Pearl: An Edition with Verse Translation ed. by William Vantuono

Abstract

REVIEWS WILLIAM VANTUONO, ed. and trans. Pearl: An Edition with Verse Translation. Notre Dame and London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995. Pp. xxxiv, 255. $29.95 cloth, $15.95 paper. Reinforcing his position as the preeminent contemporary editor of the Pearl poems, Vantuono now furnishes readers with an edition of Pearl as well as a verse translation on pages facing the text. Employing a con­ servative Middle English text (twelve emendations) reproduced from volume 1 of The Pearl Poems: An Omnibus Edition (1984), Vantuono of­ fers a carefully framed translation, one arranged to reflect the original's complex web ofrefrain words and concatenations. Explanatory notes­ ranging from glosses for individual words to extensive textual com­ mentary-are supplied at the bottom ofeach page ofthis edition. Such notes, Vantuono contends, serve as guideposts to "the literal sense ofthe Middle English vocabulary" (p. xxxii) whenever he coins translations that alter the original words' denotations. As Vantuono freely admits, however, the intricate patterning of Pearl's word play could not always be echoed in the translation, notably in his rendition of the link-word date (p. xxxiii). Apart from these features-the true heart of his book-the editor­ translator provides a fully documented introduction (pp. xiii-xxx); ex­ tensive variorum commentary (pp. 95-166) that appraises Pearl schol­ arship "through the early 1990s" (p. xi); detailed appendices (pp. 167-80) on Pearl's verse form, dialect, language, and sources; sev­ eral bibliographies (pp. 185-215); and a full glossary (pp. 217-55). The introduction, a painstaking review of the progress of Pearl criti­ cism, charts the history ofthe British Library's Cotton Nero manuscript as well as its dating, dialect, and illustrations. After discussing the or­ dering ofthe four Cotton Nero works, Vantuono explores the thicket of scholarly argument (Huchown or Ralph Strode up to John de Masey of Sale) about the Pearl-poet's identity and audience. Then, highlighting the multivalent nature of Pearl-at once a fusion of elegy, consolatio, dream allegory, and theological tract (p. xxiii)--the editor justly claims that Pearl employs "no single theme, and yet the multiple concepts merge and unify in one great vision" (p. xxiv). Vantuono's analysis con­ cludes with an examination of both the poem's "triple-three structure" (p. xxvii) and symmetrical design, particularly the import of the vine­ yard parable, numerical patterns, and circularity. 333 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER The elaborate variorum commentary, however, enriches the critical terrain cultivated in the introduction. Keyed to individual words, lines, or passages, such annotations unearth the conventions (rhetorical, lap­ idary, amour courtois), motifs (noli me tangere), and imagery (vegetative, apocalyptic, liturgical) at the core of Pearl. Furthermore, the extensive commentary section discloses the critical history of glosses for key words in Pearl, identifies important symbols (crowns, flowers, animals, glass, water), and unveils the ties between diction in Pearl and similar phraseology in the other Cotton Nero works. Vantuono's attention to scholarly comprehensiveness is reflected fur­ ther in his appendices. The most illuminating appendix ("Poetic Mastery in Pearl"), for instance, reveals the crucial roles of 101 and 12 X 12 in the poem's structure, discusses the work's musical qualities, and elucidates Pearl's refrains, link words, and concatenations. Of par­ ticular interest to students and scholars of Pearl is the editor's classifi­ cation of medieval verse patterns, an exercise substantiated by scansions of individual lines from Pearl. Demonstrating clearly that Pearl is rooted in the Old English syllabic tradition, Vantuono then argues (p. 174) that Pearl's rhythms are analogous to those found in the other Cotton Nero poems. The remaining appendices, however, focus on di­ alect, language, and the numerous source materials (literary, artistic, liturgical, and Vulgate) for Pearl. The editor's comprehensive bibliographies represent the scholarly moorings for his introduction, variorum commentary, and appendices. Targeting Pearl criticism through the early 1990s, presumably 1991 or 1992, Vantuono supplies 425 entries in the first bibliography. Inasmuch as Vantuono's primary goal is to produce the first Pearl edi­ tion combining a sound Middle English text, graceful verse translation, and thorough scholarly commentary, bibliographical lacunae are un­ avoidable. Accordingly, a number of items should be appended to his...