ENGL 330 / ENGL 512: Medieval Literature
Dr. Debora B. Schwartz
English Department, California Polytechnic State UniversityThe Human Side of God I: Women Mystics
[page numbers in NA refer to 8th ed., 2006]Reread NA 9 (bottom line) - 10 on religious prose aimed at women, and read NA 157-8 on the Ancrene Riwle (alternate title for the Ancrene Wisse); pay attention to discussion of women audiences in general and Anchoresses in particular. Then (re)read PW xi-xiv and xxix-xxxiv. Review connection between the Ancrene Wisse and the other works of the "Katherine Group" (xii-xiii); editors' comments on the issue of "originality" (xiii-xiv); assumptions concerning authorship (xi-xii) and audience (x-xii &xxxiv); you may find it useful to review the background section on the Hali Meidhad study guide. Know what is meant by the term "anchoress" (NA 9, 158, 371; PW xi, xxix-xxx) and which of our readings this quarter was written by an anchoress; know the number of sections in the Ancrene Wisse, and which are concerned with physical existence or "outward" behavior (the "outer rule") and which with spiritual existence or "inner" behavior (the "inner rule"). Pay careful attention to editors' comments concerning these two "rules" and the hierarchy between them (PW xxx-xxxiv). Be able to describe and characterize the sections we are reading (PW xi, xxxi-xxxiv). Know meaning of (and be able to translate) the two titles given to this text, Ancrene Wisse and Ancrene Riwle. Ancrene refers to Anchoresses; wisse refers to knowledge (cf. modern German wissen, "to know"); riwle is the 13th-century spelling of the modern English "rules" (plural -- here we have further evidence of the Germanic roots of English: in modern German, many plurals are still formed by adding a final "e").
Part 7 is the final section dealing with the "Inner Rule," which far surpasses the "outer rule" in importance (as the author takes care to point out--see esp. PW 129, where he calls it the "lady Rule"). Note the characterization of this "inner rule" as "love," or "the rule that rules the heart" (PW 129). Keep an eye out for references to love throughout readings from the Ancrene Wisse. Given that the Ancrene Wisse is a set of directives for women who have chosen a life of religious contemplation (thereby answering the invitation implicitly extended in Hali Meidhad), what sort of love might one expect to find described here? What sorts of love are in fact described? How are they hierarchized? Notice how the author lists four sorts of human love, only to argue that the love of God surpasses all of them (PW 117-123); note also opposition of "filthy" (carnal) and "pure" (spiritual) love (PW 123-129). Pay particular attention to imagery relevant to other themes which we have discussed this term: the characterization of the recluse as the Bride of Christ and Queen of Heaven (e.g. PW 121); the discussion of virginity (and Christ's ability to restore it!-- PW 119); the depiction of Christ as a knight who is the courtly lover of his lady, the recluse (see esp. PW 113-123). As in Piers Plowman, Christ's willingness to undergo Crucifixion is presented as a feat of knightly prowess, but note that the imagery used to describe the Crucifixion itself is not that of a battle (as in the Dream of the Rood) or a joust (as in Piers Plowman) but of . . . a lover's embrace! (PW 123). Finally, note gender attributed to abstractions or to generalities normally presented as genderless (or as a supposedly "neutral" masculine). In particular, note the characterization of God's love as "she" (esp. PW 113, 129); also use of she/her to denote, in general, any human being (PW 125; see also the discussion of the woman "wooed" by Christ, since that "woman" stands not only for the anchoress, but for any human soul; recall St. Bernard's allegorical interpretation of the Bride and Bridegroom in the Song of Songs, described on translatio).
Part 8 concerns the "Outer Rule," i.e., specific behavior and rules to follow for everyday existence. You may read this section over quickly; use it to get a sense of the life led by an anchoress such as Julian of Norwich (whose Showings are another reading in this unit). Do note, however, that whenever the author says "don't do this or that" he is telling us that "this" or "that" is an activity that was engaged in by some anchoresses (or else he wouldn't feel obliged to warn his anchoresses not to do it). The life of the recluse was apparently neither as difficult nor as isolated as one might expect: the anchoress addressed in the Ancrene Wisse has not one but two servants (so that there is always one around, even when the other is sent on errands); she receives visitors, hosts dinner parties, teaches, and may be prone to gossiping at the window; she even has to be reminded not to allow men to spend the night! She is clearly an upper-class woman with authority over her servants (whom she is cautioned to treat kindly). What then might be the appeal of this sort of existence to the independent woman, or to one with scholarly inclinations? Note references to the anchoress's ability to read and write; what sort of power does this knowledge entail? (power not directly available to the Wife of Bath or Margery Kempe. . .) The author is clearly presented as a male authority figure, albeit a mostly benevolent one; are there parallels between his relationship to the anchoresses and their relationship to their maidservants? Pay attention to the author's repeated instruction that the anchoress must submit to the authority of her spiritual advisor, i.e. to the (male) priest who hears her confession and administers the Sacraments to her. Keep these issues in mind when reading the selections from Julian of Norwich's Showings and The Book of Margery Kempe.
Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2010
Click here for Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe Study Questions
Click here for Hali Meidhad Study Questions
Click here for Seinte Margarete Study Questions
Click here for Introduction to Medieval Allegory
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