1–4 Herkneth alle gode . . . feol into helle. The preacher’s core theme of the Fall, which affects everyone, is metaphorically broached in the first stanza when the audience is told to sit “down” (line 1) to hear a tale about the consequences of Adam’s downfall.↩back to note source

9–16 He made him . . . so strong atfalle. Written in a new meter, these eight lines boil the biblical lesson down to a sound-bite: Adam fell and had to stay in hell until Christ’s Passion redeemed him; we are all fallen, but Christ’s death can save us. The first and last rhymes reinforce the theme: falle . . . atfalle. Adam’s Fall is often mentioned in the poetry of Jesus 29; compare, for example, Poema Morale (art. 3), line 195. A Little Sooth Sermon gives the subject its most extended and lively treatment.↩back to note source

17–24 Alle bakbytares . . . seolver heo tulleth. The list of miscreants begins generically, seems all-male, and refers to actual sins: backbiters, robbers, thieves, murderers, lechers, whoremongers. The second part of the list remains male but moves into everyday professions: merchants, bakers, and brewers. Increasing specificity moves the list into the daily life of a village. The Sooth Sermon poet is strategically adapting the topos of estates satire. For other instances in Jesus 29, see The Saws of Saint Bede (art. 4), lines 91–174; When Holy Church Is Under Foot (art. 12), lines 27–32; and Ten Abuses (art. 15), lines 2–11.↩back to note source

24 tulleth. “obtain through guile, wheedle.” See MED, tillen (v.(3)), sense 1c.↩back to note source

25 Bothe heo maketh feble heore bred and heore ale. “Both of them weaken their bread and their ale.” The central line of A Little Sooth Sermon depicts a false Eucharist being dispensed by the greedy brewers and bakers — more signs of the world’s fallen, blind indifference to God’s sacrifice.↩back to note source

27 Gode men. An exhortation to the audience as “good men” occurs thrice in the poem, at beginning, middle, and end (lines 1, 27, 49), demonstrating a rhetorically-controlled, preacherly style.↩back to note source

29 preostes wives. The surprising mention of priests and their wives has elicted comment. See Pearsall, who writes colorfully that the poem “develops its theme of penitence on a frankly popular level: among those who will go to hell are . . . priests’ wives (one imagines cheers)” (Old and Middle English Poetry, p. 97); and Heffernan, who soberly notes how “The wives of priests come in for especial condemnation and are damned to hell. This . . . rebuke . . . may speak to a genuine problem in the ranks of the rural clergy” (MWME, 11:4046). Compare The Simonie, line 52: “And late the parsoun have a wyf, and the prest another” (Wright, ed., Political Songs of England, p. 326).↩back to note source

33 At chireche and at chepyng. Compare The Proverbs of Alfred (art. 24), line 254: “At chepynge and at chireche.”↩back to note source

34 derne luve. “secret love.” In this moral context, the term hints of the adolescents’ sexual transgressions. The term is also very commonly found in secular love lyrics, such as those of Harley 2253 — see Annot and John, line 36; A Beauty White as Whale’s Bon, line 5; and The Way of Woman’s Love, line 2 (CHMS, 2:122, 2:152, 3:242) — and in Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale (CT I[A]3200). See also The Owl and the Nightingale (art. 2), line 1357.↩back to note source

38 Paternoster. The unmarried young people attend church only to flirt and socialize, and the girl who leaves her Paternoster (prayer book) locked up at home represents their collective neglect of the holy service. The reference to “Our Father” taps into a theme of paternity — from Adam to God, from Giloth’s syre (line 45) to the father of her unborn child — that runs neatly through the lyric. See Fein-Children, p. 225. The image of a locked box opposes the girl’s dalliance, seen as a threat to her virginity. For female virginity figured as a locked “bower,” compare Love Rune (art. 19), line 74.↩back to note source

39–40 Masses and matynes . . . in hire thouht. The catalogue of sinners, having advanced to recognizable types with homespun names, next moves to the inner motives of weak-minded women. The young girl thinks of boys, not God’s worship.↩back to note source

31–41 Ne theos prude . . . to than ale. The parade of sinners gains increasing familiarity as girls are added and homespun nicknames bring them to life: Malkin, Jankin, Watkin, Wilkin, Robin, Giloth. They flirt, as young people do, both at market and in church.↩back to note source

47–48 ne com hire . . . aryse an heyh. The womb of the unwed girl is the only thing that rises in this fallen world. Her denial that any man has touched her ironically echoes Mary’s words at the Annunciation: “How shall this be done, because I know not man?” (Luke 1:34). See Song of the Annunciation (art. 20), line 11.↩back to note source

51 Seynte Marie. The final prayer for intercession from Mary interrupts the theme of inevitable, inter-generational fallenness that tumbles forth from “Adam ure vorme-fader” (line 4), that is, from father to father. The poem ends on a maternal note, with a prayer that God’s human mother, weeping tears, may intercede and help to advance all to the bliss of heaven.↩back to note source