Talk:Pearl Poet

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But WHY is he called The Pearl Poet? If anyone knows...I'd like to know.

Literary historians agree that the same person wrote Pearl, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, and Cleanness. However, they do not his or her name, or any thing else about him. When refering to the authorof these pieces, it is easier to write "The Pearl Poet" than to write "The author of Pearl". Dsmdgold 03:23, Jun 9, 2005 (UTC)

It would be great if this article discussed his unique style and gave some of the specifics that unite the poems. He's at least as skillful a poet as Chaucer, and some prefer him, so, despite not knowing any specifics of his biography, we can talk about his dialect (which is unusually not far from Chaucer's) and the dates of composition, and the manuscript details of Cotton Nero a x, and his prosody. Geogre 20:43, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

It is possible that we have a hint in the use of Old Norse that this is the child of an Earl - i.e. (in a hybrid of Welsh and the Norse derived English title) ap Earl - though, this is more likely to be the object of the poem rather than its author. Pearls were so precious that their ownership for display was restricted to the high nobility, though commoners might harvest them and merchants exchange them. It seems unlikely, therefore, that anyone but a noble would know or care much about them as objects of beauty.

                                                       210.50.17.162 08:13, 16 November 2006 (UTC) Ian Ison

I'm not sure I understand this comment. 'Pearl' refers to the human subject of the poem 'Pearl', which also references a large number of other gems which would not have been in common use. The imagery of the poem draws heavily from the book of Revelation in the Bible, which describes the twelve gates being made of pearls. In any case, 'Earl' is not Old Norse - which would be Jarl - but Old English 'eorl'. Martin Turner 00:07, 3 February 2007 (UTC)