Middle Ages

Gawain: On Guinevere being decked out

‘dubbed al aboute’

Gawain: the endless knot that represents the pure five senses

‘endeles knot’ ‘pure fyue’ ‘fetled’

Gawain: on how the chapel is described

‘with erbez ouergrowen’

Gawain: repetition that expresses his vulnerability

‘ne no’

Gawain: the green thing that represents his flaws

‘girdel’

Gawain: but if my head falls off I can’t restore it

Bot þa3 my hede falle on þe stonez

I con not hit restore

Gawain: Alan M Markman on the existence of Gawain

‘the romance hero exists to show us the way’

Gawain: Alan M Markman on what he demonstrates

‘human capabilities for good and bad action’

Constance legend: on how she was led

‘vertue is hir gyde’

Constance legend: on the Sultan’s mother

‘serpent depe in helle’

Constance legend: on the boat

‘ship al steereless’

Constance legend: on her vulnerability

‘alone she was’

Constance legend: Denise Baker on constances perseverance

‘fortitude in the face of adversity’

Constance legend: Denise Baker on the test of the tale

‘put moral authority to the test of human experience’

Complaint: out of body

‘me oute of mysilfe’

Complaint: about being lost

‘lost vessel’

Complaint: about being out of control

‘I had lost my tunges keie’

Complaint: about suffering as a purification

‘mannes gilte clensinge’

Complaint: Marion Turner about illness

‘routinely understood to be related to sin and immorality’

Complaint: Marion Turner about Hoccleve

‘self that is presented as divided’

Pearl: about quests

‘my goste is gon’

Pearl: what she says to him about crossing the river

‘thou may not enter’

Pearl: what everyone is in the dream space

‘meke’

Pearl: about the purity of the place

‘withouten spotte’

Pearl: Lynn Stanley on a juxtaposition

‘disjunction between spiritual life and physical decay’

Pearl: Lynn Stanley on repentance

‘he nonetheless has time for penitential cleansing’