1
Perle. The pearl is
the text’s central object and symbol. Pearls were luxury items, widely used to decorate
expensive clothing and precious objects: the Breviaire de
Belleville that Richard II received in 1396 as a gift from Philip the Bold had a
cover studded with pearls, as described by Jeanne Krochalis, “The Books and Reading of
Henry V and His Circle,” Chaucer Review 23 (1988), 59–60. The
immense popularity of pearls as decorative items in the fourteenth century is attested by
the inventory of Alice Perrers, mistress of Edward III, when her goods were seized in
1379, listing 21,800 pearls and 30 ounces of seed pearls (Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer; Being a Collection of
Payments Made out of His Majesty’s Revenue, from King Henry III
to King Henry VI Inclusive. With an Appendix. Extracted and
Translated from the Original Rolls of the Ancient Pell Office,
Now Remaining in the Custody of the Right Honourable Sir John
Newport, Bart. Comptroller-General of His Majesty’s
Exchequer. Vol. 2 [London: J. Murray, 1837], pp. 209–10; cited in Donkin, p. 268).
The most valuable pearls were imported from the far east (“Oute of Oryent,” line 3) via
the Mediterranean. The analogy between the pearl of price and the kingdom of heaven,
explicated in lines 732–35, derives from the parable in Matthew 13:45–46, and was a
popular allegorical theme for medieval theologians. Pearls were also conventionally
equated with the pure soul and virginity, as described in the etymology opening the legend
of St. Margaret in the immensely popular Golden Legend by Jacobus
de Voragine, and with the Virgin Mary, the star of the sea (stella
maris). For gems in late fourteenth-century court culture, see Riddy, in Brewer and
Gibson; Barr; and Bowers, “Pearl in Its Royal Setting”; and for
pearls, see Donkin, “Pearls in the Medieval World,” pp. 250–75; Lightbown, pp. 30–31; and
R. Allen Shoaf’s edition of Usk’s The Testament of Love (Kalamazoo,
MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1998), pp. 8–10, with frontispiece reproductions of
the Virgin Mary and babe, the pearl as both star of the sea, and a pearl oyster in the
sea, from MS Bodley 602, fol. 34. In The Apocryphal New Testament, ed. M. R. James (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953), pp.
209–16, Mary at the moment of her Assumption is compared to a pearl: “Then the Saviour
spoke [to Mary], saying: ‘Come, thou most precious pearl, enter into the treasury
(receptacle) of eternal life.’”back to note source
paye. Used as a verb
paye means both “to please” and “to pay.” Paye, with its suggestions of both worldly commerce and also spiritual rewards, is
the link-word of the final stanza group and the last word of the poem.back to note source
2
To clanly clos.
Unpunctuated, as is the whole manuscript, this line has been variously interpreted: “too
chastely set in gold” (G), “for a splendid setting” (V), or “to set radiantly in gold so
clear,” as other editors, myself included, have read the line. Clanly is also used in Middle English in the sense of “cleanly,”
“chastely.”back to note source
3
4
Ne . . . never.
Double negatives are equivalent to single negatives. “I never found her precious peer
(equal in value).”back to note source
5
araye. Pertains to
forms of display or ordering and can range in meaning from the concrete to the
abstract.back to note source
6
sydes. The term
appears elsewhere in the poem to denote a feature of landscape, as in hill side (line 73)
or the side of a river (line 975), but in Middle English syde is
often anatomical and a standard of courtly rhetoric for denoting a woman’s figure or
clothing; see sydes as features of the Pearl-maiden’s garment, lines 198 and 218. The use of the term in the opening stanza
foreshadows the metonomy that will link pearl with maiden. For discussions of gender and
embodiment in Pearl, see Bullon-Fernandez; Cox; and Stanbury,
“Feminist Masterplots” and “The Body and the City.”back to note source
9
erbere. The MED gives as its first definition for herber a
“pleasure garden,” which is borne out here by the description of spice plants and flowers.
See Luttrell.back to note source
10
hit. Gor explains
that conventions in Middle English for indicating gender were, to an extent,
case-dependent. Whereas “poetic license” might allow interchange between masculine and
feminine pronouns when a word is used as a direct object or object of a preposition, in
subject position a pronoun signals a clear mark of gender C or its absence. Hence the uses
of the feminine “hyr” as direct agent in lines 4, 6, 8, and 9, but the neuter hit as subject of the verb in line 10. As both Gor and AW note, the
uses of “hyr” hint at the pearl’s feminine apotheosis, even as the neuter hit returns us to the gemstone.back to note source
yot. I follow H and
AW in reading yot as derived from yette, “to
pour, tumble”; see OED
yet. Other editors have read the unusual yot
as a variant spelling of yode, past tense of the verb gon, “to go.” “Tumble,” coupled with the subsequent “sprange” in line
13, suggests the pearl’s vivacity and even agency.back to note source
11
luf-daungere.
Apparently a unique compound in Middle English, luf-daungere is a
term from courtly love and evokes desire for the unattainable as well as feudal service to
the lady, from OF daungere, “feudal power,” as AW note. Compare
Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, where Alisoun says her fifth husband “was of his
love daungerous to me” (CT III[D]514). In Le
Roman de la Rose Dangiers signifies the lady’s refusal; see lines 2831–32.back to note source
12
spot. The link-word
of the first stanza group, spot conveys the double senses of
blemish and place that remain in contemporary usage. For link-words see Macrae-Gibson and
Tomasch.back to note source
17
19
swete a sange. The
orchestration of sound into song is a central component of the narrator’s vision of the
landscape and of the New Jerusalem, as in lines 91–94, 877–88, and 1123–28. As Gor notes,
the song is also the lyric and text of Pearl itself.back to note source
23
juele. G emends to
mele, i.e., a “merry theme,” yoking song and pearl. Subsequent
editors have not followed suit. Riddy, in Brewer and Gibson, p. 147, notes that Middle
English juele means not only a gemstone but also a precious art
object. See also Barr.back to note source
28
schyne. MS: schyneȝ. I follow AW who emend to schyne to
correct for grammatical agreement. Schyne and “sprede” (line 25)
both depend on “mot nedes” (line 25) a reading consistent with the stanza’s picture of
natural conditionality: that spot must be overgrown with spice plants; flowers must shine.
