| Paper 1010-b | Herebert's Translation of Popule meus: New Meanings and Musical Form
(Language: English)
Robin Waugh, Department of English & Film Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario
Peter V. Loewen, Shepherd School of Music, Rice University
Index terms: Language and Literature - Comparative, Language and Literature - Middle English, Lay Piety, Music, Theology |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
The repetitious use of similar wording and phrasing prevails in certain ME alliterative poems. This paper examines the recurring lexical collocations especially in the second half-line known to be structured by precise metrical rules. Using the corpora of ME alliterative verse consisting of approximately 21,000 lines of major and minor poems, the paper analyses the metrical and syntactic compositions of the second half-line and considers whether these expressions act as a special device in ME alliterative meter. Though not in the form of identical words, these formulaic expressions establish the unique mode of repetition.
Paper -b:
Despite arguments that dismiss William Herebert's Middle English poems (c. 1314) as stilted, his translation of Popule meus includes new meanings that create finished and complex effects. Moreover the music of the Latin version adds to the new rhetorical effect of his translation by converting it from a liturgical hymn into a sacred carol. The carol was a secular ensemble dance: a genre that affects any composition of a contrafactum profoundly. The collusion of sacred with secular dance song, a powerful tool of Franciscan homiletics, helps Herebert to create explicit, multi-layered, and sophisticated exegesis of his chosen Latin text.
Paper -c:
Truelove says, '… if a series of documents exist for an author, we can look for scribal, stylistic, and orthographical consistency...' In this sense, Thomas Betson's letters meet the requirements for forming a group in the Stonor Letters worth scrutinizing. However, he obviously changes his writing style to the letter to Katherine Ryche. For example, he uses 'I will' instead of 'I would' in this letter. In this paper, I would like to examine the letters of Betson and other major writers in the Stonor Letters and try to show what characteristics should be noticed when we consider stylistic consistency of the writers.
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