The Middle English Poem, Erthe Upon Erthe

The Middle English Poem, Erthe Upon Erthe

The Middle English poem of Erthe upon Erthe is one which occurs fairly frequently in fifteenth-century MSS. and even later. It was a favourite theme for Commonplace Books, and was frequently inserted on the spare leaves at the beginning or end of a manuscript. From the many texts of the poem which have survived, and from the fact that portions of it continued to be inscribed on walls and tombstones up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, awide popularity may be deduced. The extant versions, moreover, point to a knowledge of the poem throughout the greater part of England, as well as in the south of Scotland. The grimness of the motive, based on the words Memento homo quod cinis es et in cinerem reverteris, allies the text both with the earlier group of poems relating to The Soul and the Body, and with the more or less contemporary Dance of Death, but whereas the two latter groups can claim a popularity which extended over western Europe, Erthe upon Erthe exists only in Middle English texts, and in one parallel Latin version.1 It is, indeed, difficult to see how the play upon the word earth on which the poem depends could have been reproduced with equal success in any language outside English, and the Latin version is distinctly inferior in this respect. There would seem, therefore, to be good reason for the assumption that Erthe upon Erthe is of English origin, belonging to the same class of literature as the English versions of the Soul and Body poems. The earliest texts of the poem known to be extant are found in MSS. Harleian 2253 and 913, both dated about the beginning of the fourteenth century. The two texts vary greatly in lengthMS. x Harl. 2253 consists of four lines as against seven six-lined stanzas in MS. Harl. 913and the latter text has the parallel Latin rendering mentioned above, but they coincide so far as they go, and appear to represent a thirteenth or fourteenth-century type of the poem, which may be called the A version.2 Another poem of the same kind, which differs considerably from the A version, but is, in all probability, closely connected with it in origin, is common in fifteenth-century MSS. Ihave traced eighteen texts of this version, dating from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, all of which represent or are based upon the same common type, though individual transcribers appear to have expanded the theme according to their own taste. Such additions may easily be distinguished, since they seldom succeed in maintaining either the grim simplicity, or the fundamental play upon the word earth, which characterize the genuine portions of the poem. This common fifteenth-century type may be called the B version. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 33768
Author: Murray, Hilda M. R.
Release Date: Sep 20, 2010
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Murray, Hilda M. R