This stanza imagines the cycle of decay and regeneration in the “erber”; the fourth stanza
will then move to direct experience when the narrator recounts his entrance into the
garden. Note the uses of the conditional and the convoluted negatives that mark this
stanza’s exposition of regeneration.back to note source
29
fede. Most editors
read as “faded” from OF fade, with the vowel a modified to e by poet or scribe for rhyme. My reading
accords with G, who translates as “rotted” or “decayed” from the ON feyja, a reading supported by the MED as well as the
stanza’s display of rot and regeneration as a causal cycle.back to note source
31–32
This proverbial phrase is based on I
Corinthians 15:34–38 and John 12:24, as Gor notes.back to note source
39
hygh seysoun. In
medieval texts dates are customarily identified by the event celebrated in the religious
calendar, rather than by the lunar calendar as in modern practice. Here the high season
may refer to the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin on August 15; the Feast of the
Transfiguration of Christ on August 8; or Lammastide, on August 1, a harvest festival in
which bread made from the first harvested grain was offered in the churches; see Christina
Hole, English Traditional Customs (London:
Batsford, 1975), p. 89. The following line defining hygh seysoun
through the actions of the harvest supports Lammastide, as G first argued.back to note source
44
powdered. To
powder or to scatter also suggests decorative illustration, often in heraldry as in OED
powder, v.1, sense 4, “to ornament with spots or small devices
scattered over the surface,” as V notes. Terms describing the landscape in the language of
manuscript illumination also appear in lines 77–78, 106.back to note source
43–44
All the flowers named are highly
aromatic and had uses as spices in the Middle Ages, adding to the picture of the “erber”
as a pleasure garden. See Stern; as G first noted, the list of plants is reminiscent of
the spice garden in Le Roman de la Rose; compare Chaucer’s
translation, lines 1367–72. In the Romaunt, the spices are
after-dinner condiments: “And many a spice delitable / To eten whan men rise fro table”
(lines 1371–72).back to note source
45
hit. I.e., the
“spot” (line 37), “erber” (line 38), and “huyle” (line 41) where the pearl was
lost.back to note source
47
59
slepyng-slaghte.
Slaghte is derived from OE slæht, meaning
slaughter or a violent stroke, and normally means a sudden blow in Middle English; see AW
and Gor.back to note source
61
in space. AW, Gor,
and H read in space as “in a space of time.” I accord with other
editors in favoring reading space as location, though both meanings
may well apply.back to note source
62
sweven. Dreams are
conventional points of departure for many philosophical or political verse narratives
(dream visions) in the Middle Ages. Although truth of dreams was much debated, majority
opinion appears to have taken seriously their prophetic and revelatory potential. See
Lynch, pp. 1–46, but also pp. 163, 193; and Nolan, pp. 156–204. Chaucer gives a vivid
replay of the debate in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale.back to note source
71
webbes. Throughout
the text the poet frequently makes analogies between natural forms and works of art or
craft (here textiles); see for instance lines 76, 77, 114, and note to line 44.back to note source
91
sytole-stryng. The
citole was a plucked instrument similar to the lute, and a precursor to the
cittern.back to note source
95
105
reveres. Although
reveres usually means “rivers” in alliterative poetry, the word
can also mean “meadows along a streambank,” a sense more in keeping with the logic of the
dreamer’s movement toward a body of water, as Gor notes. H and V gloss as “rivers.”back to note source
113
stepe. As Gor
notes, stepe is often used in Middle English to refer to eyes
“staring” or “glaring,” though it is also used to convey the sense of “brilliant.”
“Staring” evokes the action of visual rays that is also suggested in “stremande” (line
115) and “[s]taren” (line 116). The passage as a whole animates place with extromissive
powers of vision, even as the people sleep. For vision in medieval aesthetics, see Michael
Camille, Gothic Art: Visions and Revelations in the Medieval World (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1996), pp.16–25; Norman
Klassen, Chaucer on Love, Knowledge and Sight (Cambridge: D. S.
Brewer, 1995), pp. 53–74; and Stanbury, Seeing the Gawain-Poet, pp. 12–41.back to note source
115
strothe-men. The
term is uncertain. Gor argues that stroth had the meaning of
“marshy land (overgrown with brushwood),” and strothe-men likely
means “men of this world.” Ralph W. V. Elliott, “Some Northern Landscape Features in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” in Iceland and the Mediaeval World: Studies in Honour
of Ian Maxwell, ed. Gabriel Turville-Petre and John S. Martin (Melbourne:
Organising Committee, 1974), pp. 132–43, notes that in Old Icelandic storth carries the sense of a young wood or plantation and hence proposes “country
folk, woodlanders.” Evidently the poet is juxtaposing extremes from the stars on high to
swamp dwellers at the bottom through which distance the wondrous light streams.back to note source
117
pyght. Pyght is frequently used in the poem to describe adornment with
pearls or gems; see lines 192, 205, 217, 229, 240, and 241.back to note source
129
fraynes. A, Gor,
and H translate fraynes as “makes trial” or “puts (men) to the
test.” I accord with G and V in translating as “wishes,” a gloss the MED supports.back to note source
131
her wylle. AW emend to his, believing her to be a scribal error for his, and read
the lines, “the man to whom she sends his desire seeks to have more and more (of it).” As
I read the lines, her wylle conveys the sense of fortune as the
catalyst of the will, which in turn incites desire, “ay more and more” (line 132).back to note source
132
Hyttes. AW gloss
as “seek, wish”; A, G, and Gor gloss as “comes, chances, attains as a result”; H reads as
“is likely.” “Casts” in the sense of “thrusts,” might also be implied. The more that fortune sends is further specified in the next
stanza.back to note source
139–40
Most editors generally accord with
Gor: “I thought the stream was a division made by pools, separating the delights” — i.e.,
the delights on both sides of the water. G emends line 140 to Bytwene
meres by Myrthe made. D. C. Fowler, “On the Meaning of Pearl, 139–40,” MLQ 21 (1960), 27–29, offers the suggestion,
