More Middle English and Some Poetry Inspired by It

                

The following three poems are from that great little book, One Hundred Middle English Lyrics. I'm sure a paperback copy can be found very inexpensively online.

Ne hath my soul but fyre and yse
And the licame erthe and tree:
Bidde we alle the heighe kyng
That welde shal the laste doom
That he us lete that ilke thyng,
That we mowen his wylle don;
He us skere of the tithyng
That synfulle shullen an-underfon
Whan deeth hem ledeth to the myrthe
That nevere ne beth undon. Amen


This poem the editor actually gives a source for--Jesus Coll. Oxf. MS. 29 (OEM No. XII) c. 1275. So if you're near Oxford, stop in and ask them if you may walk around holding the actual manuscript while you read it. And have a chocolate donut in your hand when you ask.

Did you realize you were going back to Middle English when you used the word "ilk?"
The book glosses this well so it is easily understood...

   licame body
   welde wield, rule over
  skere of the tithyng free (or excuse) from the wages (reward)
  an-underfon receive
  myrthe mirth, joys (obviously ironic)

  that ilke that same, that very (one)

What a strangely Boschean image that is, and what great sounding language! "Whan deethe hem ledeth to the myrthe that nevere ne beth undon."



And yes, it sucked to be a woman in this period of history. Witness...


Sey me, wight in the broom,
Teche me how I shal don
That myn housebonde
Me loven wolde.

"Hold thy tonge stille
And have al thy wylle."



  broom   broom, brushwood
  wylle   will; desire; purpose (think: to have one's wiles about one, or the word wily)

A "wight" is a person or a creature. It was pretty non-specific at that time. As English went forward then, it seems to have been more commonly applied to creatures (than humans) and especially tinier ones, if I am remembering correctly.



And this little mortal poem is really beautiful wordplay...


Erthe took of erthe, erth wyth wogh;
Erthe other erthe to the erthe drough;
Erthe leyde erthe in erthen through:
Than hadde erthe of erthe erthe ynough.

            circa 1320

The editor notes that there are many variants, versions and expansions of this last one extant.


   wogh   wrong, harm
   drough drew, added
   through coffin, grave

I'm fairly certain I know how those end words would sound. If I am correct they would end in very aspirated k sounds, rather like Germanic "ich." I wouldn't think the earlier version of "enough" would be pronounced with the "f" sound we use today. Can anyone conversant in ME pronunciation confirm that? Than is "then," by the way. The modern word "through" was actually "thurgh" at this point in time.

I love that last line, so mortal, so rich with living: Than hadde erthe of erthe erthe ynough.


My ex used to love playing with older forms of English, and often wrote in a synthesized form of archaic English which did not aspire to be pedantically faithful to anterior forms, but rather played liberally with the sounds and language of these older forms of English. It was a mock English, a hybridization.

Here's a poem he wrote that we published in Logodaedalus, a zine we jointly edited some years back...he was publishing under the name Weidenhoff at the time...


   Dialougue between Lucifer as a serpent and Eve in the garden

Lucifer: See me woman
upon thee feet
full of licoris & grais
sieng thee serpent chant wit me

Lucifer and Eve: Serpent pedde spinx penna
Serpent pede spinx penna

Lucifer: Aye woman of composed yet faire
me lady deid not hear
dis wondrous breath of musicd pose
fond in da core
of dat dare appil on dis tree

Eve: Dis here tree dat though be sienging
yet me knows
dat Eate we of it we do amiss

Lucifer: Take of dis fruithe assaie
it is good meate I dare
laye else dis Lord wld not
be kind to set
such melisma in yer midst &
not to let ye
take dis musicd pose
frem voice uf grais
to cover yer boedie en prievasy

Eve: Lo Eiei haf long lamentd
to dis hevn's eye dat Eiei
shld naked be in day & night &
wold Eie cld be riengd to musicd
pose wld Eie
have respite from dis sonne
dat beats aulle daily unt neight

Lucifer: Then bold be woman
sheer and gauzd in de sonne no more

Eve: Dear Adam com teoi mei
& geve dis heart a trye


     circa 1992