types of Middle English lyric poetry: the secular and the
sacred. While the great bulk of this type of poetry is
sacred, there exist a number of secular poems, which
have as their themes COURTLY LOVE, drinking songs, and
popular customs. Sacred poetry comes in a variety of
forms, relying largely on religious Latin texts, the Bible,
and other patristic writings. The basic thrust is some
form of appeal to Christ or the Virgin Mary for redemp-
tion. Middle English lyricists remained somewhat anon-
ymous in voice, meaning they emphasize a more shared
experience as opposed to a subjective or personal one.
Another form of sacred poetry was the versifi cation of
popular hagiographies (saint’s lives; see HAGIOGRAPHY).
In the romance poetry of the 13th century, we fi nd
one of the best-represented genres of Middle English
poetry. Romances in verse often evolved from Anglo-
Saxon heroic poetry, usually involving knightly exploits
and adventures. The heroes in each style, however, dif-
fer slightly. While Anglo-Saxon heroics emphasized an
allegiance to men and duty, Middle English romance
heroes are devoted more to a lady and to God. There
are often elaborate settings and descriptions, and the
message is very didactic. There are also a variety of
rhyme schemes and metrical patterns, most notably
the octosyllabic couplet and a tail rhyme scheme. The
most famous of these poems are the cycle poems, such
as Arthurian poems (see ARTHURIAN LITERATURE) and SIR
GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT and the rest of the
Gawain Cycle, but noncycle romances also exist. A
subgenre of the romance is the verse CHRONICLE, which
contains a short history of verse, often involving the
founding of England—these include Arthurian histo-
ries—and possessing a theme of national pride.
A later form, Middle English dream visions and
ALLEGORY poems, differ from the previous two genres in
that these poems invent tangible objects as representa-
tions of immaterial objects or reality. These visions are
usually encountered in a dream in which the dreamer
is cast into a rustic setting—a dream world—that
replaces the real world. Usually, the dreamer acquires
some prevision of the future, and he is often led by a
guide who helps interpret the dream. PIERS PLOWMAN
by WILLIAM LANGLAND is one example of a dream vision
in alliterative verse. Another is JOHN GOWER’s (1327–
1408) CONFESSIO AMANTIS. Some of Chaucer’s most
famous minor poems are dream poems, including The
PARLIAMENT OF FOWLS, The BOOK OF THE DUCHESS, and The
HOUSE OF FAME.
Of course, Chaucer is well known for his fabliau
poems (of which there exist seven in The CANTERBURY
TALES). These poems, along with the burlesque, are
mostly verse tales written for the purpose of amuse-
ment. Fabliau was popular in France before the 13th
century and is said to have come to England about that
time. Contrary to romances, they are not didactic, and
they were often written for the upper class. Fabliaus
are often coarse and descriptive; they involve a realistic
setting and generally are written from a comic point of
view. Similarly, burlesques are hyperbolic imitations of
characters or events intended to effect laughter. Chau-
cer’s “Tale of Sir Topas” is an excellent example of a
burlesque of courtly romance.
Another genre of Middle English poetry, BEAST
FABLEs, probably derived from Aesop. These are didac-
tic poems that involve beasts acting in an anthropo-
morphic manner, often at odds with their characteristic
nature (for example, a wolf might be portrayed as dim-
witted). Frequently, beasts represent human social or
political groups. Middle English beast literature was
thought of as good for SATIRE, since the animals masked
any references to identity. Some examples of this genre
include REYNARD LITERATURE and Chaucer’s The Parlia-
ment of Fowls. The Reynard tales, which probably came
from France or Germany, involve a wily fox and center
on biting criticism of the upper class. Chaucer’s Parlia-
ment combines a beast tale with a dream vision, cri-
tiquing government and courtly love.
Around 1350–1400, England enjoyed an ALLITERA-
TIVE REVIVAL, or resurgence in the use of alliteration by
poets. Langland’s Piers Plowman, PEARL, and Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight all share this characteristic, among
other traits. In the second half of the 14th century,
alliterative poetry became more involved with political
and social protest (and Piers, with its three visions, is a
good example). Again, as in much Middle English
poetry, no one category can fully do justice to these
poems, so it remains best to look at them as the diver-
gent base of what would blossom into Renaissance
poetry, where some genres would fl ourish while others
would disappear.MIDDLE ENGLISH POETRY 273