|
''Sir Isumbras'' is a medieval metrical romance written in Middle English and found in no fewer than nine manuscripts dating to the fifteenth century.〔Hudson, Harriet. 1996. Four Middle English Romances. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications.〕 This popular romance must have been circulating in England before 1320, because William of Nassington, in his work ''Speculum Vitae'', which dates from this time, mentions feats of arms and other 'vanities', such as those found in stories of ''Sir Guy of Warwick'', ''Bevis of Hampton'', ''Octavian'' and ''Sir Isumbras''.〔Hudson, Harriet. 1996.〕〔Hanna, Ralph. 2008. Speculum Vitae: A Reading Edition. Oxford University Press for the Early English Text Society. Volume 1: lines 35 to 40.〕 Unlike the other three stories, the Middle English ''Sir Isumbras'' is not a translation of an Old French original. Sir Isumbras is a proud knight who is offered the choice of happiness in his youth or his old age.〔Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p7 New York Burt Franklin,1963〕 He chooses the latter, and falls from his high estate by the will of Providence. He is severely stricken; his possessions, his children and, lastly, his wife, are taken away; and he himself becomes a wanderer. After much privation he trains as a blacksmith, learning to forge anew his armour, and he rides into battle against a sultan. Later, he arrives at the court of the sultan's queen, who proves to be his long-lost wife. He attempts to Christianise the Islamic lands over which he now rules, provoking a rebellion which is then defeated when his children miraculously return to turn the tide of battle. ==A popular tail-rhyme romance== ''Sir Isumbras'' is a relatively short Middle English romance, less than eight hundred lines in length, in twelve-line tail-rhyme stanzas. This the form of romance is parodied by Geoffrey Chaucer in his Canterbury Tale of ''Sir Thopas''. Tail-rhyme verse, however, was very popular in late-medieval English for recording tales of adventure and romance,〔Mills, Maldwyn. 1973, reissued 1992. ''Six Middle English Romances''. J M Dent and Sons Limited, Everyman's Library.〕 and used in many Middle English romances, such as ''Emaré'',〔Laskaya, Anne and Salisbury, Eve. 1995. ''The Middle English Breton Lays.'' Kalamazoo, Michigan: Western Michigan University for TEAMS.〕 ''Sir Amadace'',〔Mills, Maldwyn. 1973, reissued 1992.〕 ''Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle'',〔Hahn, Thomas (Ed). 1995. ''Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and tales.'' Kalamazoo, Michigan: Western Michigan University for TEAMS.〕 ''Ipomadon''〔Purdie, Rhiannon. 2001. ''Ipomadon''. Oxford University Press for the Early English Text Society.〕 and ''Sir Gowther''.〔 A typical verse begins with a group of three lines, such as this one describing the scene as Sir Isumbras arrives at his burnt-out manor, during his long slide into penuary and loss: :”A doleful syghte thenne ganne he se, :His wife and his chylderen thre :Owte of the fyre were fled.”〔Hudson, Harriet. 1996, lines 97 to 99.〕 These lines are then expanded into a single stanza by stacking four similar triplets together, to rhyme ''aabccbddbeeb''. 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「Sir Isumbras」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|