“I thought that the water was a deception / Made by meres among the delights.”back to note source
161
faunt. The MED gives “young child” and “infant” for faunt
(from OF enfaunt), though H translates as “youthful being.”back to note source
165
The comparison is to sheets of gold
leaf, consistent with a pattern of analogy between the sights of the dreamer’s vision and
manuscript illumination.back to note source
172
AW read: “as had been but little wont to
do so before,” as do A and G. I accord with V and H in reading lyttel as a duration of time: “as a short while ago was wont thereto” (H). Gor
notes both readings are possible.back to note source
184
hawk in halle. A
courtly hunting image, consistent with his fears of her escape (“eschaped”) in line
187.back to note source
197
beau biys. MS
shows five minims, or vertical strokes, between a and y. A, AW, and Gor read as beau biys,
“beautiful white linen garment,” after Revelation 19:8, where the bride of the lamb is
arrayed in splendid “byssinum.” As Riddy, in Brewer and Gibson, p. 144, notes, citations
in the MED make it clear that biys is a luxury cloth. G, H, and V
read as beaumys, with be as “around” and mys derived from Latin amice, “cape” or
“surcoat”: hence “mantle or surcoat.”back to note source
199
at my devyse. Editors have read at my devyse as “in
my opinion,” a common expression in Middle English. It is possible the phrase may also
refer to a heraldic emblem or coat of arms, i.e., “after my device,” and hence the
daughter’s dress as a heraldic gown. OED “device,” sense 9, gives
“an emblematic figure or design . . . heraldic bearing.” In line 856 the Pearl-maiden speaks of her pearls as a heraldic crest. Froissart mentions the
dresses of ladies attending the jousts in Smithfield as decorated with the livery of
Richard II. In Confessio Amantis, Gower describes a group of ladies
dressed after the new fashion introduced by Anne of Bohemia, “the new guise of Beme,” as
dressed in clothing embroidered with fanciful devices; see Camden’s
Remains, p. 197, cited in J. R. Planché, History of British
Costume, from the Earliest Period to the Close of the Eighteenth
Century (London: George Bell and Sons, 1874), pp. 178, 179–80. An unmarried
daughter could be represented as bearing the paternal arms. In a miniature in the Luttrell
Psalter, fol. 202v (c. 1325–35), Agnes Sutton and Beatrice Scrope are both represented in
heraldic gowns showing the signs of their husband and father, respectively; see Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England, 1200–1400, ed. Jonathan Alexander and Paul Binski (London: Royal Academy of Arts,
1987), p. 58. See also the fifteenth-century stained-glass portraits in Long Melford
Church, where the dresses of the Clopton women are decorated with both the paternal and
marital coats of arms (Mapping Margery Kempe, http://www.holycross.edu/kempe(Opens in a new tab or window), s.v., Parish and Cathedral). On heraldic badges,
see Lightbown, pp. 196–201.back to note source
201
210
here-leke. MS:
lere leke. I agree with Gor, who reads as
here leke, “her hair enclosed her.” H reads lere leke as “face-radiance, radiance of countenance”; G reads here heke; A, AW, and V read lere-leke as “wimple,” lit. “face-linen.” Since the stanza emphasizes her unbound
hair and lovely complexion, she would have been unlikely to be wearing a wimple. The
description is evocative of late medieval depictions of the virgin martyrs, who rarely
wear face linen and most often have unbound hair. For images, see Karen Winstead, Virgin Martyrs: Legends of Sainthood in Late
Medieval England (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997).back to note source
215
depe colour. A, AW, and Gor translate as “glowing whiteness” (G as
“glowing beauty”), whereas H and V follow A. S. Cook, “Pearl,
212ff,” Modern Philology 6 (1908), 197, who argues that depe colour stands for “wide collar.” “Collar” follows the logic of
the top-to-toe description and makes sense of “porfyl,” “embroidered border,” in line
216.back to note source
233
nerre then aunte
or nece. Nerre can imply either
location or relationship, as in contemporary usage, though the sense here is clearly
filiative.back to note source
235
spyce. G, Gor,
and H emend to spece, “person.” As V notes, emendation is
unnecessary, since e is a normal variant with i (y). Spyce also means “spice
plant,” certainly within the metaphoric register of the poem, especially since in stanzas
2 and 3 the poet describes how the spice plants of the “erber” are fertilized by the decay
of the girl’s body.back to note source
236
wommon lore.
Editors have translated wommon lore as “woman’s way” or “in womanly
fashion.” By far the commonest uses of lore in Middle English
concern teaching, instruction, or doctrine. MED, sense 2a, offers
examples of the possessive; e.g., Chaucer’s “Christes lore” (The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, line 527). Lore as
“counsel” follows logically from her speaking in the preceding line.back to note source
245
aglyghte. A, AW,
Gor, and V translate as “slipped away,” G as “glided,” but I prefer H’s more literal
“glittered away,” in keeping with the kinetic and lapidary imaging of loss throughout the
poem.back to note source
250
254
graye. The eyes
of beautiful women are conventionally described as gray in English courtly love
poetry.back to note source
259
cofer. Usually a
“strong box for storage of valuables,” but also with secondary meaning of “coffin.”back to note source
260
gracios gaye. AW read gracios gay as an adjective
modifying garden: “charmingly fair garden.” Gracios gaye may also
mean “gracious fair one,” as in line 189. The grammatical construction is
ambiguous.back to note source
271
kynde of the
kyste. The maiden speaks enigmatically of roses, chests, and pearls to introduce
ideas of death and transfiguration. Kyste can also suggest a
reliquary.back to note source
274
277
geste. The MED cites this line for geste as “one newly
arrived in a place.” The meaning of gesta, “story, tale,” which
alliterates with juel, may also pertain.back to note source
283
307
westernays. For a
summary of the debate on this term, see V. Westernays does not
appear elsewhere in Middle English, and may be the poet’s neologism from OF bestorner, e.g., “wrongly turned,” as when a church faces west rather
than east.back to note source
312
dem. G emends to
deme. The link word of this stanza group, dem covers a broad range of actions under the general rubric “judge,” from God’s
judgment to human acts of evaluation, consideration, and critique.back to note source
345
daunce as any do.
