Mediæval Poetry in Praise of the Blessed Virgin (Part Six) - An Orison to the Blessed Virgin and I sing of a Maiden

MEDIAEVAL POETRY IN PRAISE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN (PART SIX) - 

AN ORISON TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN and

I SING OF A MAIDEN

In the next poem, which falls under Woolf's heading of verse in praise of the Virgin and imploring her mercies, Mary's stature of brokenhearted mother changes to that of a queen-mother, sharing in the glory of her Son's triumPhant victory over death and sin alike. In the guileless An Orison to the Blessed Virgin, from the first half of the fourteenth century, the poet, presenting himself as an abject sinner, unable by his own powers to control the wantonness caused by his reckless termperament, casts himself on Mary's mercy. Critics of hyperdulia might be forgiven for feeling that the poet in this instance goes overboard in his plea, for rather than cast himself on Christ' mercy for love of his mother, he reverses the process. However, the abject humility of the poem confirms one's feelings that this mistake is not made from a cold, calculated desire on the poet's part to cast aspersions on God's majestic omnipotence. Rather we see the poet as a stumbling, awkward sinner who makes an involuntary slip in his contrite zeal to appease heaven.

     AN ORISON TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

     Mayde and moder mylde    
     uro loue of þine childe                    for; thy
     þet is god an man                           who
     me þet am zuo wylde                     so wild
     uram zenne þou me ssylde            from sin do thou shield me
     ase ich  þe bydded can. Amen.      if I (may be allowed to) beg

The classic example of the spellbinding effect of "incremental repetition" (Fowler 1968:38) or "repetition with partial variations" (Davies 1978:17), a stylistic device frequently found in ballads, is seen in the following Marian lyric, which is traceable to the thirteenth century and is commonly recognised as a masterpiece of eloquent understatement:

     I SING OF A MAIDEN     

     I sing of a maiden
     That is makeles:                             incomparable
     King of alle kinges                         King of all kings
     To here sone che ches                   for her Son she chose

     He cam also stille                           He came as quietly
     Ther his moder was                        (to) where His mother was
     As dew in Aprille
     That falleth on the grass                 falls

     He cam also stille
     To his moderes bowr                       mother's bower
     As dew in Aprille
     That falleth on the flowr                  falls, flower

     He cam also stille                             as quietly
     There his moder lay,                        (to) where
     As dew in Aprille
     That falleth on the spray                  that falls

     Moder and maiden                           Mother and virgin
     Was never non but she                     no-one but she
     Well may swich a lady                      such
     Godes moder be.                              God's
                                          (1 - 20)

The poet's employment of the simple imagery of a dewy English spring meadow in April conjures up a serene freshness in relation to Christ and his mother while a sense of unpretentiousness is confirmed by the repeated use of the adverb stylle (5) [quietly] coupled with the simile of April dew, falling first on the gras (8) (his mother's environment), then on the bower (10) (her womb) and finally on the spray (16). Mary, by co-operating fully with the graces and talents bestowed on her by her Creator, has achieved a full flowering of her virtues. The tension built up by the use of incremental repetition is dispelled by the simplicity of the final quatrain which, for all its stark naïveté, effectively sets the Blessed Virgin above the remaining women in the world simply because, both mother and virgin, there was neuer non but che (18).

Dr Luky Whittle