Please read the following poem written some time before 1400 in England. The maiden in Mary, the mother of Jesus:
I sing of a maiden
That is makelees*: *matchless, spotless, mate-less
King of alle kinges
To her sone she chees*. *chose
He came also stille* *also stille: in as still (undisturbing, quiet) a manner
Ther his moder was
As dewe in Aprille
That falleth on the gras.
He cam also stille
To his modres bowr
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the flowr.
He can also stille
Ther his moder lay
As dewe in Aprille
That falleth on the spray.
Moder and maiden
Was nevere noon but she:
Wel may swich a lady
Godes moder be.
1. Someone please attempt a paraphrase, i.e., put it into your own words, of at least part of the poem. Be as detailed as you can be. Some of the words are unfamiliar but you can probably puzzle them out. Try! If you have corrections to suggest concerning someone's paraphrase, please make them.
Once you've agreed on a paraphrase of the poem, please answer one of the following:
2. What in geeneral does the poet seem to be praising about the maiden (Mary)?
OR
3. Can you detect anything artful or beautiful about this poem?
OR
4. What comparison or contrasts can you draw between the maiden of the poem and the Wife of Bath?
I sing of a maiden
That is makelees*: *matchless, spotless, mate-less
King of alle kinges
To her sone she chees*. *chose
He came also stille* *also stille: in as still (undisturbing, quiet) a manner
Ther his moder was
As dewe in Aprille
That falleth on the gras.
He cam also stille
To his modres bowr
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the flowr.
He can also stille
Ther his moder lay
As dewe in Aprille
That falleth on the spray.
Moder and maiden
Was nevere noon but she:
Wel may swich a lady
Godes moder be.
1. Someone please attempt a paraphrase, i.e., put it into your own words, of at least part of the poem. Be as detailed as you can be. Some of the words are unfamiliar but you can probably puzzle them out. Try! If you have corrections to suggest concerning someone's paraphrase, please make them.
Once you've agreed on a paraphrase of the poem, please answer one of the following:
2. What in geeneral does the poet seem to be praising about the maiden (Mary)?
OR
3. Can you detect anything artful or beautiful about this poem?
OR
4. What comparison or contrasts can you draw between the maiden of the poem and the Wife of Bath?
21 comments:
An attempt at a paraphrase of this poem:
There once was a young lady who wasn't married, and she gave birth to the "king of all kings," remaining good. He came as quietly to his mother as dew falls upon the grass. He came quietly to where his mother lay as dew falls upon the spray. There will never be one like this young lady, as is only right for the mother of the king.
I find the metaphor of "dew in Aprille that falleth" particularly beautiful. This simile evokes a softness, and tenderness; the light sprinkle of dew upon the grass, barely noticeable. I wonder if this also alludes to the beginning of Jesus' life, because the morning is the beginning of the day. It also may reference to the beginning of a new world, as a Medieval Christian might see his birth.
Checking in. . .
Alright. Here's my paraphrase. Compare and contrast:
I tell of a virgin maiden
King of all kings her chosen son.
He came quietly on his mother
As April dew that falls on the grass.
He came quietly on his mother's bed also
As April dew that falls on the flower.
He came quietly were his mother lay also
Like April dew that falls on the spray.
There was never a mother and maiden as she:
Well may such a lady God's mother be.
Prompt 2:
The poem, as encapsulated in the last four lines, praises Mary's ability to be both a great mother and a beautiful maiden. I feel the beauty part is emphasized in the constant reference to "April dew", herself appearing as a "flowr", some "gras" and the "spray". This metaphor contains the idea of springtime which is generally associated with youth, and new beauty. In the first line, Mary is praised for her cleanliness, her spotlessness, her virginity. She is praised in that she can be the mother of God, and a beautiful, chaste maiden simultaneously. The poem's intrinsic beauty, I feel, is a testament to that of Mary.
Prompt 2: According to the poem she is adept at being a mother and a maiden, and she is youthful. I think the dew on grass is particularly beautiful, although most of the language that is used is quite wonderful as well.
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the gras.
The way that these lines relate her to dew captures the essence of how I would imagine Mary; pristine and unpolluted, just human, clean and refreshing, as this detail captures.
Thank you!
Checking in.
Hmm, everyone is making it sound like the maiden Mary was chosen in the story to give birth to Jesus. What I picked up was that she chose Jesus (King of all kins, as referred to) as her son. "King of all Kings, as her son she chees (chose)"
That's just what I got from it. I agree with Jake about the metaphor of dew in april; The writer of this poem is making the whole birth story sound soft, springy, and calm.
