Literature of England and northern France in the 12th century. Primarily the literature in Anglo-Norman. The play Jeu d'Adam and the poetry and music of courtly love.
social pharmacy d-pharm 1st year by Pragati K. Mahajan
7. S2013 Literature & language of the 12th century courtly love
1. Literature and Language
12th Century
Courtly Love
Popular Religion
Revival of the Celtic Hero – King Arthur
2. Literature - Poetry
French influenced – decline of A-S
Didactic (religious) (13th C.)
Romance
Matter of Britain; matter of Troy; Breton lai
Lyric
3. He had castles built
and poor men terribly
oppressed,
The king was very
severe,
and he took from his
underlings many
marks
of gold and hundreds
of pounds of silver.
Rime of King William, 1087
Alliteration from A-S tradition and rhymed couplets from French
tradition
4. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Feature 1121-1131 1132-1154
Nominative pronoun 28% 36%
Nominative noun 28% 7%
Direct object/ Accusative 9% 0
pronoun
Direct object/Accusative 17% 0
noun
Direct object/Dative 10% 23%
pronoun
Word order SV, SVO, SVC, and SVIO
Gender Natural gender
5. Is ðeos burch Known throughout Britain, this noble
breome geond city
Breotenrice,
Its steep slopes and stone buildings
steppa gestaðolad, stanas
ymbutan are thought a wonder; weirs contain
wundrum gewæxen. Weor its fast river; fish of all kinds
ymbeornad,
thrive here in the thrusting waters.
ea yðum stronge,
and ðer inne wunað
feola fisca kyn
on floda gemonge.
Durham (before 1109, considered last traditional A-S
poem)
Lines divided into two parts with alliteration, beats but no
rhyme .
6. Ich was in one sumere dale, I was in a valley in springtime;
in one suþe diȝele hale, in a very secluded corner,
iherde ich holde grete tale I heard an owl and a
nightingale holding a great
an hule and one niȝtingale. debate.
The Owl and the Nightingale, 1189-1216
(debate poem)
7. The Owl and the Nightingale last of 1794
lines
Mid þisse worde forþ hi ferden, With these words they set off,
al bute here & bute uerde, without any kind of army,
to Portesham þat heo bicome. till they came to Portesham;
Ah hu heo spedde of heore but I can't tell you any more
dome, about how they succeeded with
their judgement.
ne [c]an ich eu namore telle:
That's all, folks!
her nis namore of þis spelle.
8. The Lyric
Express emotions
Seasons
Romantic love
“Mirie it is while sumer ilast” and “Sumer is icumen in”
(early 13th C.)
Religious
Sorrows and joys of Christ and Mary
Apply language of love poetry to religious setting
Often set to music
9. Creators and performers
Trobador (obj.), trobaire(nom.) Occitan from trobar, to
compose (a poem)
Trouvère French
Jongleur (French) (joglar) Performer (of music, juggling,
etc.)
Minstrel “Originally (to the end of the 16th cent.): a
person employed by a patron to provide entertainment by
singing, playing music, storytelling, juggling, etc.” [OED]
13. D'amors qui m'a tolu a moi, - Chrétien De
Troyes
D'Amors qui m'a tolu a moi Of Love, who has taken me
from myself
2 N'a soi ne me veut retenir, and who wishes not to retain
Me plaing ensi, qu'ades otroi me,
I lament in this way:
4 Que de moi face son plesir. I grant that from now on
she should do with me as she
pleases.
14. D'amors qui m'a tolu a moi, - Chrétien
De Troyes
Yet I cannot keep myself
Et si ne me repuis tenir
from complaining, and I'll tell
6 Que ne m'en plaigne, et di you why:
because I often see those who
por quoi: betray her
Car ceus qui la traissent voi achieve their end,
8 Souvent a lor joie venir, and I fail because of my good
faith.
Et g'i fail par ma bone foi.
15. Early English music
Rota (round) 13th century
Votive antiphon
Texts honoring Virgin Mary but not part of Church service 14th
C.
