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We will continue to publish all new editions in print and online, but our new online editions will include TEI/XML markup and other features. Over the next two years, we will be working on updating our legacy volumes to conform to our new standards.
Our current site will be available for use until mid-December 2024. After that point, users will be redirected to the new site. We encourage you to update bookmarks and syllabuses over the next few months. If you have questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us at robbins@ur.rochester.edu.
Art. 30, With longyng Y am lad: Introduction
ABBREVIATIONS: AND: Anglo-Norman Dictionary; ANL: Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts (R. Dean and Boulton); BL: British Library (London); Bodl.: Bodleian Library (Oxford); CCC: Corpus Christi College (Cambridge); CUL: Cambridge University Library (Cambridge); IMEV: The Index of Middle English Verse (Brown and Robbins); IMEV Suppl.: Supplement to the Index of Middle English Verse (Robbins and Cutler); MED: Middle English Dictionary; MWME: A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500 (Severs et al.); NIMEV: A New Index of Middle English Verse (Boffey and Edwards); NLS: National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh).
The Lover’s Complaint is a lament from a wooer with scant hope of success. Its abrupt trimeter lines mirror the speaker’s mood of distracted, restless despair. Mired in bleakness, the lover pleads self-pityingly for the lady’s mercy while also swearing fidelity to his sad cause. Calling on the lady directly, he accuses her of heartlessness: he loves mightily, loses sleep, and all for no reward! He yearns to be made whole through carnal satisfaction, but comfort is out of reach. Doomed by the lady’s nonresponse, feeling deprived, the speaker remains stuck in complaint. An unrequited lover may only lament and pursue. Like most of the English love lyrics in MS Harley 2253, The Lover’s Complaint survives only here, where it resides in a triad of verse on fol. 63r–v examining passionate male desire (arts. 28, 29, 30). For the range of commentary on The Lover’s Complaint, see the bibliography in MWME 11:4324–25, to which may be added Birkholz, pp. 175–80, 202–08.
[Fol. 63v. IMEV, NIMEV 4194. MWME 11:4175 [5]. Scribe: B (Ludlow scribe). Quire: 7. Meter: Four 10-line stanzas, aabaabbaab3; most lines and many line-pairs alliterate. Layout: No columns; written as prose. Editions: Wright 1842, pp. 29–30 (no. 7); Morris and Skeat, pp. 44–46; Böddeker, pp. 149–50; Brown 1932, pp. 139–40 (no. 78); Brook, p. 34 (no. 5); Bennett and Smithers, pp. 111–12; Stemmler 1970, pp. 14–15. Other MSS: None.]
Go To Art. 30, With longyng Y am lad
The Lover’s Complaint is a lament from a wooer with scant hope of success. Its abrupt trimeter lines mirror the speaker’s mood of distracted, restless despair. Mired in bleakness, the lover pleads self-pityingly for the lady’s mercy while also swearing fidelity to his sad cause. Calling on the lady directly, he accuses her of heartlessness: he loves mightily, loses sleep, and all for no reward! He yearns to be made whole through carnal satisfaction, but comfort is out of reach. Doomed by the lady’s nonresponse, feeling deprived, the speaker remains stuck in complaint. An unrequited lover may only lament and pursue. Like most of the English love lyrics in MS Harley 2253, The Lover’s Complaint survives only here, where it resides in a triad of verse on fol. 63r–v examining passionate male desire (arts. 28, 29, 30). For the range of commentary on The Lover’s Complaint, see the bibliography in MWME 11:4324–25, to which may be added Birkholz, pp. 175–80, 202–08.
[Fol. 63v. IMEV, NIMEV 4194. MWME 11:4175 [5]. Scribe: B (Ludlow scribe). Quire: 7. Meter: Four 10-line stanzas, aabaabbaab3; most lines and many line-pairs alliterate. Layout: No columns; written as prose. Editions: Wright 1842, pp. 29–30 (no. 7); Morris and Skeat, pp. 44–46; Böddeker, pp. 149–50; Brown 1932, pp. 139–40 (no. 78); Brook, p. 34 (no. 5); Bennett and Smithers, pp. 111–12; Stemmler 1970, pp. 14–15. Other MSS: None.]
Go To Art. 30, With longyng Y am lad
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