The image is a hunting metaphor and describes the agonal moment.back to note source
351
mendes. H
translates as “opinions,” taking mendes as a variant for mynde: “Your opinions mount to not a mite.” V translates after OED
mend, sb., sense 2, “remedy.”back to note source
359
mythe. As V
notes, most editors have read mythe as “conceal.” Mythe from Middle English mouthen, “to say, speak,
pronounce,” and hence “mutter” or even “mouth off,” is more consistent with the thought of
the stanza.back to note source
365
Early editors joined lines 365 and 366,
“as water gushing from a stream / I put myself at his mercy,” but following the suggestion
by Gor I have joined lines 364–65: “my heart was afflicted with loss / As water welling
from a spring.” Although water flowing from a spring would be expected to be redemptive
(baptismal waters), the irruptive emotions in this stanza are all on the side of grief.
Hence the image of spring-water is ironically placed — on the side of grief but belonging
properly to consolation.back to note source
368
forloyne. A
hunting term to describe when dogs race ahead too fast and lose the pack; see Ad Putter,
“The Ways and Words of the Hunt: Notes on Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight, The Master of Game, Sir Tristrem, Pearl,
and Saint Erkenwald,” Chaucer Review 40
(2006), 354–85, at 373.back to note source
endorde. G reads
“adored one,” but as AW note, Gert Rønberg, “A Note on ‘Endorde’ in Pearl (368),” English Studies 57 (1976), 198, argues that
it is from OF endorer, “to invest with gold or a gold-like
quality.”back to note source
375
wothe. G reads
“path,” H reads “search,” and other editors “dangers.” My reading follows G’s “path” from
OE wath, “hunting ground, hence generically, place.”back to note source
380
by stok other
ston. As H notes, this common phrase in alliterative poetry can also be a mild
oath.back to note source
385
395
hyghe gate. Most
editors have read as “highway,” after OED
gate, sense 1b, which gives the line as an example of the meaning
of gate as road: “the highway of all my joy.” The more common
meaning of gate in Middle English is the modern sense; that meaning
may pertain as well — e.g., the main gate, a reading that evokes the gates of the New
Jerusalem in lines 1034 ff.back to note source
407
My Lorde the
Lamb. This is the first of many references to Christ as the Lamb of God.back to note source
410
stage. G glosses
as “degree of advancement,” after OED
stage sb., sense 3. The attention to hierarchical ordering
anticipates the dreamer’s intellectual and emotional crisis concerning the Pearl’s place
in the hierarchy of heaven, as V notes.back to note source
416
wage. G argues
that wage must come from French “wager,” and here must be used in
the sense of “to be assured.” Gor emphasizes the mercantile in “continue securely” or
“bring reward,” anticipating the material rhetoric of line 417 and later of the vineyard
parable.back to note source
419
pyese. I accord
with V who argues that what editors have read as prese, “value,” is
in fact pyese, “maiden,” rendering lines 417–19: “And endowed with
all His heritage / Is His beloved. I am entirely His, / His maiden, His honored one; and
His lineage . . .” Pyece for maiden appears in lines 192 and 229.
The maiden’s description of her marriage echoes the mystical marriage of St. Katherine in
the many late medieval versions of the legend. When pressed to marry, Katherine finally
agrees, but sets the condition that her bridegroom must be the richest, the most
beautiful, and the most noble (compare parage, also in line 419)
man in the world — adding, in some versions, that he also has to be born of a virgin. See
for example, St. Katherine of Alexandria: The
Late Middle English Prose Legend in Southwell Minster MS 7,
ed. Saara Nevanlinna and Irma Taavitsainen (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1993), p. 73, and
Katherine J. Lewis, The Cult of St. Katherine in
Late Medieval England (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2000).back to note source
430
Fenyx of Arraby.
Christ is often compared to the phoenix, a symbol of rebirth; in this case the phoenix
represents Mary’s immaculate conception. As G notes, Blanch is compared to the Fenix of Arabye in Chaucer’s Book of the
Duchess (lines 980–81).back to note source
431
freles. AW follow
H and emend to fereles, “without equal,” in keeping with the
emphasis in the stanza on the Virgin’s uniqueness. “Flawless,” however, is consistent with
the metaphor of the phoenix as a sign of the immaculate conception.back to note source
432
434
folde. I.e.,
folds her face in her hands or, as G (also H) suggests, her garment. A, AW, and Gor
translate as “upturned.”back to note source
441
450
fayn of otheres
hafyng. The maiden describes heaven as egalitarian and without envy, with each
queen or king (i.e., saved soul) rejoicing in the hafyng or
possessions of the others.back to note source
445–52
Compare The London
Lapidary of King Philip: “nyne ordres of angeles that lyven in that joye that noon
hath envye of othre, that is the life corouned, in the which shal noon entre but he be
kyng corouned or quene, for all be corouned be name” (English
Medieval Lapidaries, ed. Joan Evans and Mary S. Sargeantson,
EETS o.s. 190 [London: Oxford University Press, 1933], pp. 19–20, as noted by Robert J.
Blanch, “Color Symbolism and Mystical Contemplation in Pearl,” Nottingham Medieval Studies 17 [1973], 74). See also V.back to note source
457
Saynt Poule. The
definition of courtesy that follows is an exposition of St. Paul’s analogy in
I Corinthians 12:12–31. The image of the corporate body describes the ordering of heaven
and of the soul as an idealized courtly society, an organism of egalitarian
hierarchy.back to note source
464
I.e., exists between your limbs.back to note source
473
over hygh. The
dreamer objects to the beatitude of one so young, noting that the same reward is given to
one who suffers “in penaunce” all his life (line 477).back to note source
485
Pater ne Crede.
