Becoming the Pearl-Poet

Perceptions, Connections, Receptions

Jane Beal

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781978782846
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: English Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Who is the Pearl-poet? How do ideas about his life and interpretations of his poems shape our understanding of his work in late-medieval England—and beyond? In Becoming the Pearl-Poet: Perceptions, Connections, Receptions, readers can explore the world of this extraordinary, fourteenth-century writer. In Part I, "Perceptions," five scholars give insightful literary analyses of the narrative poems attributed to the poet: Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and St. Erkenwald. In Part II, "Connections," six scholars examine connections between these diverse poems, focusing on authorship, ecology, material culture, sartorial adornment, shields, and the poet's pastoral theology. In Part III, "Receptions," scholars consider the illustrations of the Pearl Manuscript (British Library MS Cotton Nero A.x), the poet's cultural situatedness in the Northwest Midlands and Ricardian court, his religious contexts, later translations and paraphrases of his work, and his medieval and modern audiences. Intended for students and scholars alike, this book encourages readers to gain a deeper understanding of the Pearl-poet and his world, learning many new things and enjoying old things in a new way.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Perceptions
• ‌‌The Dreamer’s Contemplative Experience of the ‌‌Mappamundi in Pearl1‌‌
• Temperance and the Evolution of Concupiscible Vice in Cleanness
• “Þay ar happen also þat con her hert stere”: Virtue and Nautical Metaphor in Patience1
• The Failure of Perfection in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• St. Erkenwald
• Connections
• Authorship
• Ecology in the Pearl-Poet
• Material Culture of the Pearl-Poet
• Sartorial Adornment in the Pearl Poems
• Switching Shields in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• The Pastoral Theology of the Pearl-Poet
• Receptions
• The Illustrations in London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero A.x (Part 2)
• The Northwest Midlands and the Ricardian Court
• Religious Contexts for the Pearl-Poet
• Translations and Paraphrases
• Audiences, Medieval and Modern
• Index
• About the Contributors