Middle English Love Poetry

Dialects And Origin

by: Tanja Schwebe

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction 3

2. Historical Background

2.1 Social Situation 4

2.2 Language and Literary Situation 5

2.3 Purpose and Contents of Middle English Love Poetry 6

3. Dialects and "Isoglosses" In Middle English 8

4. Origin of Love Poetry 11

5. Summary 15

Endnotes 16

Bibliography 17

1. Introduction

If somebody is interested in Middle English love poetry and reads poems, he or she will soon find out that the early poems are anonymous. Especially those, which were written in the 14th century.
At the end of the 14th century and at the beginning of the 15th century, there were authors like Geoffrey Chaucer or Charles d´Orléans. They belonged to the cultural sphere of the aristocracy and that was London based. Both were well educated people and, knowing their background, it is easy to find out when or where the poems were written. With the anonymous poems it is not so easy. Questions like: "Where was this or that poem written?" may arise. The question can only be answered vaguely, that means that the social background can be discovered, but not the name of the author.
The origin of a poem can be discovered by taking a closer look at their language.
The poems were written in different dialects. The Northern dialect, for example, differs very much from the Southwestern dialect. One general statement can be made here already: early Middle English love poetry cannot be found in the London area or the northern parts of Great Britain, for example in Scotland. Scotland might have had poetry as well, but, on the one hand, the poetry was Gaelic and, on the other hand, it is not the topic of this paper.
This paper will give general information about the historical background of this period, concerning the social and literary situation and the purpose of love poetry. The main part will illustrate which dialects were used in poetry and literary writing. It will try to locate some of the poems by means of dialect or social background and give a short interpretation as well.
In the final instance, a summary will be given.

2. Historical Background

2.1 Social Situation

Wars, for example the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), and economic developments like the growing textile-industry changed the social background of the population. Other factors also had an impact on the people of that time.
During the 13th and 14th century, England ´s population increased, but in 1348 / 1349 one third was killed by the "Black Death". Workers became very scarce and the production decreased, so goods and service became very expensive. Extortionate prices for labour and consumer goods were the result.
During the Middle Ages, the social structure of the population differed from that of today. A strict social hierarchy was the common form, that means the Church was at the top of the system, followed by the king and his aristocracy. He deduced his power from the Pope. The Pope and the kings of England often had contradicting ideas of ruling the land, but they ended up in silent arrangements. That is the reason why people were so much influenced by the Church. People were of enormous piety and followed the aims and virtues advocated by the Church in all ways and lived in fear of God. Executions at the stake was very common during the late Middle Ages. This was the answer to revolting people who opposed the system or the Church.
The bourgeois class followed far behind the Church, the king and the aristocracy. The peasants lived at the lowest level. There were many peasants, relatively few bourgeois people and only very few noble men and women. It was not possible to change one´s estate. If one was born as a peasant, he or she stayed a peasant for all of his or her life, no matter how hard they worked. If people were not born an aristocrat, there was no way to ever become one. In addition, it was not allowed for the lower class men to love or even to marry a girl from a higher class, and vice versa. Noble men were not allowed to marry a girl from a lower social status. There were, of course, secret meetings, but if they were discovered, the men or women of the higher status were outlawed, sometimes even executed. The person from the lower status was either executed or imprisoned.

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