position as Queen of courtesy, but that all are members of the body of Christ. Adopting a
homiletic discourse, she recounts as proof the
Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. He objects to the idea that God rewards every man equally, regardless of his apparent due. She responds that God gives the same gift of Christ's redemption to all.
Sections XII–XV (stanzas 61–81)
She instructs him on several aspects of sin, repentance, grace and salvation. She describes the earthly and the heavenly Jerusalem, citing the Apostle John and focusing on Christ's past sacrifice and present glory. She wears the
Pearl of Great Price because she has been washed in the blood of the Lamb and advises him to forsake all and buy this pearl.
Epilogue
Sections XVI–XX (stanzas 82–101)
He asks about the heavenly Jerusalem; she tells him it is the city of God. He asks to go there; she says that God forbids that, but he may see it by a special dispensation. They walk upstream, and he sees the city across the stream, which is described in a paraphrase of the
Apocalypse
Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...
. He also sees a procession of the blessed. Plunging into the river in his desperation to cross, he awakes from the dream back in the "erber" and resolves to fulfill the will of God.
Afterlife
Death and transience are major themes in the poem; outside of the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard which we are presented in stanzas 42–60 we see notable reference to another biblical passage Matthew's Sermon on the Mount, in which he states "Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth where they moth and rust destroy ... but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys" (Matthew 6:19–21). This lesson becomes vital to the speakers understanding of death: we see him at the opening of the text tormented by images of death and decay in relation to his daughter who we are told "lyfed not two yer". The text repeatedly highlights the faults in her father's materialistic views, as the maiden never refers to him by name but simply as "jeweller", and a distinctly poor one at that, appearing unable to realise the girl's true heavenly wealth; while her purity and innocence are displayed through several features—her white clothing, radiance, and pale complexion (all of which could also be considered as traits of a pearl). The apparition then rejoicingly informs the man that she now stands at the side of Christ as one of the 144 thousand brides of the lamb, residing in New Jerusalem as a Queen.
The text's structure of 1212 lines is reflective of this heavenly city, which is said in the Book of Revelation to be twelve thousand by twelve thousand furlongs and containing twelve gates for the twelve tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:12–17). But its poetic symmetry seems to be offset with the addition of an extra stanza bringing its total to 101, several scholars have suggested it to be reflective of the Pearl's encasement while others such as literary critic Sarah Stanbury believe it "suggests new beginnings after return". Towards the close of the poem, we are given a hallucinatory description of the spiritual bliss which awaits the virtuous within this golden citadel situated on a hill of precious stones. We will begin to see a slow and gradual break down in our protagonist's urbanity as he struggles to grasp the conventions of this realm, the dreamer's perceived ownership of the maiden "my Pearl", is an attitude derived from the social norms of the period as "the woman has no life outside the home, but simply moves, plotlessly, from daughterhood to wifehood". A process which death has interrupted for the Pearl and the Jeweller, but still, he assumes a patriarchal role and wrongly surmises that he may remain in this paradise devoid of her permission. However, the reversal in social status enables the divinely proclaimed Queen to ethically educate the dreamer during her assault on his morality, yet it seems to little avail. In the final stanzas of the poem, we witness the jeweller defiantly attempt to leap the brook which separates the living from this Edenic paradise, only for him to awaken once more upon the burial mound.
Editions
*Richard Morris, ed. "Early English Alliterative Poems", EETS o.S. 1 (1864; revision 1869; reprint 1965).
*
Sir Israel Gollancz, ed. and trans. "Pearl", (London 1891; revision 1897; 2nd edition with
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...
's ''Olympia'', 1921)
*Charles C. Osgood, ed. "The Pearl" (Boston and London, 1906)
*
Sophie Jewett, trans. ''The Pearl''. A Middle English Poem: A Modern Version in the Metre of the Original (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1908)
*"Pearl, Cleanness, Patience and Sir Gawain, reproduced in facsimile from the unique MS. Cotton Nero A.x. in the British Museum", introduction by
Sir Israel Gollancz, EETS OS 162 (London, 1923)
*
E. V. Gordon, ed. "Pearl" (Oxford, 1953).
*Sister Mary V. Hillmann, ed. and trans., "The Pearl" (New York, 1961; 2nd edition., introduction by Edward Vasta, 1967)
*
Charles Moorman, ed. "The Works of the 'Gawain'-Poet", (Jackson, Mississippi, 1977)
*A. C. Cawley and J. J. Anderson, ed., "Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (London, 1978)
*William Vantuono, ed. ''The Pearl poems: an omnibus edition'' (New York: Garland Pub., 1984) (v. 1) (v. 2) Text in both Middle English and Modern English
*Malcolm Andrew,
Ronald Waldron and Clifford Peterson, ed. ''The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript'' (Berkeley: University of California Press. Fourth ed. 2002) .