The dreamer’s point that the Pearl-maiden’s two-year sojourn in
“oure thede” (line 483) was too short to learn the Paternoster (Lord’s Prayer) or Creed
suggests that she was a child, as most readers have assumed. H suggests that she was a
novitiate, as does Staley, “Pearl and the Contingencies of Love and
Piety.” Mother Angela Carson, O.S.U., “Aspects of Elegy in the Middle English Pearl,” Studies in Philology 62 (1965), 17,
argues that the lines indicate she was a foreigner.back to note source
497
As Mathew meles. The parable of the vineyard, lines 497–500, is from
Matthew 20:1–16. The poet’s changes to the biblical source give the parable application to
fourteenth-century social conditions, and perhaps even specifically to the Statute of
Laborers of 1388, according to Bowers, “The Politics of Pearl”; and
Watkins.back to note source
504
dere the date.
The time of year is March and the activity is the pruning of vines, as in the March entry
in the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de
Berry. Date as link-word juxtaposes church time and merchant time;
see Barr, pp. 71–72.back to note source
505
hyne. A, AW, and
Gor translate as “laborers.” I translate as “households” because the uses of hyne in the poem (lines 632, 1211) refer broadly to members of a
household or even God’s household, rather than to laborers, as G notes.back to note source
512
555
Matthew 20:12 reads: Hi novissimi una hora fecerunt (“These last have worked but one hour”). This verse
is paraphrased in line 551, but here houres two effectively recalls
that the maiden “lyfed not two yer in oure thede” (line 483), as noted in V.back to note source
565–68
As G notes, these lines paraphrase
the Vulgate and seem to echo uncannily the Wycliffite Bible, Matthew 20:15: “‘Whether it
is not leueful to me to do that that Y wole? Whether thin iye is wicked, for Y am
good?’”back to note source
570–72
These lines paraphrase Matthew
20:16.back to note source
588
to-yere. Most
editors have translated “this year,” but as G notes, to-yere
carries the colloquial sense of “for a long time.”back to note source
581–88
I.e., though she died early, she was
received fully into heaven.back to note source
603
inlyche. Editors,
except H and V, have translated as “alike, the same.” As V comments, in note to line 546,
“fully” “suits the interpretation of the parable of the vineyard more exactly, since each
soul receives ‘fully’ the reward of salvation, even though there are ranks in the
hierarchical system of heaven.”back to note source
609–10
dard. The word
may derive from OE darian, “lurk in dread,” or from OE durran, “dare,” as Gor notes in a comment on the difficulty of these
lines. Most editors have followed G in rendering “His privilege is great who always stood
in awe / Of Him who brings salvation from sin.” My reading accords with AW, “His (God’s)
generosity is great (or abundant): those who at any time in their lives submitted to Him
who rescues sinners — from them no bliss will be withheld.”back to note source
617
bourne abate.
The sense of the maiden’s argument here is that everybody sins and forfeits heaven, but
God’s grace can save them.back to note source
635
fyne. Most
readers have read as adverb, “at the first in full.” I accord with the suggestion by
Carter Revard, “A Note on ‘at the fyrst fyne’ (Pearl 635),” English Language Notes 1 (1964), 164–66, who interprets fyne as a noun according to MED senses 6–11
(legal terms related to contracts) and translates “as according to the original
contract.”back to note source
652
deth secounde.
The first redemption over death, determined by Adam’s fall, is baptism; the second is in
Christ’s resurrection.back to note source
674
God. A, G, and
Gor interpret this as “good,” but, following suggestion by H, other editors, myself as
well, have read as God.back to note source
677
Sauter. A
Psalter, or collection of the psalms. Collections of the psalms were among the few prayer
books normally owned by the laity; the term “psalter” could also mean a book of hours or a
type of compilation prayer book commonly owned by non-clerical or lay people, often
exquisitely illuminated. Many were owned by women. The passage paraphrases Psalm 14:1–3 or
Psalm 23:3, 4. For the history and use of books of hours, see John Harthan, Books of Hours and Their Owners (London:
Thames and Hudson, 1982).back to note source
689
sas. G, Gor, H,
and V translate word as “sees,” but “says” makes far more sense with the biblical source.
AW emend to sayz, a change that, as V shows, is not
necessary.back to note source
691
he. Gor and H
emend to ho, i.e., “wisdom,” a female personification. As G notes,
Wisdom would have suggested Christ to a medieval reader; hence the pronoun he to indicate Wisdom as Christ.back to note source
697–700
See Psalm 142:2.back to note source
703
Allege. Early
editors read allege as an imperative, “renounce your claim.”
Following Gor, editors have read allege as conditional subjunctive,
“if you plead,” i.e., “if you try to plead your case before God, you might get trapped by
the same kind of talk,” entrapment, that is, in legalisms. For use of legal terms, see
Silar.back to note source
721
Jesu. This line
is the only place in the poem where the concatenation fails. AW substitute ryght for Jesu, “justice,” as a
personification of Jesus.back to note source
711–24
Passage is based on Luke 18:15–17,
Matthew 19:13–15, and Mark 10:13–16.back to note source
733
makelles. G
emends to maskeles, and also in line 757, to preserve the
continuity of the link words. But by alternating makeles with maskeles the poet plays on the equivalence of spotlessness and
peerlessness.back to note source
735
hevenesse clere.
G emends to hevenes spere, “heaven’s sphere,” to avoid repeating
clere as rhyming word twice in one stanza. H and V translate as
“heaven’s brightness,” whereas other editors, and myself, translate clere as an adjective modifying the noun hevenesse,
“heaven.”back to note source
730–35
The story of the pearl of price
comes from Matthew 13:45–46.back to note source
740
stode. V accords
with G in reading stode as a noun meaning “place”: hit stode, “its place.” Other editors, myself included, understand
stode as a verb meaning either “stood” or “shone.” Stode, which appears frequently in the MS, almost always is in the
form of the verb. One possible meaning of the term as noun, however, is MED sense 4, s.v., stod, “an ornamental boss on a
garment.”back to note source
750
Pymalyon
paynted. The contrast between the work of nature and of art is conventional; see Le Roman de la Rose, 16013 ff. As Ovid tells
the story, Pygmalion carved an image of a beautiful woman and then fell in love with it.
The story was often used in the Middle Ages to signify the seductions of art and idolatry.
