Reading the Tied Letters of Cotton Nero A.x.

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the relationship between the script and the literary language of British Library, MS Cotton Nero A.x., particularly Pearl, Cleanness, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, arguing that the manuscript’s penmanship, little studied, offers an interpretation of its poems. It begins with an extended analysis of and reflection on the script itself, identified as a form of textualis. The script is then connected to the aesthetic ideals of the texts through the language of Cleanness, in a scene adapted from the Book of Daniel that describes God’s ‘writing on the wall’ as ‘tied letters’. This representation of an inscriptional process internal to the poem reflects on the visual effect of the manuscript’s own textualis. By tracking other instances where ‘tied’ and its synonyms are used to describe embellishment in Pearl and Gawain as well as Cleanness, the article opens up a broader analysis of the poetic themes in Cotton Nero, bringing an ideal of calligraphic inscription into a constellation of rich material metaphors for divine transcendence. By connecting Cotton Nero’s script to the ideals of its poetry, this article ultimately argues that the script is fully unified with the poetry in a common aesthetics that sees material writing as a ready vehicle for immaterial elevation.