the sinfulness of homosexual coupling. To rid these cit-
ies of their sins, God wreaks his vengeance and reduces
them to ashes.
The third part follows a slightly different structure
than the fi rst two, with one of the minor exempla inte-
grated into the major one, instead of both leading up to
its climax. These three are also more integrated stories
than the exempla in the previous two sections. Begin-
ning with the biblical story of Nebuchadnezzar, the poet
describes how he sacked Jerusalem, seized its sacred
vessels and held it captive.
The major exemplum is the story of Belshazzar, who
defi led sacred vessels and then ignored the (literal)
writing on the wall and Daniel’s interpretation thereof.
Belshazzar is killed. The story is allegorized for the
readers, with the vessels representing the defi led
human body, again reinforcing the notion that clean-
ness is necessary for salvation.
The poet intended this three-part structure to be the
driving force of this sermon-like poem, as evidenced
by the conclusion: “Thus upon thrynne wyses I haf
yow thro schewed / That unclanness tocleves in corage
[heart] dere” (ll. 1805–6). Three clear examples of
uncleanness were presented; thus, “clannes” is God’s
“comfort.” Although the structure of the poem does
follow chronologically, it has been a point of intense
study and scholarship. The poem is homiletic and
adheres at least somewhat closely to the structure of a
sermon, but it departs from it in some signifi cant ways.
Normally, a medieval sermon would build up to some
sort of climax, but here God’s punishments are less-
ened in time. The worst vengeance is Noah’s fl ood,
where the entire earth is punished for its sins, while
Belshazzar’s fate is his alone. Others argue that the
poem’s shape is informed by the poet’s role as moral
instructor and guide, leading his readers through illus-
trative examples to support his theoretical claims.
Most of the poem’s meaning hinges on the word
clene and its opposite, fylth, both of which have several
connotations in Middle English. The adjective certainly
does mean “clean” in the modern sense—physically
washed—but it also means pure, complete, bright, and
innocent, among other meanings. The word clene is
interspersed with other similes, such as pure, as well as
words like courteous, which play on the image of God
as king in his court of heaven. Fylth also has many
meanings in Middle English, and scholarly debate over
the poet’s use of the word hinges on whether or not it
has a predominantly sexual connotation.
Critics have also disagreed on the poem’s tone. On
the one hand, many argue that it is a largely negative,
decrying humanity’s sins. Indeed, at points it seems
that the poem’s given title should be Uncleanness,
because this is really the only subject matter the poet
discusses. Other scholars have pointed out that in the
exempla, the poet has shown remarkable sympathy for
the sinners, highlighting their very human characteris-
tics and failings and providing hope for the reader.
FURTHER READING
Anderson, J. J. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Clean-
ness, Patience: Everyman Edition. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E.
Tuttle, 1999.
Andrew, Malcolm, and Ronald Waldron, eds. The Poems of
the Pearl Manuscript. Exeter, U.K.: University of Exeter
Press, 1999.
Clark, S. L. “The Signifi cance of Thresholds in the Pearl-
Poet’s Purity.” Interpretations 12 (1980): 114–127.
Keiser, Elizabeth. Courtly Desire and Medieval Homophobia:
The Legitimation of Sexual Pleasure in “Cleanness” and Its
Contexts. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997.
Vantuono, William. “A Triple-Three Structure for Clean-
ness.” Manuscripta 28 (1984): 26–37.
Jennifer N. Brown“COME AWAY, COME SWEET LOVE”
JOHN DOWLAND (1597) This lyric was set to music
by the lutenist JOHN DOWLAND in his enormously pop-
ular First Booke of Songs or Ayres in 1597 and was
reprinted in the 1600 miscellany England’s Helicon. As
an AUBADE welcoming the advent of morning, the song
departs from the melancholy tone that characterizes
most of Dowland’s early lute songs, instead bearing a
sense of CARPE DIEM: Each STANZA opens with the REFRAIN
“Come away, come sweet love” and attempts to per-
suade the poet’s beloved to seize the day and give in to
his sexual advances.
The fi rst stanza links love to the earth and air, por-
traying it as natural and joyful. The poet seeks to “mixe
our soules in mutuall blisse” (1.7), referring somewhat
fl ippantly to an ideal of Neoplatonism—sexual love as120 “COME AWAY, COME SWEET LOVE”