(Below is the documentation for my bardic recitation/poetry entry for Kingdom Art’s & Sciences, 2018. I asked to be judged at the Advanced level and received a score of 28/30. You can see a video of the performance here and read the text here.)
Project Description:
This piece , informally titled “Emeline’s Tale,” was written as the scroll text for the Silver Hammer scroll of Emeline de Moulineaux. Like all poetry, but especially poetry from this period, the sounds that the language create are as important as the appearance of the words on the page. Both illustrate the differences and similarities between Middle English, the English that developed between the Norman Conquest and the Tudor period, and the Modern English we speak today. Since the language is evolutionary, developing from its Germanic roots and French influences, it differs throughout the period, varying in degrees from its relation to its Anglo-Saxon roots. The style used in this text is intended to replicate the Middle English of Geoffrey Chaucer’s day. Likewise, the style of poetry, is based upon The Canterbury Tales, written from 1387-1400. This may go without saying, but this language was spoken in England.* Although English writers during the period, especially Chaucer’s dear friend John Gower did write in other languages like French and Latin. Chaucer was Middle English’s champion author from writing original works to translating French and Latin pieces.
*I had to include this line in the documentation to meet the judging criteria.
Composition:
The scroll text was intended to be transcribed as a label on a vinegar jar, hence the brevity. The text totals 24 lines and only 176 words.
Each line is written in the Chaucerian style, which is characterized by rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter. More importantly, this text was written in Middle English, which utilizes both foreign words and unique spellings. In order to make sure the calligrapher and illuminator had enough time to create the scroll, I had the text finished within a week from receiving the commission.
Unfortunately, as a result of my haste, I realized that the tenth syllable was missing from the last line of the second stanza months after the fact, but I still feel quite satisfied that I managed to scan, “Kene and kunne Emeline de Moulineaux” into iambic pentameter.
My “creative method” is to write in a language I call Menglish, which is kind of like Spanglish, but with Middle English and Modern English. While I’m not fluent in Middle English, I’m proficient enough that it proved helpful to write with as much ME as I knew and then translate my couplets as I go along. I’d often have pages of verse written in English with the Middle English lines beneath. In order to translate the text into ME, I would either scour my copy of The Canterbury Tales or search through an online dictionary, like this one on Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10625/10625-h/dict1.html.
In some instances I would deliberately use a slightly more obscure word, “like gerdoun” or I would choose a less familiar spelling, like “hym” instead of “him” etc, in order to make the reading of the piece feel more authentic and more archaic for Emeline and the people to whom she showed her scroll.
Spelling, of course, in the Middle Ages, was infinitely less uniform than it is today. For instance, some gentles may have noticed (and possibly groused at the fact) that I alternate between spelling my name as Rosalie and Rosalye. Both spellings would have been correct in period and my persona would likely have alternated in the spelling of her name from document to document. This is one Medieval trend, I hope to never see revived in real life, but engaging in the practice as an academic and artistic exercise is quite exhilarating.
The first stanza mirrors the first lines of the “General Prologue” of The Canterbury Tales, but, rather than describe the budding of Spring, the stanza sets the scene for the flush of autumn, after harvest. It is intended to give the sense of a bountiful harvest and a beautiful summer by the description of “soote and grene gras,” (“sweet and green grass”). (Lines 1-2.) Just as the first thaw of Spring inspires the pilgrims of Chaucer’s tale to go on pilgrimage, the harvest inspires the Crown to go on progress from their holdfast in the Northwest to the Barony of Three Rivers. (4-6.) (At least, their group is Northwest of Three Rivers.)
Whan that Aprill with hise shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour; …
(Chaucer, lines 1-4)
So priketh hem Nature in hir corages,
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes.
And specially, fram every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
(Lines 12-16.)
This opening is not unique to Chaucer; utilizing this form to set a piece within a specific season and transport the audience into a specific environment was also utilized by William Langland in Piers the Ploughman. It’s a fine setting for a pastoral and, I think, it lent itself nicely to the last camping event of the year, when Emeline was presented with her scroll.
IN a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
(Langland, lines 1-9.)
Stylistically, I also followed a balladic format in that the text followed a story-structure: The Crown travels to the Barony of Three Rivers, there is a mock-confrontation with Emeline in the first couplet of the second stanza, Emeline is rewarded by the Crown to which the land rejoices (and they didn’t even eat Sir Robin’s minstrels!), and in the last stanza, not only are the Crown’s gifts promised to Emeline, but there is also an implication of “she lived happily ever after.” –Not easy to kill two birds with one stone, but it was still fun.
Presentation:
Just as Middle English appears differently on the page from modern English, the sound of it has the ability to add authenticity to the language and to transport the listener. At this stage, Middle English still had a very Germanic quality, with A’s pronounced as “Ah’s” and I’s pronounced as, “ee.” Most of consonants are still pronounced as well. For instance, if I said I know a knight named Damien, it would read, “Y know a knyghte call’d Damien,” and sound like, “Ee kuh-no a kuh-neesht-uh call’d Dah-me-en.”
Now, I learned how to pronounce Middle English from my professor, Francis Grady, when I took a class on The Canterbury Tales in college, but there are several good online resources that I’ve used to brush up or to assist students when I’ve taught classes on pronunciation.
This site gives a fairly good overview, except I was taught to pronounced words like, “Mayde” and “Say” as “Mide” and “Sigh.” (As in German, when two vowels going walking, the second does the talking.) Also, the site doesn’t appear to touch on the pronunciation of words that come from the French influence like, flour (flower) or vertu (virtue): pronounced like “fleur” and “vir-tew.”
http://www.nativlang.com/middle-english/middle-english-pronunciation.php
Also important to note is the pronunciation of the not-so-silent “e.” Put simply, if the word is followed by a word beginning with a vowel or an “h,” the “e” remains silent. If the word is followed by a word beginning with a consonant (even if the consonant is on the next line), the “e” is pronounced as a light “uh.” Example: Rosalie Langmod would be pronounced, “Rose-ah-lee-uh Lahng-mode,” whereas “Rosalie and Günther,” would be pronounced, “Rose-ah-lee ahnd Goon-turr.” (Alright, my husband’s name is German, but I think the idea is clear.)
Ultimately, speaking Middle English is one of my favorite things to do: it’s part of walking in my medieval counterpart’s shoes and experiencing what life was like during this period. Even word meanings, like lusty (which meant pleasing), had different connotations, and, in many cases, vastly different sounds. It’s not hard to learn! Give it a try!
Works Cited:
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Ed. Boenig, Robert and Andrew Taylor. Second edition. Broadview Editions, Buffalo. 2012.
Langland, William, The Vision and Creed of Piers Ploughman, Volume I . Ed. Wright, Thomas. Sept, 2013. Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43660/43660-h/43660-h.htm. Accessed Apr 20, 2018.
My Lady Mother 