If Man him Bethocte
If Man him Bethocte
Original Text
British Library Arundel MS 292, fol. 3v. Carleton Brown, ed., English Lyrics of the XIIIth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932): no. 13, pp. 19, 173-75. Carleton Brown and Rossell Hope Robbins, The Index of Middle English Verse (New York, 1943): no. 1422.
Z2012 B86 General Reference Robarts Library
2Inderlike and ofte
3Hu arde is te fore
4Fro bedde te flore,
5Hu reuful is te flitte
6Fro flore te pitte,
7Fro pitte te pine
8That neure sal fine,
9I wene non sinne
10Sulde his herte winnen.
Notes
1] Translated into modern English:
If a man kept in mindBack to Line
Innerly and oft
How hard is the faring
From bed to floor,
How sorrowful is passing
From floor to grave,
From grave to pain
That never will end,
I think no sin
Would win his heart.
Publication Start Year
1932
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2002
Form