Compounding was still used to create new words, as
was affi xing, blending (combinations of two existing
words), and clipping (removing pieces of words).
FURTHER READING
Burrow, J. A., and Thorlac Turville-Petre. A Book of Middle
English. 3rd edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
Mossé, Fernand. A Handbook of Middle English. Translated by
James A. Walker. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity Press, 1952.
Jordan, R. Handbook of Middle English Grammar: Phonology.
Translated and revised by E. J. Crook. The Hague: Mou-
ton, 1974.
MIDDLE ENGLISH LYRICS AND BAL-
LADS These genres belong to the popular litera-
ture of this era, and most BALLADs, but not all lyrics, are
songs. A ballad is a dramatic, narrative work, a folk
poem with no single author, but a lyric is generally an
expression of one poet’s feelings, presenting the poet’s
voice. Thus the lyric belongs to the poet and the ballad
to the people.
Ballads were passed on like rumors, composed and
transmitted orally long before they were written down,
gaining and losing details as a leader sang new lines and
a chorus repeated the BURDEN. Comparisons of old and
current forms of ballads and of versions from different
sources show the variations of repeated performances,
each one fi xed in its time and place. They describe stock
characters in formulaic terms and predictable situa-
tions, yet each retelling enthralls the audience with its
striking vigor, linking the familiarity of well-loved tales
and the freshness of striking accounts. Their familiarity
allows dramatic brevity, without the need for detailed
description. Imagination completes pictures that begin
with such ballad motifs as young warriors (for example
Lochinvar), riderless horses (as in “BONNIE GEORGE
CAMPBELL”), abandoned maidens (too numerous to
mention), revenants (as in “The Unquiet Grave”), and
fl owers growing from the graves of parted lovers
(another very widespread ballad motif).
Early gatherers of English and Scottish ballads were
Bishop Thomas Percy (1729–1811) and Sir Walter
Scott (1771–1832), both of whom amended the works,
unlike their contemporary, Joseph Ritson (1752–
1803). Their works are still prized and have frequently
been reprinted. A more recent foundation of ballad
scholarship is Francis James Child’s collection. He
faithfully recorded variant forms of the ballads in fi ve
volumes published between 1882 and 1898, and many
later works of criticism refer to “Child ballads,” citing
the numbers he gave to the ballads as points of refer-
ence. Helen Child Sargent and George Lyman Kittredge
reduced this work to one volume in their edition of
1904.
The poems now called lyrics did not have this name
when they were written. The term medieval lyric as it is
used now generally means no more than a short poem.
These explore all aspects and moods of medieval life,
embracing meditations, prayers, hymns, mnemonic
poems, and love poems, and only occasionally imply a
narrative. Some lyrics convey the poet’s emotions;
some songs are found with their music, and many CAR-
OLs display their connection with dance in their
rhythms and patterns. In such ways they resemble the
lyrics of later eras, but many other poems we now call
medieval lyrics are quite unlike them.
Religious meditations, for instance “NOW GOTH
SONNE UNDER WOD” (“Sunset on Calvary”) and “YE
THAT PASEN BY THE WEYE,” are designed to inspire an
individual’s silent thoughts, as do the prayers for vari-
ous occasions. There are many hymns. “Stand wel
Moder, vnder Rode” and “Iesu Cristes Milde Moder”
are among those which recall the Latin hymn “Stabat
iuxta Christi Crucem,” by translation or inspiration.
The latter are only two of the English lyrics that show a
debt to other European languages, in particular to
Latin and French.
Many lyrics told of the passing of the seasons,
expressing the exuberance of the coming of spring and
love after the deprivations of winter, as in “LENTEN YS
COME WITH LOVE TO TOUNE.” The love that inspires lyr-
ics may be divine, as in “I Syke When I Syng” and “I
SING OF A MAIDEN,” or earthly; some of the latter, such
as “JOLLY JANKYN” and “The WILY CLERK” suggest the
stories of betrayed maidens and their clerical seducers.
Mnemonic poems arranged information so that it could
easily be remembered, with no thought of feelings or
emotion. A few works, including “Judas,” which clearly
tells a story, and the enigmatic “CORPUS CHRISTI CAROL”
have been seen both as lyrics and ballads.MIDDLE ENGLISH LYRICS AND BALLADS 271