For discussion and illustrations, see Michael Camille, The Gothic Idol: Ideology and Image-Making in Medieval Art (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 316–38; and D. W. Robertson, Jr., A Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspectives (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1969), pp. 99–103, 157–58. Chaucer uses the trope as a debate between
art and nature in The Physician’s Tale, lines 8–38.back to note source
755
ostriys. The
reading of this word has been the subject of a long debate. G emends to of triys, “of peace, truce.” Gor reads the word as offys,
“office,” a reading that has been followed by subsequent editors; so too AW, A, and C. The
issues over interpretation are based on the central letters of the word: are they ff or st followed by a scribal abbreviation
for ri? My vote for “oyster” has been swayed by the argument of E.
T. Donaldson that ostriys is acceptable on orthographic, syntactic,
and textual/symbolic grounds; “Oysters, Forsooth: Two Readings in Pearl,” in Studies Presented to Tauno F.
Mustanoja on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 73 (1972), 75–82. While the
abbreviation mark indicating ri could possibly be read as the top
of an f that missed its connection with the stroke, as Davis argues
in his defense of a reading of the term as offys (Norman Davis,
review of Gordon’s edition of Pearl, Medium
Aevum 23 [1954], 98–99), the word presents in the MS very clearly, and the letter
in question is unlike f as written elsewhere in the MS. V says that
“the tops of f’s are not always securely joined in the MS” — but the example he gives, of in line 752, is not convincing, for in that example the top is
much closer to the stroke.
“Oyster,” which can be derived without emendation, can also be defended on textual grounds. As Donaldson argues, introducing an oyster at this point in the poem would be entirely what one might expect of both poet and dreamer. This stanza in particular is remarkable for its density of metaphor, full of supposition and grounded in localizing particulars as the dreamer asks the pearl who formed her and what bears her. In medieval natural history, pearls were believed to be produced from dew drops swallowed by the oyster, a belief that contributed to the rich symbolism of pearls. See Donkin, pp. 1–22.back to note source
761
wete. I accord
with A, AW, G, and Gor who translate as “wet,” e.g., “dismal” — a characterization of the
world that also perhaps answers, tongue-in-cheek, the narrator’s question about her origin
as oyster. Other editors have proposed very different translations: H reads as noun,
“woe,” and V the very plausible adjective “mad,” derived from wede,
“to go insane.”back to note source
763
The language is from the Song of Songs
4:7–8: Tota pulchra es, amica mea, et macula non
est in te. Veni de Libano, sponsa mea . . . (“You are fair,
my love, there is no flaw in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride . . . ”). The verse
was widely used in medieval literature, and in both sacred and fully profane
contexts.back to note source
769
bryd. Both
meanings of “bride” and “bird” are implied. The use of bryd,
“bird,” for a girl is conventional in Middle English love poetry.back to note source
776
I.e., have lived in much strife as
virgin martyrs, as suggested by Morton Bloomfield, “Some Notes on Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight (lines 374, 546, 752, 1236) and
Pearl (lines 1–12, 61, 775–776, 968),” in Studies in Language, Literature, and Culture of the Middle Ages
and Later: Studies in Honor of Rudolph Willard, ed. E. Bagby
Atwood and Archibald A. Hill (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969), p. 302; or as
“career virgins,” as argued by Watson, in Brewer and Gibson, p. 302. For virgin martyrs,
see Karen A. Winstead, Virgin Martyrs: Legends of Sainthood in Late Medieval England (Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1997).back to note source
792
The nwe cyté o
Jerusalem. This is the first of many references to the New Jerusalem, references
that increase in intensity up to the climactic or chthonic moment when the dreamer sees
the Lamb in the middle of the city. Representations of the New Jerusalem, the mystical and
heavenly city as distinct from the material city of “Jerusalem, Jordan, and Galalye” (line
817) that the maiden describes in the next stanzas (lines 793–840) appear in illustrations
of the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse). Illuminated manuscripts of the Apocalypse were
popular items among wealthy patrons in the high and late Middle Ages. See Introduction,
pp. 15–17; on political appropriations of Apocalypse imagery in late medieval England, see
Bowers, “Pearl in Its Royal Setting.”back to note source
805–06
Jesus’ scourging and carrying of the
Cross to Calvary were popular subjects, illustrated widely in English panel painting and
alabasters and described in countless ways in lyrics, in devotional literature, and in the
medieval drama. A powerful dramatization of the nailing of Christ to the Cross appears in
the York Crucifixion.back to note source
811
I.e., “for the sake of sin He set His
own life as totally unimportant.”back to note source
818
According to the Gospels John baptized
in Jordan, not in Jerusalem and Galilee.back to note source
819
Ysaye. See
Isaiah 53:7, where Christ’s silence before his accusers is prophesied.back to note source
824
upon. V reads as
adverb, “openly,” but most editors follow G, who has made a more convincing case for upon as a “preposition placed after the pronoun it governs,” “upon
that,” i.e., “at which all this world has worked,” or colloquially, “that all this world
has committed.”back to note source
829
From this point until the last stanza
group much of the imagery and language is taken from the Book of Revelation.back to note source
829–30
I.e., was perceived as a lamb by
“ayther prophete” (line 831), both John the Baptist and Isaiah, as named in lines
819–20.back to note source
833
The thryde tyme. I.e., first by Isaiah (53:7), then by John the Baptist,
then (the third time) by St. John the Evangelist (Revelation 5:6).back to note source
837
leves sware. In
Revelation John reads a scroll. Leves sware suggest he reads a
book, as Gor notes.back to note source
841
This stanza group contains six stanzas,
unlike the five stanzas in each of the other nineteen stanza-groups. The additional
stanza, which brings the total lines of the poem to 1212, furthers the play on the number
twelve throughout the text: twelve lines per stanza, twelve gem-like foundation layers of
the New Jerusalem (lines 993–1021); twelve degrees of the New Jerusalem (lines 1021–32);
twelve gates of the New Jerusalem (line 1035). See Introduction, p. 5, and Peck, pp.
