At least thanks to Simon I know all about the language of this manuscript. Now, my theory is this:
Patience and Cleanness which are in the middle of the manuscript form one unit, they are companion pieces (as earlier critics have recognised) and are meant to be read as one whole, flanksed on either side by a dream vision and a popular/folk romance respectively. The poems are not separated in the manuscript, and some linguists believe that they were copied out from different manuscripts. I think the order of the poems in the manuscript is deliberate (and authorial) and as the individual poems show, the poet is very concerned with the aesthetics of measure, and also thematically with the imperfection of man. Thus, we have Pearl, {Cleanness+ Patience}, Gawain. This forms a trinity, while the fact that Patience and Cleanness are split shows a) incompleteness of man- the poet cannot create a perfect trinity
b) Pearl/ Cleanness form a pair: both emphasizing on purity, Patience/Gawain form another pair, and Cleanness/Patience are homiletic companions. So, in this way they form a trinity of pairs. I dunno what the significance of a "pair" is here: Christ/Mary presumably. Anything else?
Anyway, thats all I have to say about Cotton Nero A.x.
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6 comments:
This is interesting... how do you feel these wider connections are evident in the texts themselves, or do you?
P.S. I love the picture!! Did you do it? :)
well, the themes are linked. Pearl and Cleanness both talk about purity, and cleanness explains the image of the pure pearl. Similarly, Patience is a homily like poem about having patience, while Gawain illustrates this in a sense..but actually, Gawain summarises the themes in all the previous poems i think.
Do u like the picture? put up another one if you want. you just go to "customise" and "edit main page"
Wow, that's - clever! I never would have thought of it, but I think it would certainly be a new and interesting angle to read in an exam.
"Gawain summarises the themes in all the previous poems i think."... That sounds really interesting, your idea there! Is that the bit you found clever, or something else? Cos I would have never thought Gawain could be a summation of the themes in the other works, but I could imagine you'd make a great argument with that, if expanded enough... :).
arghh i haven't thought any of this thoroughly!! i need to read the poems properly which i havent done in a while, but this is the argument i had come up with when i wrote the essay for Kate. Gawain talks about Purity and Patience, it all culminates in the knightly code of honour, and the emphasis on the frailty of man(which lots of other ppl have talked about, so its not exactly an original idea). I think the knightly code is about aiming for an ideal which they can never reach, and i think the poet equates this with aiming for spiritual perfection, or atleast he sees it as something his readers will associate with.
ok im going to play in the snow now.
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