Medieval English Lyrics and Carols

Abstract

Thomas G. Duncan (ed.). Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2013. xiv + 466 pp. Bibliography. Index. ISBN 978-1-84384-341-2. [pounds sterling]25.00. The poems in Medieval English Lyrics and Carols are divided into two parts by date-1200-1400 and 1400-1530 (because, in fact, this is a revised edition of two separately published anthologies)-and within each part the poems are grouped by subject: love lyrics; moral and penitential; devotional and doctrinal; and miscellaneous and 'popular'. These are not folk songs in any currently accepted sense, but they do have an important bearing on the presumed emergence of English folk song and balladry out of Middle English poetry, and in particular the carol, which here refers specifically to a verse form comprising burden and stanza, commonly with a refrain. Although the burden and stanza form probably originated with simple, popular dance songs, the earliest Middle English carols are actually more complicated and probably derive from Latin and Old French carols (p. 393). Moreover, while the majority of carols probably are religious, this is not always the case, and neither are they specifically associated with Christmas at this early date. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Even though several of the love poems, especially the urbane and sophisticated pieces influenced by Chaucer, reflect the ideals of courtly love, there is still much among this selection of lyrics that connects with the experience of everyday life. The presence of the natural world, for instance, is strongly felt in many of them. Among the miscellaneous groups of poems are found themes of explicit social comment. 'Ich herde men upon mold', for example, is an aslonishingly bitter complaint, which makes The Hard Times of Old England' seem tame by comparison. There are songs of ribaldry and of sexual metaphor, such as 'I have a gentil cok' and 'We hem aboute no cattes skinnes', the latter of which draws on the pedlar's trade for its ostensible setting. 'I have a yong suster' is a riddle song analogue of 'Captain Wedderbum's Courtship' (Child 46). These last three items are from the same manuscript of early Middle English lyric songs as the ballad 'Seynt Steven was a clerk' (Child 22) (London, British Library, MS Sloane 2593). A few of the love lyrics are pastourelles, a kind of chanson d'aventure associated with the French trouveres, where the protagonist, who is essentially a high-born seducer, rides out to seek pleasure in a pastoral landscape. Here, though, the female character is much more likely to speak up for herself than in the trouvere songs. There is a good example of this in the carol 'As I me rode this endre dai'. This matter is of significance because the situation of the pastourelle also provides the basis for English ballads such as 'The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter' (Child 110)-and presumably lies somewhere behind the 'As I rode out' incipit of numerous English folk songs. The editor is at pains to point out the song-like qualities readily evident in some of these medieval lyrics. …