![Pearl Poet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Pearl_Poet.jpg)
John Massey is one conjectured name of the
Gawain Poet
The "Gawain Poet" (), or less commonly the "Pearl Poet",Andrew, M. "Theories of Authorship" (1997) in Brewer (ed). ''A Companion to the Gawain-poet'', Boydell & Brewer, p.23 (''fl.'' late 14th century) is the name given to the author of '' Sir ...
, author of ''
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of ...
'' and probably of several other 14th-century
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
poems.
Internal evidence from the text of the poems and
marginalia of the manuscript suggests the name "John Massey" or similar; contemporary records of people of the name who might have been poets include one from the village of
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
in
Cheshire.
Theory of the authorship
The Gawain-poet is speculated to have written Sir ''Gawain and the Green Knight'', ''Pearl'', ''St. Erkenwald'', and ''Patience''. The first hint pointing to Massey being the Gawain-poet is in the Margins of St. Erkenwald. In the margins, there are multiple references to the booth family of Dunham-Massey, more specifically a ‘Thomas Masse’. The spelling of the name was not standardized at this point, and many variations were used. This is theorized by C.J Peterson.
Anagrams in Pearl
Though no one is sure that John Massey was the author of ''Pearl'' and ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'', scholars contend that Massey was the author and used hidden messages to credit himself.
One example of this can be found by looking at repetitions in the stanzas of the poem, ''Pearl''.
“Since there are twenty sections in Pearl joined by linking words, we should expect 20 link-words. But this is not the case. There are only 18: more is used twice, in sections 3 and 10; and ryჳt, the last word of the section 12, has no link with section 13. Through this anomaly, attention is called to 12, the number of the broken-link stanza-group, and to 18, the number of lunk-words joining the stanza-groups together.”
John Of Lancaster
Clifford Peterson has argued that John Massey may have been a member of the household of John of Lancaster, son of
King Henry IV. If John Massey is the author of the ''Pearl'', this means he would have had to be alive in the late end of the fourteenth century. John Massey of Cotton, a retainer in the house of Lancaster, may be the same J. Massey whose anagrams have been found in the ''
Pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
'' and ''
St. Erkenwald''.
Relation to Hoccleve and his Epistle
Massey is also suspected to have relations to
Thomas Hoccleve
Thomas Hoccleve or Occleve (1368 or 1369–1426) was an English poet and clerk, who became a key figure in 15th-century Middle English literature. His ''Regement of Princes or De Regimine Principum'' is a homily on virtues and vices, written for ...
, even possibly being mentioned in his epistle within the lines
"For rethorik hath his fro me the keye
Of his tresor, nat deyneth hir nobleye
Dele with noon so ignorant as me."
The poem goes on to mention more about Massey and his poetry and skill but nothing about his life outside of it. While connected to Massey, the poem never outright mentions a name, only saying that the person being written about has extreme talent in poetry and its devices. This also brings up the possibility of Massey being Mr. Turville-Petre’s William Massey; whatever the case may be, Massey was mentioned (be it outright our otherwise) in the poem. The mention having nothing to do with class or rank, just the incredible ability of the poet himself.
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Massey, John
British poets