Alliterative Revival, Piers Plowman, and Medieval Drama
The Alliterative Revival (14th Century)
Two English dialects:
- South East: Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales
- West:
- Langland. Piers Plowman
- Anonymous. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Chaucer wrote in an alliterative form of his own regional English, that of the South East Midlands. As this was the English of London and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, this was the dialect that became established as the literary norm in the end. It is the basis of modern SLE (Standard Literary English).
That’s why Chaucer’s work is reasonably accessible to the modern reader.
Other works of the time are those associated with the West of England, which in the 14th century saw a revival of alliterative poetry which combined native English, alliterative meters with romance themes and ideas.
Piers Plowman (by William Langland)
It was written during the second half of the 14th century. It uses dream visions and allegory but is otherwise a totally English piece (alliterative and unrhymed).
It is a sequence of Christian moralities in which the path of salvation is explored, showing at the same time the vice and corruption of society. It has a didactic tone and often is poorly structured. It survives in 3 versions called A, B, and C, which means that it was subject to constant revisions and that it was very popular. However, the best example of alliterative revival was the so-called Gawain poet, also called the Pearl poet.
He is thought to have written Pearl, Patience, and Purity, three long religious poems.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
It is a narrative romance, and the linguistic and stylistic similarity with the 3 poems suggests they could have been written by the same poet. So people call the poet Gawain poet or Pearl poet.
Sir Gawain can be compared with Chaucer’s work in quality, although the North-West Midland dialect makes it more difficult to understand.
Sir Gawain is one of the Knights of the Round Table or supporters of King Arthur. He accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is all green. The Green Knight offers to allow anyone to strike him if the challenger accepts a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him in one blow. The Green Knight after that stands up, picks up his head and reminds Gawain he is going to meet him at the appointed time.
The story of Gawain’s struggle to meet the appointment and his adventures along the way show the spirit of chivalry and loyalty.
Medieval Drama
- Secular
- Religious:
- Mystery plays – 4 cycles
- The Chester Cycle
- The York Cycle
- The Wakefield Cycle
- The N-Town Cycle
- Morality plays
- Mystery plays – 4 cycles
The 14th century also sees the development of a traditional English drama. Although secular plays existed, virtually nothing has survived.
The drama of the times was mainly religious, especially cycles of mystery plays that were performed in urban and religious centers on church festivals, particularly the Feast of Corpus Christi.
The Mystery Plays
They probably have their origin in quasi-dramatic expansions of the church liturgy at Christmas and Easter. They were performed outdoors and usually under the form of processions on movable wagons.
Their purpose was to explain the Christian message of redemption through Christ, and for that they illustrated through a sequence or a cycle of biblical plays from the Creation of the world and the fall of Adam and Eve to the Nativity, Passion, Resurrection, and Last Judgment.
Some plays were based on the Old Testament and they were included as they offered some idea of the figure of Christ.
Each of the plays was mounted by craft or trade guilds (gremios). They were called mystères, and that’s why they are called mystery plays.