One of the things I found most interesting in Plamper’s piece about emotion was the description of the location of emotions and the reference to the eye as the window to the soul. Plamper explains that in English and German the eyes are often thought of as descriptors for emotions.  When someone is happy, we may describe their eyes as “shining” as Plamper exemplifies.  However, in the Chinese language eyebrows are more commonly used to illustrate emotion.  The explanation of the importance of eyes in the English language made me recall our conversation about grey eyes in the Middle Ages. Grey eyes were considered the most beautiful eyes in the Middle Ages when Pearl was written. Pearl is depicted with grey eyes which were stunning.  Although the thought behind this notion is attributed to the goddess Athena’s grey eyes, I think it is very interesting to think that the Middle English Pearl references eyes multiple times. Rather than focusing on Pearl’s eyebrows like it may have if it had been written in Chinese, Middle English shares a commonality with modern English and German: a focus on the eyes.  Whether the author of Pearl intended the grey eyes of Pearl or the reference to an “eye’s delight” in stanza 16 and other references to the eyes as illustrations of emotion is unclear but it is interesting to consider these Middle English references as a possible precursors to our notion of eyes as the window to the soul.

This poem followed more of the themes I thought that medieval poetry would be like before entering into this coarse.  Many of the poems that we have read so far have deep religious tones to them but Pearl is overtly religious and is centralized around Jesus, St. John, and Mary as much if not more than the dreamer or his daughter.  There is a clear push for living a good life in order to reach the joy and paradise found in the poem.  A good example of the morals the poem tries to convey is in stanza 72 which says, “Concerning death, where hope is best/fear of death the Lamb puts to rest,/At Mass He heaps on happiness…”  This theme is again and again emphasized.

The dreamer in Pearl is mesmerized by the ornamentation of the otherworldly place. His excitement distracts him from mourning the loss of his daughter. On the one hand this is good because he is momentarily relieved from his sorrow. On the other hand, one must question his values as material things make him forget such an important relationship. The dreamer’s distracted amazement at ornamentation raises question to weather he values material things over emotional connection, and further weather he misses Pearl because of her role as his daughter or her position as his most valuable jewel. Her name answers this question in a sense because a pearl is a precious, valuable jewel; from this we learn Pearl’s worth to her father, the dreamer. Though Peal was young when she died the dreamer never mentions any memorable moments, he simply describes her value and purity. To further address the dreamer’s values, when he finally sees Pearl in her maiden state, rather than being relieved by her happiness and well being he seems jealous that she rests peacefully in paradise while he laments her absence on earth, further emphasizing this misplacement of his values and highlighting his flaw. It difficult understanding the dreamer’s feeling toward his daughter at different moments in the text because he does not react as one would expect under these circumstances.

I found the last half of the poem to be slower and slightly less interesting than the first half, mainly because of the constant biblical references and long dialogues.  I did however find myself paying more attention to the fact that the speaker is identified as a jeweler after we talked about this in class.  The poem, with its constant repetition and play on word meanings, also plays on this idea.  As we discussed, his occupation leads him to claim his own authority in evaluating or “deeming” fine jewels and pearls and leads to his questioning Pearl and the theological concept she represents in the second half.  I couldn’t help but relate this to the long descriptions of the city that “bejeweled the base generously;/ twelve cross beams there set on stone…” which begins in stanza 83 and ends in 87.  I thought it was appropriate that he would envision this bedazzled city, but also thought this reinforced the idea that God is the ultimate jeweler and the last lines suggest this as well: “He made us to be His faithful line,/ like precious pearls in Prince’s pay.”  By no longer mourning Pearl, it seems that the speaker is also giving up the materialistic ways that come with his profession and with life in general.

Each stanza of Pearl begins and ends with a repeating word that changes in each section.  The word “right” or variations of that word is used in section 12.  Like the word pearl, which can mean both literally the jewel, the girl Pearl, or a metaphor for something that is clear, immaculate, clean, and pure, the word “right” also has different meanings.  Pearl (the girl) explains that innocent humans have the right (the noun meaning a moral entitlement) to enter heaven under God’s grace because they have been “righteous” or “right” (adjective meaning morally correct).  The word is played around without through out section 12 stating “innocence is safe by right” and “the righteous man…shall approach God’s domicile” (stanza 57 and 58).  Another interesting repeated word is “spot” (section 16).  This word is used to describe a place in Judah or a position (spot) or something that is flawless, without a spot (like a stain) or “spotless.”  The last repeated word is “please” as the speaker describes his desire to please God and what pleases God.  After waking up, the speaker has decided to “please” God, which he learned about through out the poem and even questioned but with Pearl’s lessons he is ready to follow God’s will. The various meanings of the words and the repetitive nature of the poem, make reading it fun and entertaining but also engrain the message into the reader, much like the message was engrained into the speaker who by the end of the poem wants to submit to God’s grace and be a better Christian.

Sir Orfeo displays many of the themes we have been discussing in class.  Orfeo is a noble king with a wife that matches the glowing description of a poem but she is taken away by a mystical force.  Sir Orfeo must prove his love for her and does so in several ways.  First he loses his one and only love and claims her to be so, he is completely loyal to his wife.  Second he proclaims that he would rather die than be without her and this theme is repeated by him again and again.  Third and most important is that he must prove his love for he and in a sense earn what he desires.  By renouncing all earthly goods and moving into the woods he is really proving his devotion to his wife.  Then by playing the harp beautifully  Orfeo takes the step beyond which ultimately earns his wife back.  Having to prove his love and wanting to die when she is gone are common themes in the poetry we have seen before.

Sir Orfeo is portrayed as a heroic figure in this poem, and in many ways he is. After all, he is able to rescue his kidnapped queen and return to his kingdom at the end, which solves nearly all the problems that had developed during course of the poem. This being said, I noticed several faults of Orfeo that make him less chivalrous in my eyes. For example, when his queen is taken, he does not go on any quest to search for her – rather, he abandons his kingdom and community to become a recluse, using his harp to create melodies for the pleasure of woodland creatures and, for the most part, spends his days sulking in his depression. This state reminded me of some of the ideas the narrators in the Exeter Book Elegies were concerned about. It is as if Orfeo had accepted Fortune/Wyrd’s will, and let it be, miserable as he was. It is not until he lays eyes on his wife in silent passing that he leaves his self-imposed exile and finds a way to rescue her. This is an interesting depiction of our main character and hero, despite the ultimate happy ending of the poem.

The text Sir Orfeo contains several typical elements of courtly poetry, like an emphasis on the importance of beauty for women, and chivalry for men. This is made apparent when after being tricked out of his wife, Sir Orfeo undertakes a quest to satisfy his mourning. This quest lacked the direction that is present in other tales from this era, like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but is instead born out of passionate mourning at the loss of his wife, exemplified when Sir Orfeo says, “For now ichave° mi quen y-lore,° I have / lost  The fairest levedi° that ever was bore, lady Never eft y nil no woman/ Into wildernes ichil te° I will go And live ther evermore” (Orfeo 209). During his journeys in the wilderness, Sir Orfeo’s status was reduced nearly of that to an animal, further complicating any attempts to regain his old glory. However, Sir Orfeo employs a righteous form of deceit to deduce the heart of his steward. Sir Orfeo is portrayed as valiant and just, and therefore I was surprised to witness him lowering his own standards to examine one that he would later consider friend. I suppose a reader during the time of publication would have been able to justify this, but it struck me as strange.