PROSE
1. The Ancren Riwle, or Rule of Anchoresses, is one of the earliest of Middle English prose texts, for it dates from about 1200. The book, which is written in a simple, matter-of-fact style, is a manual composed for the guidance of a small religious community of women which then existed in Somersetshire. Nothing certain is known regarding the author. Its Southern dialect shows some traces of Midland. As in some respects the text is the forerunner of modern prose, we give an extract:
| Uorþi was ihoten a Godes half iðen olde lawe þet put were euer iwrien; & [gh]if eni unwrie put were, & best feolle þerinne, he hit schulde [gh]elden þet þene put unwrieh. Ðis is a swuðe dredlich word to wummen þet scheaweð her to wep-monnes eien. Heo is bitocned bi þe þet unwrieð þene put: þe put is hire veire neb, & hire hwite swire, & hire hond, [gh]if hes halt forð in his eihsihðe. | Therefore it was ordered on the part of God in the old law that a pit should be ever covered, and if there were any uncovered pit, and a beast fell therein, he should pay for it, that uncovered the pit. This is a very dreadful saying for a woman that shows herself to a man’s eyes. She is betokened by the person that uncovers the pit; the pit is her fair face, and her white neck, and her hand, if she holds it forth in his eyesight. |
2. The Ayenbite of Inwyt was written by Dan Michel of Northgate, who flourished about 1340. The book is a servile translation of a French work, and is of little literary importance. To the philologist it is very useful as an example of the Southern dialect of the period.