Alliterative Revival in Middle English Poetry (1350-1500)
Medieval Poetry and the Alliterative Revival (1350-1500)
Medieval poetry flourished in the Chaucerian period (1350-1400). In the fifteenth century, along with some imitations of Chaucer, English literature included works by Lydgate, Hoccleve, and popular ballads. Poets of the 14th and 15th centuries developed a variety of pre-existing forms, such as alliterative verse in rhyming stanzas and alliterative rhyming prose. These poems often possess high literary quality.
The Alliterative Revival refers to the resurgence of poetry using the alliterative verse form in Middle English between c. 1350 and 1500. Some features of vocabulary recall the poetic diction of Anglo-Saxon poets, but the classical form of Old English verse died out soon after the Norman Conquest. It was replaced by looser forms with irregular rhythmic and alliterative patterns. Morte d’Arthur, a prose romance, exemplifies this, recounting the legendary exploits of King Arthur and his Knights.
Influence of Chaucer and Key Figures
Geoffrey Chaucer had a profound influence over English writers from the fifteenth century. Key figures in the flowering of a post-Chaucerian poetic tradition included John Lydgate.
Themes and Influences in Alliterative Poetry
The human and natural worlds are portrayed as divinely determined and interrelated, encompassing mystical and sacred elements. Examples include:
- Piers Plowman: Explores spiritual and allegorical themes.
- Winners and Wasters: Addresses social, political, and ethical problems.
- Romances like William of Palerne and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Many authors were highly educated, capable of translating Latin and French. They presented historical, social, and religious matters, relying on their audience’s appreciation of techniques such as hawking, hunting, and siege warfare. While some works by Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate are preserved in deluxe copies made for the aristocracy, manuscripts of alliterative poetry are humbler and less richly decorated, suggesting they were addressed to a lower social class.
Distinctive Vocabulary and Metrical Structure
The vocabulary of alliterative poetry is distinctive, differing from that of southern writers. The metrical structure of the alliterative line is straightforward. Each line consists of two half-lines, each with two stresses. The two stresses of the first half-line alliterate with the first stress of the second half-line. Some poets wrote in their own dialect, using common words from their region.
Example: “Play”
“Play,” a verb and noun of Old Norse origin, is common in alliterative poems but absent from the vocabulary of Chaucer and Gower. Synonyms are frequently used in alliterative poems, whereas Chaucer and Gower rarely used them for words like “man” or “knight.” Synonyms for “man” in Old and Middle English alliterative verse include: byrn, gome, freke, lede, segge, wye, hathel, etc.
Example from *Sir Gawain and the Green Knight*
“And all his vesture verayly // was clene verdure, Bothe the barres of his belt // and other blythe stones.”
In these lines, two words in each half-line alliterate. For instance, “vesture” and “verayly” share the “v” sound, while “barres” and “belt” share the “b” sound. The second part of each line contains one syllable that alliterates with the first two: “verdure” with “vesture” and “verayly,” and “blythe” with “barres” and “belt.” A slight pause, called a caesura, separates the two parts of the line. Consonants can alliterate with other consonants, such as *st-* or *sp-*.
Vowels may alliterate with other vowels or with *h-*: “his highe kinde.” *Sir Gawain and the Green Knight* uses a “bob-and-wheel” at the end of its stanzas. The “bob” is a short connecting line, sometimes only two syllables long, that connects a four-line ABAB rhyming section in iambic trimeter to the rest of the stanza.