15–64. Peck, pp. 44–51, considers structural and symbolic uses of 12 in Pearl.back to note source
pechche. Most
editors translate as “stain.” My reading as “patch” accords with G, H, and V.back to note source
869
maydennes. In
his biblical commentary, widely read in the fourteenth century, Augustine glosses
“maidens” to mean virgins generically — i.e., either female or male, as AW note. In the
Latin Vulgate Bible, however, “virgins” are explicitly male — i.e., “they who were not
polluted by women.” For virginity in the Middle Ages see Barbara Newman, From Virile Woman to WomanChrist: Studies in Medieval Religion
and Literature (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995), pp. 28–35.
Although mayden may designate a male who has abstained from sex, it
is a common term in Middle English love poetry, and the person named as such is almost
invariably female. For the virginity tradition and Pearl, see
Watson, in Brewer and Gibson, p. 301.back to note source
873–75
The destructive scenes of the Book
of Revelation are not evoked in Pearl. These lines alone convey
something of the sense of destruction, or at least natural forces at work, so common in
many medieval visual renderings of the Book of Revelation, from illuminated apocalypse
manuscripts to tympani, carved scenes over doorways, on medieval parishes and cathedrals.
See Introduction, pp. 15–17. For a richly illustrated introduction to the topic, see
Jonathan Alexander, with Michael Michael and Martin Kauffmann, “The Last Things:
Representing the Unrepresentable,” in The Apocalypse and the Shape of
Things to Come, ed. Frances Carey (London: British Museum
Press, 1999), pp. 43–98.back to note source
886–87
fowre bestes . . .
aldermen. The four beasts are the Evangelists, represented in medieval iconography
as lion (Mark), ox (Luke), eagle (John), and man (Matthew). Aldermen doubtless signifies the twenty-four elders. Scenes representing God
enthroned and surrounded by the four evangelists and by elders with musical instruments
appear frequently in illuminated Apocalypse manuscripts. For the biblical sources for the
imaging of beasts, elders, and enthroned God, see Revelation 4:4, 7, and Ezekiel 1. The
term aldermen may give this description a particularly familiar and
urban cast. A chronicle entry for 1392 recounts that the Mayor of London was summoned with
“24 aldermannis” (among others) to a council with the king; Knighton’s
Chronicle 1337–1396, ed. and trans. G. H. Martin (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1995), p. 544.back to note source
892
meyny. Used here
as in lines 899 and 960, meyny describes a lord’s retinue in terms
consistent with late fourteenth-century aristocratic practice.back to note source
swe. Probably from
sue, “follow,” but perhaps from sough and
meaning “the swell of praise,” in keeping with the emphasis on music and sound.back to note source
894
newe fryt.
Compare the fruits in the transformed garden at the beginning of the poem, lines 87 and
104.back to note source
895
hit. I.e., the
“meyny” or “retinue” of virgins singing in praise of and in likeness to the Lamb.back to note source
896
lote. The word
may signify either voice or appearance, as may hwe; compare line
873, where “hue” refers to the cry sounded in heaven. The evocation of sound is consistent
with the emphasis on voice and melody in these stanzas. Editors translate hwe as “hue” (color); I prefer “sound” in keeping with references to
song earlier in the stanza.back to note source
865–900
See Revelation 14:1–5 for biblical
source.back to note source
905
mokke and mul.
Mul, “dust” or “mud,” recalls “moul” of line 23, and here
specifically suggests the difference in social class between the pearl and himself. As
Barr notes, mud is often used in medieval texts to designate peasants (pp. 60,
74n17).back to note source
920
David. David was
the conqueror of Jerusalem and second king of Israel, 1000–962 BCE.back to note source
922
note. A term
that suggests both a dazzling undertaking as well as musical sound. As Osgood points out,
in St. Erkenwald the new building of St. Paul’s is also “a noble note.”back to note source
923
under mone.
I.e., on earth. The phrase also implies a contrast between the maiden’s spotlessness and
the changeable nature of the moon — its spottiness: see line 1070.back to note source
925
moteles meyny. A
pun on “homeless” and “spotless,” evoking the similarly uneasy pun developed in the uses
of “spot” in the first stanza group.back to note source
943
nwe. Nwe may refer to the new law (Christianity) or to the new Jerusalem.
The maiden explains that the literal Jerusalem is the city of the old law, remade
figuratively as the new or heavenly Jerusalem through the crucifixion, the event enacting
the new law — i.e., that humans can win eternal life.back to note source
sonde. Sonde may alternatively be read as a noun, as in AW and V who
translate sonde as “embassy” and “dispensation”: “but the new, that
descended by God’s embassy.”back to note source
952
Ceté of God.
Used in the Old Testament and in biblical exegesis to denote both old and new
Jerusalems.back to note source
953
at ene. Editors
translate variously: G and H as “formerly”; A, AW and Gor as “was made secure”; V as
“immediately.”back to note source
967
aquylde. Editors
translate variously: AW as “obtained permission” and V as “prevailed upon.” S.v., aquylde
MED gives “obtain” as well as “flush, track, pursue,” meanings that
continue a pattern of hunting references that appears throughout the poem, e.g., lines 184
and 345.back to note source
969
cloystor.
“Cloister,” “enclosure,” as metonym for “city,” but with sense of enclosure, emphasizing
the idea that heaven is an ideal cloister.back to note source
970
fote. Editors
have differed on whether we are to take fote as a measure of
distance or as the body part. Its placement as final word in the line leaves both
possibilities in play.back to note source
979–81
In Revelation 21:10. John is taken
by the angel to a mountain, where he sees the city descending from heaven.back to note source
999
Jasper. As AW
and Gor note, not the modern jasper, but a brightly colored and especially green
chalcedony.back to note source
1003
1012
twynne-hew. MS:
twyn̄e how (twynne how). A, AW, and Gor emend to twynne-hew. As notes in G and Gor explain, the twin-hue of the topaz
may derive from the lapidaries or from a commentary on the Apocalypse, such as Bede
(Migne, PL 93.200): topasius . . . duos habere fertur colores; unum auri
purissimi, et alterum aetherea claritate relucentem [topaz .
. . is said to have two colors; one of the purest gold, and the other reflecting ethereal
clarity].back to note source
994–1020
The natural and mystical
properties of each of these stones are detailed in medieval lapidaries; see Robert J.
Blanch, “Precious Metal and Gem Symbolism in Pearl,” in Sir Gawain and Pearl: Critical Essays, ed. Robert J. Blanch, pp.
