Using the literary and linguistic concepts and approaches of 'I Syng of a Mayden', this essay will be focusing on how the anonymous poet conveys religious ideas throughout the poem. The poem was written by an anonymous poet in the 15th Centaury

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Sarah Thomas – English Lit/Lang – C

How does the poet convey religious ideas in the poem 'I Syng of a Mayden'?

        Using the literary and linguistic concepts and approaches of 'I Syng of a Mayden', this essay will be focusing on how the anonymous poet conveys religious ideas throughout the poem. The poem was written by an anonymous poet in the 15th Centaury. As it was by an anonymous poet the poem was probably passed round by mouth and song meaning that it could be a ballad or hymn. As well as that, I also feel that due to the fact that the three middle verses all have 'That fallyt on the...' and 'As due in Aprylle' repeated it suggests that it could very well be a ballad or hymn as most are structured like that. The title 'I Syng of a Mayden' is Middle English text and the word 'Mayden' especially, as it's very medieval language dating back to The Madonna and Child where all paintings were focused on Bible stories, and a lot of poems at the time were transcribed in Monasteries indicating religious themes. 'Mayden' also means Virgin, relating back to the religious side of the poem, which could suggested that 'I Syng of a Mayden' was about the religious symbol, the Virgin Mary. Throughout the poem it shows references to Mary and baby Jesus, such as 'Kyng of alle Kynges' which has been mentioned in the Bible referring to Christ being more powerful than any King, 'He cam al so stylle' meaning he appeared in her womb as if like magic or 'As dew in Aprylle' as the poem suggests. The key themes in this poem are Nature and Religion as the poet mixes them both into one another. He describes the appearance of Christ as a foetus using nature. I think he did this because he wanted to portray Christs' appearance as pure as nature.

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        The structure of the poem develops along with the foetus as it uses an extended metaphor of organic growth ' that fallyt on the gras...flour...spray' which suggests that the foetus is at first a piece of grass, then it develops into a flower and then a 'spray' which shows the three stages of pregnancy. The rhyme scheme of the poem follows a abcb structure in verses one and five; 'mayden...makeles...Kynges...ches', 'mayden...she...lady...be', but uses a rhyme scheme of abab in verses two, three and four; 'stylle...was...Aprylle...gras', 'stylle...bowr...Aprylle...flour', 'stylle...lay...Aprylle...spray'. It has four to six beats per line and is 1st person address in ...

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