Pearl
Heavenly Worthiness and Earthly Value
An Analysis of Prominent Themes and their Effect in the Poem Pearl The title of the poem, Pearl, indicates something of high value – whether it be spiritual, economical or personal – to the audience. The pearl is indeed valuable to the father as he lives in misery as he mourns the death of his daughter however the poem discusses many aspects of worthiness and value when describing a person’s physique, piety, and behavior. During the dream dialogues between father and daughter arguments erupt about heavenly rewards based on earthly conduct and beliefs which lead to discussions of sin and repentance. The poem intertwines discussions of earthly value and heavenly worthiness in its content and structure to ultimately show that heavenly worthiness should be the ultimate goal of humans as earthly value last only in life while the beauties of heaven are ever lasting and more impressive. Structurally, the Pearl poet writes intricately using tightly rhyming stanzas with a connecting word that connects each stanza with the first line of the following stanza. “My privy perel wythouten spotte (Burrows 110). at spot of spysez mot nedez sprede” is an example of this connection (Pearl 24-25). The Pearl poet uses alliteration throughout the poem, although not consistently, to add poetic merit to the poem. The content of the poem is highly religious and full of religious discussion and questions of morality. The poem itself is given spiritual merit as it discusses ways to better one’s self in life while chiefly using references to the book of revelation but also other excerpts from other books of the bible. The poem Pearl itself becomes a poem of high earthly value because of its poetical devices but also a poem of high heavenly value as it preaches faith in god no matter how miserable the circumstances. The poem does this by showing the fathers inability to join his daughter in paradise because he has become angry with God for taking his
An Analysis of Prominent Themes and their Effect in the Poem Pearl The title of the poem, Pearl, indicates something of high value – whether it be spiritual, economical or personal – to the audience. The pearl is indeed valuable to the father as he lives in misery as he mourns the death of his daughter however the poem discusses many aspects of worthiness and value when describing a person’s physique, piety, and behavior. During the dream dialogues between father and daughter arguments erupt about heavenly rewards based on earthly conduct and beliefs which lead to discussions of sin and repentance. The poem intertwines discussions of earthly value and heavenly worthiness in its content and structure to ultimately show that heavenly worthiness should be the ultimate goal of humans as earthly value last only in life while the beauties of heaven are ever lasting and more impressive. Structurally, the Pearl poet writes intricately using tightly rhyming stanzas with a connecting word that connects each stanza with the first line of the following stanza. “My privy perel wythouten spotte (Burrows 110). at spot of spysez mot nedez sprede” is an example of this connection (Pearl 24-25). The Pearl poet uses alliteration throughout the poem, although not consistently, to add poetic merit to the poem. The content of the poem is highly religious and full of religious discussion and questions of morality. The poem itself is given spiritual merit as it discusses ways to better one’s self in life while chiefly using references to the book of revelation but also other excerpts from other books of the bible. The poem Pearl itself becomes a poem of high earthly value because of its poetical devices but also a poem of high heavenly value as it preaches faith in god no matter how miserable the circumstances. The poem does this by showing the fathers inability to join his daughter in paradise because he has become angry with God for taking his