-Rosamund
prompt three.....the artist seems to like april dew on gras, flor and spray (water...ocean??). These are very beautiful and could be...ARE an example of imagery and beautify in this poem
promtpt 2.....i think the maiden described as "makeless (matchless, spotless, mate-less) is depicting ehr as pure, original and not corrtupted by the desires of sex....thats just my interpretation........i think the fact of her beging matless is just an example of purity and light and goodness!!!
Agreeing with Turner's second statement. The fact that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus is always talked about in Christianity. Checking in.
Prompt 3:
Here the poet is saying something beautiful when the baby boy is being born. I find this one stanza to be very beautiful and the words are so descriptive that explain what its like in Aprille (April)... "He can also stille Ther his moder lay As dewe in Aprille That falleth on the spray." This is also artful because it is describing the mother and the baby and what the setting is like for them. And this stanza is almost the same but it is a little different and i find them both equally beautiful. "He can also stille Ther his moder lay As dewe in Aprille That falleth on the spray."
<3 love you guys! <3
Since this is a short poem compared to yesterday's, I think all the people already took some part of my thoughts... I will try to write something else though...
So mainly a mix of all of them :P
I think that this poem talks as Mary being very youthful, wise, and responsible which is why she chose Jesus as her son(I agree with Rosamund on this point). I think one of the elements that makes the poem sound beautiful is the first stanza when it says "I sing of a maiden That is makelees" because even though this term also means mate-less, the terms spotless and the matchless show the beauty of the maiden.
Once you understand what this poem is saying, it's easy to see that it contains very beautiful language. The repetition of the phrases "also stille" and "As dewe in Aprille" and "that falleth on the...(gras, flowr, spray)". This kind of repetition is so effective in the way that this can be a little confusing to understand, so it brings in phrases and woords that were already used and therefore make the reader feel as if it's more familiar and easier to remember. We talked about this sort of thing in Studio the other day...how in a poem that you either only hear (you dont have the text in front of you, you just hear a reading) or you dont understand, the parts everyone remembers are the repeated lines. It makes us feel more comfortable with the poem.
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i agree with matthew and rosamund. it seems like she chose jesus over any other men( she is a virgin)
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It's Hunter!
I'm doing Prompt 2...
I feel like, in general, the poet is praising her beauty and freshness, much like Rocco said. I feel like the "Dew in Aprille" is really fresh and you can really picture pure she is.
I agree with Matthew Woodard's summary
2. he praises her religious acts ( he describes her as Gods mother) Te fact that the poet refer of each of her actions as Grass, Dew, which has a lot to do with nature. I feel he praises her actions in which make her like god's mother but uses simile and metaphor to convey them through the poem
Prompt #2
The poem seems to praise Mary's calm being and her ability to be completely still and yet powerful in that. It mentions her as a dew drop on a flower in April so this could easily relate to the beauty and calmness of nature. But in that we can correlate to the way it mentions Mary as perfect similar to the way of nature's perfection.
The praise set upon Mary is basically a connection to the perfection of God's world and in that Mary is God's perfect creation (like a dew drop in April). What's even more interesting is that she is referred to as God's mother so no only is she praised upon as perfect in the worldly aspect but in a divine nature as well.
This is Sofia...
I love the simile that compares dew falling upon grass/spray to Mary's quiet giving birth to baby Jesus. It brings a very beautiful, tranquil feeling to the poem.
I really liked Jake's paraphrasing of this poem, especially the last stanza, and how he really put it into his own words.
I think the poet is praising Mary's gentle and sort of "clean" way about her. She is a Virgin and yet she can still give birth to baby Jesus. As the last stanza says (and how Jake summarized), There will never be another one like her.
I hope it's okay if I don't check in. It's really late and I doubt anyone else will blog after me.
checking in
Prompts 1+2=
I am going to attempt to paraphrase the first stanza of this poem. It appears to be a description of Mary. Here is what I think it means:
The author is "singing" about a woman, who is a virgin, who chose for a son the king of all kings- Jesus Christ. This is an example of what the author is praising about Mary. He is praising her purity, and exemplary virtues. How appropriate...this reminds me so much of my history report. (I am doing a painting of the Virgin Mary that is part of the Ghent Altarpiece) More connections! See you all soon....
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