artless verses of the hermit Godric, who died in 1170, exhibit
in their metre the combined influence of native rhythm and of
that of Latin hymnology. The Proverbs of Alfred, written about
1200, is (like the later Proverbs of Hendyng) in style and substance
a gnomic poem of the ancient Germanic type, containing maxims
some of which may be of immemorial antiquity; and its rhythm
is mainly of native origin. On the other hand, the solemn and
touching meditation known as the Moral Ode, which is somewhat
earlier in date, is in a metre derived from contemporary Latin
verse—a line of seven accents, broken by a caesura, and with
feminine end-rhymes. In the Ormulum (see Orm) this metre
(known as the septenarius) appears without rhyme, and with a
syllabic regularity previously without example in English verse,
the line (or distich, as it may be called with almost equal propriety)
having invariably fifteen syllables. In various modified
forms, the septenarius was a favourite measure throughout
the Middle English period. In the poetry of the 13th century
the influence of French models is conspicuous. The many
devotional lyrics, some of which, as the Luve Ron of Thomas of
Hales, have great beauty, show this influence not only in their
varied metrical form, but also in their peculiar mystical tenderness
and fervour. The Story of Genesis and Exodus, the substance
of which is taken from the Bible and Latin commentators,
derives its metre chiefly from French. Its poetical merit is very
small. The secular poetry also received a new impulse from
France. The brilliant and sprightly dialogue of the Owl and
Nightingale, which can hardly be dated later than about 1230,
is a “contention” of the type familiar in French and Provençal
literature. The “Gallic” type of humour may be seen in various
other writings of this period, notably in the Land of Cockaigne,
a vivacious satire on monastic self-indulgence, and in the fabliau
of Dame Siviz, a story of Eastern origin, told with almost
Chaucerian skill. Predominantly, though not exclusively French
in metrical structure, are the charming love poems collected
in a MS. (Harl. 2253) written about 1320 in Herefordshire, some
of which (edited in T. Wright’s Specimens of Lyric Poetry) find
a place in modern popular anthologies. It is noteworthy that
they are accompanied by some French lyrics very similar in
style. The same MS. contains, besides some religious poetry,
a number of political songs of the time of Edward II. They
are not quite the earliest examples of their kind; in the time
of the Barons’ War the popular cause had had its singers in
English as well as in French. Later, the victories of Edward III.
down to the taking of Guisnes in 1352, were celebrated by the
Yorkshireman Laurence Minot in alliterative verse with strophic
arrangement and rhyme.
At the very beginning of the 13th century a new species of composition, the metrical chronicle, was introduced into English literature. The huge work of Layamon, a history (mainly legendary) of Britain from the time of the mythical Brutus till after the mission of Augustine, is a free rendering of the Norman-French Brut of Wace, with extensive additions from traditional sources. Its metre seems to be a degenerate survival of the Old English alliterative line, gradually modified in the course of the work by assimilation to the regular syllabic measure of the French original. Unquestionable evidence of the knowledge of the poem on the part of later writers is scarce, but distinct echoes of its diction appear in the chronicle ascribed to Robert of Gloucester, written in rhymed septenary measures about 1300. This work, founded in its earlier part on the Latin historians of the 12th century, is an independent historical source of some value for the events of the writer’s own times. The succession of versified histories of England was continued by Thomas Bek of Castleford in Yorkshire (whose work still awaits an editor), and by Robert Mannyng of Brunne (Bourne, Lincolnshire). Mannyng’s chronicle, finished in 1338, is a translation, in its earlier part from Wace’s Brut, and in its later part from an Anglo-French chronicle (still extant) written by Peter Langtoft, canon of Bridlington.
Not far from the year 1300 (for the most part probably earlier rather than later) a vast mass of hagiological and homiletic verse was produced in divers parts of England. To Gloucester belongs an extensive series of Lives of Saints, metrically and linguistically closely resembling Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle, and perhaps wholly or in part of the same authorship. A similar collection was written in the north of England, as well as a large body of homilies showing considerable poetic skill, and abounding in exempla or illustrative stories. Of exempla several prose collections had already been made in Anglo-French, and William of Wadington’s poem Manuel des péchés, which contains a great number of them, was translated in 1303 by Robert Mannyng already mentioned, with some enlargement of the anecdotic element, and frequent omissions of didactic passages. The great rhyming chronicle of Scripture history entitled Cursor Mundi (q.v.) was written in the north about this time. It was extensively read and transcribed, and exercised a powerful influence on later writers down to the end of the 14th century. The remaining homiletic verse of this period is too abundant to be referred to in detail; it will be enough to mention the sermons of William of Shoreham, written in strophic form, but showing little either of metrical skill or poetic feeling. To the next generation belongs the Pricke of Conscience by Richard Rolle, the influence of which was not less powerful than that of the author’s prose writings.
Romantic poetry, which in French had been extensively cultivated, both on the continent and in England from the early years of the 12th century, did not assume a vernacular form till about 1250. In the next hundred years its development was marvellously rapid. Of the vast mass of metrical romances produced during this period no detailed account need here be attempted (see Romance, and articles, &c. referred to; Arthurian Romance). Native English traditions form the basis of King Horn, Guy of Warwick, Bevis of Hamtoun and Havelok, though the stories were first put into literary form by Anglo-Norman poets. The popularity of these home-grown tales (with which may be classed the wildly fictitious Coer de Lion) was soon rivalled by that of importations from France. The English rendering of Floris and Blancheflur (a love-romance of Greek origin) is found in the same MS. that contains the earliest copy of King Horn. Before the end of the century, the French “matter of Britain” was represented in English by the Southern Arthur and Merlin and the Northern Tristram and Yvaine and Gawin, the “matter of France” by Roland and Vernagu and Otuel; the Alexander was also translated, but in this instance the immediate original was an Anglo-French and not a continental poem. The tale of Troy did not come into English till long afterwards. The Auchinleck MS., written about 1330, contains no fewer than 14 poetical romances; there were many others in circulation, and the number continued to grow. About the middle of the 14th century, the Old English alliterative long line, which for centuries had been used only in unwritten minstrel poetry, emerges again in literature. One of the earliest poems in this revived measure, Wynnere and Wastour, written in 1352, is by a professional reciter-poet, who complains bitterly that original minstrel poetry no longer finds a welcome in the halls of great nobles, who prefer to listen to those who recite verses not of their own making. About the same date the metre began to be employed by men of letters for the translation of romance—William of Palerne and Joseph of Arimathea from the French, Alexander from Latin prose. The later development of alliterative poetry belongs mainly to the age of Chaucer.
The extent and character of the literature produced during the first half of the 14th century indicate that the literary use of the native tongue was no longer, as in the preceding age, a mere condescension to the needs of the common people. The rapid disuse of French as the ordinary medium of intercourse among the middle and higher ranks of society, and the consequent substitution of English for French as the vehicle of school instruction, created a widespread demand for vernacular reading. The literature which arose in answer to this demand, though it consisted mainly of translations or adaptations of foreign works, yet served to develop the appreciation of poetic beauty, and to prepare an audience in the near future for a poetry in which the genuine thought and feeling of the nation were to find expression.
