Sir Orfeo

Lay le Freine by Anonymous (14th century), translated by R. S. Robinson

Lay le Freine is a 14th-century Breton lai written in Middle English. The author is unknown, but the poem is a retelling of a 12th-century lai by Marie de France. In it, a baby is abandoned at birth and left wrapped in an embroidered cloth outside a convent. Christened Le Freine, she grows up not knowing who her real parents are, although she is told at the age of 12 that she was a foundling. The story takes a romantic turn when Le Freine elopes with a wealthy knight. After some twists and turns, her identity as the daughter of a knight is revealed, and the two lovers are allowed to marry. As in Sir Orfeo, all’s well that ends well. The abandoned baby is a common feature of medieval tales, as is an article of clothing or cloth—in this case, the embroidered cloth—by which a person may later be identified.

Pearl by Anonymous (late 14th century), translated by J. R. R. Tolkien

The title of this medieval poem in Middle English is Perle. It is twice as long as Sir Orfeo, comprising over 100 12-line stanzas, each with the same rhyme scheme. The verse is strongly alliterative. Unlike Sir Orfeo, which combines Christian elements with Celtic folklore and classical legend, Pearl tells a thoroughgoing Christian story. The speaker is a jeweler who has lost his pearl, which is a symbol for an infant daughter who died. One summer, he falls asleep in an orchard and has a dream vision (rather like Heurodis in Sir Orfeo). In the dream, he sees his daughter as a beautiful girl clad in white and wearing pearls. She has attained immortality and is a bride of Christ. She consoles the speaker in his grief and shows him the path to salvation.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous (late 14th century), translated by A. S. Kline

This is one of the most renowned verse romances of medieval England, thought to be written by the same author who wrote Pearl. Like Pearl, the verse is alliterative. At King Arthur’s court, the unknown but formidable figure of the green knight appears during a feast. He challenges any knight to strike him with an axe if he agrees to take a return blow from the knight in one year’s time. Gawain accepts the challenge and beheads the green knight, who then picks up his head and reminds Gawain of their future date. The journey that Gawain undertakes in order to find the green knight in his Green Chapel is a hero’s quest that tests his chivalric values. He passes this test of character but with one blemish related to truthfulness.

“Dame Siriz and the Weeping Bitch” by Anonymous (1280)

While Sir Orfeo is a serious poem with no comic moments, “Dame Siriz and the Weeping Bitch” represents another side of medieval literature. It is a bawdy and comic verse tale about a young clergyman who yearns to seduce Margery, a married woman. After she rebuffs him, he goes to Dame Siriz, a cunning old woman who has a reputation for being an “arranger” of such things. The tale is a fabliau—a satirical poem usually with an anti-clerical theme. Medieval French literature abounds with fabliaux, but this is the first English one, written around 1280. It is told mainly, like Sir Orfeo, in rhyming couplets and also almost entirely in dialogue.