Pearl: Part 15

Book: www.lulu.com/shop/giles-watson/pearl/paperback/product-20...

 

Reading: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhjMlz2lYUU

 

The story so far: The Dreamer loses his Pearl in a grassy mound - evidently her grave. He swoons with grief, and awakens in an earthly paradise, through which there runs a beautiful stream. The land on the opposite bank seems even more beautiful. He wanders further down the stream, hoping to find a bridge or a ford. Just when he starts to become afraid of the dangers that may be in store for him, he sees a young woman sitting at the foot of a crystal cliff on the opposite bank, and instantly recognises her as his lost Pearl. He hails his Pearl and expresses his relief that she still exists, but she begins to reprove him for his lack of faith. She criticises him for only believing that her soul is immortal now that he can see her, and is shocked by his suggestion that he - a mortal man - has a hope of joining her in Paradise without first experiencing death. He tells her that for him to walk away from her now that he has found her again would be to suffer a fresh bereavement. She replies that it is divinely decreed that he cannot cross over to her. The Dreamer pleads with his Pearl to accept that his rash questions were borne out of his great grief, and asks her to describe her life in Paradise. She relents, and tells him that she is crowned Queen of Heaven, and is married to the Lamb. The Dreamer is shocked by this assertion. He says that he thought only the Virgin Mary was Queen of Heaven. Pearl replies with a description of a-semi egalitarian heaven in which all inhabitants are kings and queens, and asserts that although Mary has pre-eminence, none of those in heaven would ever question it, because she is so “courteous”. She cites the Pauline notion that the church is the body of Christ in support of her claim. The Dreamer is even less convinced than before. He wonders how she can have been instantly crowned a Queen of Heaven when she was on the earth for less than two years. She replies at length, citing the parable of the labourers in the vineyard as justification for her rapid advancement in the kingdom of Heaven. She continues to retell the parable, and concludes by insisting that like the workers who worked less than two hours in the vineyard, she was first in line for God’s reward when she reached Heaven. The Dreamer cannot understand. Surely, he argues, those who have endured a lifetime’s pain and temptation must have precedence. She responds that those who die as children die innocent, whereas those who have lived longer are more likely to be tainted by the world, and argues that the Dreamer is underestimating the grace of God. She continues by expounding a series of Biblical texts on the theme of righteousness and justification, culminating with the scene from the gospels in which Christ welcomes the children, and reproves his disciples for attempting to repel them. She continues to expound on this theme, reminding the Dreamer that Christ insisted that one must become like a little child in order to approach him. The Dreamer admits that she is stupendously beautiful, but wonders how she can have won the title of Queen and bride of Christ, in the face of stiff competition: all those other women who have gone to heaven. Her reply draws upon the Old Testament prophets and the Book of Revelation: the Lamb which was slain in Jerusalem will return to govern the New Jerusalem as its King, with a company of a hundred and forty-four thousand wives – one of whom is the Pearl. She begins to describe the state of bliss experienced by all the brides of the Lamb.

 

Pearl: Part 15

 

“Jerusalem’s Lamb bears no tint

Of any pigment but pure white.

No spot or stain adheres to it –

The wool luxuriant and bright.

Each soul that never bore a spot

Becomes the Lamb’s stainless wife,

And there is no place for spite

Among our thousands – blessed with life:

Each thousand, multiplied by five,

Would only make us praise and bless

The more. In a host, love can thrive

And wax in honour, never less.

 

None of us is less in bliss

Who bears a pearl upon her breast.

Those whom a spot belies,

With pearls or crowns are never blessed.

Although our corpses are clad in clods

And you are grieving without rest,

We have new life beyond old loss

And in one death place all our trust:

The Lamb our joy, from cares released,

Moved to delight at every Mass –

And each bride’s bliss is brightest, best

Of all – none is honoured any the less.

 

You give less credence to my tale

Than you should. Look in the Apocalypse:

‘I say,’ says John, ‘the Lamb stands tall

On Mount Zion, is lovely, and thrives,

A hundred thousand in his trail –

Forty four thousand more than this!

And on their foreheads, true to tell:

The Lamb’s name, and the Father’s –

A choir from Heaven uplifts and sings

Like overflowing rivers, floods

And thunder rumbling in the clouds –

A rising clamour, and never less.

 

Nevertheless, though that shout is sharp

And though the myriad voice is loud,

A new sound makes my spirits leap.

To listen is to love: a great cloud

Of spirits plucking upon harps,

The new song clearly declaimed

In discourse sonorous and steep:

Harmonies, melodies, undefiled

Before God’s throne – a flood

Of song. Four beasts bow and bless;

The aldermen, the grave and good,

Sing it loudly, and never less.

 

Nevertheless, none is so skilled in song

For all the craft they might possess

That they could sing the slightest strain

Of that hymn – except for those

Of the Lamb’s company, the earth’s slain:

First fruits, set aside as God’s –

The Lamb’s treasures, kept from spoiling,

Like him in colour, clad in clothes

Of Heaven, dressed in truth and love’s

Assurance. Their sweet tongues confess:

Their spotless, indissoluble, heavenly lives

Are in their matchless Master – never less.’”

 

 

“Nevertheless, I cannot help but thank

You, Pearl,” I say, “though I chose

To question heavenly wisdom with rank

Worldliness. To Christ’s chamber you arose

While I floundered in mud and muck,

And you sprang up so rich – a rose,

A living bloom on this blissful bank,

Where delight’s angels never close

Their eyes on the beauty I must lose:

My fleeting hind. How can I express

My worldly thoughts, rough-hewn and coarse?

Yet grant me one boon, nevertheless...”

 

 

Late fourteenth century poem, written in a north-west midland dialect of Middle English, paraphrased by Giles Watson. This section of the poem is one stanza longer than the others. Some editors have suggested that the second stanza is not original, although I think the third is a more likely candidate, since it repeats material from section 14. However, if all six stanzas are included, the poem has 101 stanzas. So does Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – an attractive argument for authenticity, given that the poet was so meticulous in his deployment of structural devices. Pearl’s descriptions of heavenly life are drawn from the Book of Revelation and Ezekiel.

 

The picture shows a part of the mediaeval ceiling at Ewelme church.

 

Done