The Oxford Book of English Verse - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

One of the best-known living literary critics.

The W. H. Auden quotation (see Full Description) is from a review of Ricks's Longman edition of Tennyson. He writes: 'Reading Professor Ricks's comments and observations convinces me that he is exactly the kind of critic every poet dreams of finding. No poet wants either uncritical admirers or decoders who discover in his poems secret symbols and meanings which never entered his mind. But every poet thinks of himself as a craftsman, a maker of verbal objects: what he hopes for is that critics will notice the technical means by which he secures his effects. Alas, so few critics do. Professor Ricks is a happy exception.'

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Excerpt

ANONYMOUS

[THIRTEENTH CENTURY]

1

Sumer is icumen in?
Lhude sing, cuccu!
Groweth sed and bloweth med
And springth the wude nu.
Sing, cuccu!

Awe bleteth after lomb,
Lhouth after calve cu,
Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth.
Murie sing, cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu,
Wel singes thu, cuccu!
Ne swik thu naver nu!

Sing, cuccu, nu! Sing, cuccu!
Sing, cuccu! Sing, cuccu, nu!

6 Awe] ewe
7 Lhouth] lows
8 verteth] farts
12 swik] leave off

[FOURTEENTH CENTURY]

2

Ich am of Irlaunde
Ant of the holy londe of irlande
Gode sir pray ich ye
For of saynte charite
Come ant daunce wyt me
In irlaunde.

3

Maiden in the mor lay,
     In the mor lay,
Sevenyst fulle, sevenist fulle,
Maiden in the mor lay,
     In the mor lay,
Sevenistes fulle ant a day.

Welle was hire mete;
     Wat was hire mete?
     The primerole ant the,?
     The primerole ant the,?
Welle was hire mete;
Wat was hire mete??
     The primerole ant the violet.

Welle was hire dryng;
     Wat was hire dryng?
The chelde water of the welle-spring.

Welle was hire bour;
     Wat was hire bour?
The rede rose an te lilie flour.

1 mor] moor lay] dwelt
3 Sevenyst] seven nights
7 mete] food
9 primerole] primrose
14 dryng] drink
16 chelde] cold

JOHN GOWER
1330?-1408

4 from Confessio Amantis [Book Four, lines 371-423]

  I finde hou whilom ther was on,
Whos namé was Pymaleon,
Which was a lusti man of yowthe:
The werkés of entaile he cowthe
Above alle othre men as tho;
And thurgh fortune it fell him so,
As he whom lové schal travaile,
He made an ymage of entaile
Lich to a womman in semblance
Of feture and of contienance,
So fair yit neveré was figure.
Riht as a lyvés creature
Sche semeth, for of yvor whyt
He hath hire wroght of such delit,
That sche was rody on the cheke
And red on bothe hire lippés eke;
Whereof that he himself beguileth.
For with a goodly lok sche smyleth,
So that thurgh pure impression
Of his ymaginacion
With al the herte of his corage
His love upon this faire ymage
He sette, and hire of lové preide;
Bot sche no word ayeinward seide.
The longé day, what thing he dede,
This ymage in the samé stede
Was evere bi, that até mete
He wolde hire serve and preide hire ete,
And putte unto hire mowth the cuppe;
And whan the bord was taken uppe,
He hath hire into chambre nome,
And after, whan the nyht was come,
He leide hire in his bed al nakid.
He was forwept, he was forwakid,
He keste hire coldé lippés ofte,
And wissheth that thei weren softe,
And ofte he rouneth in hire Ere,
And ofte his arm now hier now there
He leide, as he hir wolde embrace,
And evere among he axeth grace,
As thogh sche wisté what he mente:
And thus himself he gan tormente
With such desese of lovés peine,
That noman mihte him moré peine.
Bot how it were, of his penance
He madé such continuance
Fro dai to nyht, and preith so longe,
That his preiere is underfonge,
Which Venus of hire grace herde;
Be nyhte and whan that he worst ferde,
And it lay in his nakede arm,
The colde ymage he fieleth warm
Of fleissh and bon and full of lif.

1 whilom] formerly on] one
4 entaile] sculpture
5 as tho] then
7 travaile] trouble
12 lyvés] living
13 yvor] ivory
21 corage] spirit
23 preide] prayed
31 nome] taken
34 forwept] worn out with weeping
37 rouneth] whispers
41 wisté] knew
48 underfonge] accepted
50 ferde] fared

WILLIAM LANGLAND

1330?-1386?

5-6 from Piers Plowman

5 [Prologue, lines 1-45]

In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne
I shope me in shroudes as I a shepe were;
In habite as an heremite unholy of workes
Went wyde in this world wondres to here.
Ac on a May mornynge on Malverne hulles
Me befel a ferly, of fairy me thoughte:
I was wery forwandred and went me to reste
Under a brode banke bi a bornes side,
And as I lay and lened and loked in the wateres,
I slombred in a slepyng, it sweyved so merye.
      Than gan I to meten a merveilouse swevene,
That I was in a wildernesse, wist I never where.
As I bihelde into the est, an hiegh to the sonne,
I seigh a toure on a toft trielich ymaked;
A deep dale binethe, a dongeon thereinne
With depe dyches and derke and dredful of sight.
A faire felde ful of folke fonde I there bytwene,
Of alle maner of men, the mene and the riche,
Worchyng and wandryng as the worlde asketh.
Some putten hem to the plow, pleyed ful selde,
In settyng and in sowyng swonken ful harde,
And wonnen that wastours with glotonye destruyeth.
      And some putten hem to pruyde, apparailed hem thereafter,
In contenaunce of clothyng comen disgised.
      In prayers and in penance putten hem manye,
Al for love of owre Lorde lyveden ful streyte,
In hope forto have heveneriche blisse;
As ancres and heremites that holden hem in here selles,
And coveiten nought in contre to kairen aboute,
For no likerous liflode her lykam to plese.
       And somme chosen chaffare; they cheven the bettere,
As it semeth to owre syght that suche men thryveth;
And somme murthes to make as mynstralles conneth,
And geten gold with here glee giltless, I leve.
Ac japers and jangelers, Judas chylderen,
Feynen hem fantasies and foles hem maketh,
And han here witte at wille to worche, yif they sholde;
That Paule precheth of hem I nel nought preve it here;
Qui turpiloquium loquitur etc. is Luciferes hyne.
    Bidders and beggeres fast about yede
Woth her bely and her bagge of bred ful ycrammed;
Fayteden for here fode, foughten atte ale;
In glotonye, God it wote, gon hij to bedde,
And risen with ribaudye, tho roberdes knaves;
Slepe and sori sleuthe seweth hem evre.

2 shope] dressed shroudes] outer garments
6 ferly ... thoughte] marvel, seemingly of the supernatural realm
7 forwandred gone astray
8 bornes] brook's
10 sweyved] sounded
11 meten] dreamed swevene] dream
12 wist] knew
14 seigh] saw toft] hillock trielich] choicely
20 selde] seldom
21 settyng] planting swonken] worked
22 wonnen that]...