Carols 14th C.
Connected with religious festivals
Mystery plays
Processions
Circle dances
16. Adapted from a translation by Richard Axton and John
Stevens Longman Anthology of World Literature
Volume B The Medieval Era, Pearson/Longman
2009
17. Cast – Class members
Chorus/Figura (God) –
Adam –
Eve –
Satan (Diabolus) –
20. Content
Order for the Representation of Adam ( Ordo
representacionis Ade )
Single manuscript; near contemporary translations
Chant from Septuagesima
Dramatization for a lay audience
A good French farmer or burgher, his headstrong wife,
domineering lord or bishop and good-for-nothing
courtier
Forerunner of mystery cycles
22. Structure
Props and costumes
Adam and Eve
Abel and Cain
Procession of Prophets
Notes de l'éditeur
Alliteration plus rhyme
Scholars now generally believe that this manuscript, known as "E," was written by one scribe at one stretchup to 1121; they believe the scribe then added, at intervals, annals 1122-1131 (the First Continuation). Later, either early in 1155 or not later than 1160, the section dealing with events from 1132 to 1154 (theFinal Continuation) appears to have been added by another scrilb
in springtime: the ME (C) has in one sumere dale. I have followed Stanley (1960), who takes the adj. as a form of sumer rather than of sum '(a) certain'; but the translation should probably be 'spring' rather than 'summer' , as the flowering branch on which the Nightingale sits suggests (ME sumer could cover a period beginning earlier than MnE 'summer'). Wessex Parallel WebTextsSouthhampton U
THE LYRICThe lyric was virtually unknown to Old English poets. Poems such as “Deor” and “Wulf and Eadwacer,” which have been called lyrics, are thematically different from those that began to circulate orally in the 12th century and to be written down in great numbers in the 13th; these Old English poems also have a stronger narrative component than the later productions. The most frequent topics in the Middle English secular lyric are springtime and romantic love; many rework such themes tediously, but some, such as “Foweles in the frith” (13th century) and “Ich am of Irlaunde” (14th century), convey strong emotions in a few lines. Two lyrics of the early 13th century, “Mirie it is while sumerilast” and “Sumer is icumen in,” are preserved with musical settings, and probably most of the others were meant to be sung. The dominant mood of the religious lyrics is passionate: the poets sorrow for Christ on the cross and for the Virgin Mary, celebrate the “five joys” of Mary, and import language from love poetry to express religious devotion. Excellent early examples are “Nougothsonne under wod” and “Stondwel, moder, ounder rode.” Many of the lyrics are preserved in manuscript anthologies, of which the best is British Library manuscript Harley 2253 from the early 14th century. In this collection, known as the Harley Lyrics, the love poems, such as “Alysoun” and “Blow, Northern Wind,” take after the poems of the Provençal troubadours but are less formal, less abstract, and more lively. The religious lyrics also are of high quality; but the most remarkable of the Harley Lyrics, “The Man in the Moon,” far from being about love or religion, imagines the man in the Moon as a simple peasant, sympathizes with his hard life, and offers him some useful advice on how to best the village hayward (a local officer in charge of a town’s common herd of cattle).A poem such as “The Man in the Moon” serves as a reminder that, although the poetry of the early Middle English period was increasingly influenced by the Anglo-Norman literature produced for the courts, it is seldom “courtly.” Most English poets, whether writing about kings or peasants, looked at life from a bourgeois perspective. If their work sometimes lacks sophistication, it nevertheless has a vitality that comes from preoccupation with daily affairs
Les chançons le roi de Navarre [Thibaut, comte de Champagne
Septuagesima (in full, Septuagesima Sunday) is the name for the ninth Sunday before Easter, the third before Ash Wednesday. The new liturgical books created after the Second Vatican Council omit Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays. The traditional liturgical books, such as the Missal of John XXIII and the Roman Breviary, however, continue to include the Septuagesima season.
