|
''Pearl'' (Middle English: ''Perle'') is a late 14th-century Middle English poem by an unknown author. With elements of medieval allegory and dream vision genre, the poem is written in a North-West Midlands variety of Middle English and highly—though not consistently—alliterative; there is a complex system of stanza linking and other stylistic features. A father, mourning the loss of his "perle ()", 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. Eventually she shows him an image of the Heavenly City, and herself as part of the retinue of Christ the Lamb. 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, the ''Cotton Nero A.x'', which includes two other religious narrative poems: ''Patience'', and ''Cleanness'', and the romance ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''. All are thought to be by the same author, dubbed the "Pearl poet" or "Gawain poet", on the evidence of stylistic and thematic similarities. ==Author== (詳細はRobert Cotton, a collector of Medieval English texts.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Univ. of Calgary )〕 Before the manuscript came into Cotton's possession, it was in the library of Henry Savile of Bank in Yorkshire. 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'' edited by Richard Price, it was almost entirely unknown.〔Turville-Petre, Thorlac. The Alliterative Revival. Woodbridge: Brewer etc., 1977. pp. 126–129. ISBN 0-85991-019-9〕〔Burrow, J. ''Ricardian Poetry.'' London: Routledge and K. Paul, 1971. ISBN 0-7100-7031-4 pp. 4–5〕 Now held in the British Library, it has been dated to the late 14th century, so the poet was a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, author of ''The Canterbury Tales'', though it is highly unlikely that they ever met.〔"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". ''The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Medieval Period'', Vol. 1., ed. Joseph Black, ''et al.'' Toronto: Broadview Press, Introduction, p. 235. ISBN 1-55111-609-X〕 The three other works found in the same manuscript as ''Pearl'' (commonly known as ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'', ''Patience'', 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 single-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 largely general. As J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, after reviewing the text's allusions, style, and themes, concluded in 1925: The most commonly suggested candidate for authorship is John Massey of Cotton, Cheshire.〔Peterson, Clifford J. "The Pearl-Poet and John Massey of Cotton, Cheshire". ''The Review of English Studies, New Series''. (1974) 25.99 pp. 257–266.〕 He is known to have lived in the dialect region of the Pearl Poet and is thought to have written the poem ''St. Erkenwald'', which some scholars argue bears stylistic similarities to ''Gawain''. ''St. Erkenwald'', however, 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 most critics consider the Gawain poet an unknown.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pearl (poem)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|