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2. Explain briefly the formal features of the poem and link it with the so called alliterative revival?
First of all, the poem, which contains written in 101, was written like OE and ME verse, that is, it was written to be read aloud. Stanzas we find the spelling is irregular and inconsistent in the relationship between letters and sounds. The manuscript of Sir Gawain provides a good example of the use of a single letter to represent several different sounds. The letter ( ) was used in writing this poem to represent several sounds as it had developed from two different sources, firstly from the OE letter () and secondly as a form of letter (z). it was therefore used for all the following sounds: We find other important letters in the poem such as [j], [], [x], [w], [s], [z] Another feature which is important to take into account is the varying number of unrhymed alliterative lines followed by five short rhymed lines in the stanzas of the poem. The literary structure of the poem is a clear example of alliterative revival, that is, the resurgence of poetry using the alliterative verse form - the traditional versification of Old English poetry - in Middle English. The oral traditions of OE alliterative verse were unbroken. We find that each line divides into two with a short break or cesura in the middle. There are usually four stresses in a line, two in the first half and two in the second, three of which alliterate together but this could vary. Each stanza ends with a group of rhyming lines. The first short line was called the bob, whic h rhymed with two alternate lines of the following four, called the wheel- ababa.
2.
Who was Margery Kempe? Can you explain about her Boke?
Margery Kempe was a woman from Kings Lynn in Norfolk, who gave up married life as a result of
her mystical experiences to devote herself to religion. She made pilgrimages during her lifetime, and afterwards she wrote a book describing her temptations on journeys. As the book was written down from Margery Kempes own dictation, this is probably as close as we can get to ordinary speech of the early 15th century. The dialect is East Midlands, but we cannot tell how accurate was the scribes reproduction of Margerys speech, or that of the only surviving manuscript which was copied in the mid15th century. We find in the Boke different topics such as her marriage. Throughout the book she refers herself as this creature or her first mystical vision. There are facsimiles of the Boke.