86–97; and Riddy, in Brewer and Gibson, pp. 143–55. Except for the ruby of line 1007, the
catalogue follows closely the account in Revelation 21.back to note source
1027
wones wythinne.
As G notes, Revelation 21 says nothing of dwellings within the city.back to note source
1030
Twelve
forlonge. Revelation 21:16 has 12,000 furlongs. G omits space
and adds thousande. He is probably correct that 12 represents a
scribal error and that the line was somehow initially rendered to convey 12,000, in
keeping with the biblical source. Charles Moorman, however, argues that 12 furlongs
accords with the dimensions of a medieval manor, “manayre” (line 1029). See “Some Notes on
Patience and Pearl,” Southern Quarterly 4 (1965), 72–73. Revelation 21 also makes no mention of “wones
wythinne” (line 1027), a detail added to both familiarize and domesticate the New
Jerusalem.back to note source
1032
I.e., measured by the angel with the
measuring rod of Ezekiel 40–44.back to note source
1041
byrth-whates. G
emends to byrthe-whates. The idea that the names of the children of
Israel are written on the gates of the city derives from Revelation 21:12; that they
appear according to the order of their birth, from Exodus 28.back to note source
1052
apparaylmente.
The term likely refers to the elders and evangelists, as H argues, as the maiden has
described in lines 885–87.back to note source
1058
flet. Editors
have translated variously as “tidal estuary” (V) and as the verb “flowed” (H). Flet, from “floor, ground” accords most closely with the sense of the
source in Revelation: “flowing from the throne of God,” a scene depicted in some
illuminated manuscripts, i.e., the Trinity College Apocalypse, which shows the river
flowing out of the room in which God is enthroned. See the illustration in Jonathan
Alexander, “The Last Things: Representing the Unrepresentable,” in The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come, ed. Frances
Carey, p. 77.back to note source
1069 ff.
The stanza describes the
miraculous, God-generated light of the New Jerusalem, a brilliance that eclipses other
celestial bodies, i.e., moon and sun.back to note source
1077–80
See Revelation 22:2.back to note source
1093
maynful.
Compare the expression “might and main,” in Middle English a conventional formula, “myghty
and maynful.”back to note source
1099
1098–1100
See Revelation 14:4.back to note source
1106
See Revelation 21:21.back to note source
1107
See Revelation 5:11.back to note source
1108
livrés. G
emends to livre. Most editors translate as “dress.” Livrés also means the official garb of a group or guild, which would
seem to be the sense intended here. For a discussion of livery badges in the court of
Richard II and in the Wilton Diptych, see Riddy, in Brewer and Gibson, p. 153n; Bowers,
“Pearl in Its Royal Setting,” pp. 136–39; and Barr, pp. 67–68.
See also note to line 199.back to note source
1110
See Revelation 14:1–4.back to note source
1111
1126
1135
wounde ful
wyde. The image is of the sacrificial Lamb, Christ crucified. Field and Whitaker
discuss the medieval pictorial traditions for the image; for a psychoanalytic reading of
the wound, see Stanbury, “Feminist Masterplots.”back to note source
1156–59
These lines present many
possibilities for interpretation. In line 1156, walte has been read
as “held, set,” from Middle English wale or welde, by A, AW, G, and Gor; as “kept” by C; and as “vexed” by H and V. The MED suggests “chosen,” p. ppl. of walen, a
reading with which I concur: i.e., although she has already been claimed or chosen by the
Lamb, the dreamer still wants to hurl himself into the stream.back to note source
1157–59
G connects fech
me bur (line 1158) with the dialect phrase “to take one’s birr,” i.e., to gather
momentum for a leap, and translates: “Nothing, methought, might hinder me / From fetching
birr and taking off; / And noght should keep me from the start.” A reads: “I thought that
nothing might hinder me from gathering my strength and taking possession (of the Maiden)
for myself.” My reading of the lines approximates that of AW: “I thought that nothing
could harm me by dealing me a blow and offering obstruction to me.” Bur appears frequently in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
in the sense of a martial “blow.” This stanza and the following are rich in abrupt
monosyllabic words conveying suddenness and violence.back to note source
1174
1205
lote. Lote, Middle English lot, which some editors
translate as “experience,” carries connotations of chance or luck. AW note that lote can also mean “speech” or “word”: “I received this word.”back to note source
1206
enclyin.
Editors translate “lying prostrate” — i.e., the dreamer. I accord with V in following MED suggestion that term is an adjective, enclin, modifying the pearl, “bowed down, humble, submissive.”back to note source
1208
In Krystes dere
blessyng and myn. This phrase appears frequently in addresses from parent to child
in the late Middle Ages, as observed by Norman Davis, “A Note on Pearl,” in Conley, ed., pp. 325–34.back to note source
1209
forme of bred and
wyn. I.e., the visual display of the host during the Mass. The phrase, part of the
prayer at communion, was, as Margaret Aston says, “the laconic lay equivalent for
transubstantiation in all its complexities.” See Faith and Fire: Popular
and Unpopular Religion, 1350–1600 (Rio Grande, Ohio:
Hambledon Press, 1993), pp. 46–47. For uses of the formula, see also John Mirk’s Instructions for Parish Priests, ed. Edward Peacock, EETS o.s. 31
(London: Trübner & Co., 1868; Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, 1996), p. 8,
line 246, and p. 291. The formula also appears frequently in fourteenth- and
fifteenth-century debates about the Eucharistic rite: see for example the “Testimony of
William Thorpe” in Two Wycliffite Texts: The Sermon of William Taylor 1406: The Testimony of William Thorpe 1407, ed. Anne
Hudson, EETS o.s. 301 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 31.
Most editors understand That as a reference to Christ. Phillips, p. 479, argues that That refers to the pearl (“hit” of line 1207) and both refer to the Eucharistic wafer.
back to note source1211
homly hyne. The
term homly defies precise translation in modern English. It refers
literally to the “homely,” to things of the household and private life, with the
implication that homly hyne are trustworthy and trusting household
servants, allied with the lord or head of household in a harmonious hierarchical
relationship.back to note source