*Malcolm Andrew,
Ronald Waldron, ed. ''The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript: Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, rev. 5th edn., 2007) with a prose translation on CD-ROM. .
Translations
Modern English
*Brian Stone, "Medieval English Verse" (Harmondsworth, 1964)
ontains "Patience" and "Pearl"*
John Gardner, "The Complete Works of the Gawain Poet" (Chicago, London and Amsterdam, 1965)
*Margaret Williams, "The Pearl-Poet: His Complete Works" (New York, 1967)
*
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
, Trans. ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo''. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1975; repr. 1988) .
*
Marie Borroff, Trans. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Patience; Pearl: verse translations". (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1967; repr. 1977, 2001)
*Casey Finch, "The Complete Works of the Gawain Poet" (Berkeley, Los Angeles and Oxford, 1993)
ontains a parallel text with an earlier edition of the Andrew, Waldron and Peterson edition, above*
Simon Armitage, ''Pearl'' (London,
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...
, 2016) .
*William G Stanton, "A Translation in Verse Of The Middle English Poem Pearl" (Sheffield, Writers Tutorial Publications,2024) .
Other languages
*
Adaptations
''Pearl'' is the source of
Thomas Eccleshare's 2013 play ''Perle'', a solo performance staged in the
Soho Theatre.
The
Mediaeval Baebes set a passage from Part III to music, recording "Pearl" on their 1998 album ''
Worldes Blysse''.
See also
*
Allegory in the Middle Ages
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughout ...
References
Further reading
Commentary and criticism
*
*Jane Beal, "The Signifying Power of Pearl", Quidditas 33 (2012), 27–58. See: http://humanities.byu.edu/rmmra/pdfs/33.pdf
*Ian Bishop, "Pearl in its Setting: A Critical Study of the Structure and Meaning of the Middle English Poem" (Oxford, 1968)
*Robert J. Blanch, ed. "'SG' and 'Pearl': Critical Essays" (Bloomington, Indiana and London, 1966)
eprinted essays*George Doherty Bond, ''The Pearl poem: an introduction and interpretation.'' (Lewiston, N.Y., USA: E. Mellen Press, 1991)
*Robert J. Blanch, "The Gawain poems: A reference guide 1978–1993" (Albany, 2000)
*John M. Bowers, "The Politics of 'Pearl': Court Poetry in the Age of Richard II" (Cambridge, 2001)
*John Conley, ed., "The Middle English 'Pearl': Critical Essays" (Notre Dame and London, 1970)
eprinted essays*J. A. Jackson, "The Infinite Desire of ''Pearl,'' in ''Levinas and Medieval Literature: The "Difficult Reading" of English and Rabbinic Texts'', ed.
Ann W. Astell and J. A. Jackson (Pittsburgh: Duquesne UP, 2009), 157–84.
*P. M. Kean, "The Pearl: An Interpretation" (London, 1967)
*Kottler, Barnet, and Alan M. Markman, "A Concordance to Five Middle English Poems: Cleanness, St Erkenwald, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, Pearl" (Pittsburg, 1966)
*
Charles Muscatine, "The 'Pearl' Poet: Style as Defense", in "Poetry and Crisis in the Age of Chaucer" (Notre Dame and London, 1972), 37–69
*Paul Piehler, "Pearl", in "The Visionary Landscape: A Study in Medieval Allegory" (London, 1971)
*
D. W. Robertson, "The Pearl as a Symbol", "MLN", 65 (1950), 155–61; reprinted in Conley, 1970
*
René Wellek
René Wellek (August 22, 1903 – November 10, 1995) was a Czech- American comparative literary critic. Like Erich Auerbach, Wellek was a product of the Central European philological tradition and was known as a "fair-minded critic of crit ...
, "'The Pearl', Studies in English by Members of the English Seminar of the Charles University, Prague" 4 (1933), 5–33; reprinted in Blanch, 1966
External links
Cotton Nero A.x. Project led by Murray McGillivray.
Medieval Pearlby Jane Beal, PhD - with pages about the Pearl-poet, manuscript illustrations, editions and translations (with links to these), bibliographies of literary criticism, teaching, recordings, and the Pearl-Poet Society as well as blog posts about significant new publications on "Pearl" since 2015
Medieval English Narrator – The Pearl text & audio onlineDr. Anthony Colaianne, Chris Baugh – listen to recorded excerpts of Medieval English literature with text alongside for translation help.
William Graham Stanton – contains original text, literal translation, and poetic translation.
*
{{Authority control
14th-century poems
Christian poetry
Cotton Library
Middle English poems
Pearls in religion
Visionary poems
Works of unknown authorship
Poetry by Simon Armitage