The Owl and the Nightingale

Book excerpt: The Middle English poems in this book exemplify three major genres in medieval religious writing: saint's legend, Bible epic and religious debate. St Erkenwald, perhaps the best saint's legend in English poetry, tells how a bishop of London raised a pagan judge from the dead and sent his soul to heaven. In Cleanness (often known as Purity) such events as the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Belshazzar's feast are recounted with the descriptive eloquence of the poet who wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Owl and the Nightingale is a charming, if occasionally virulent, contest between two birds who debate, owl-wise and nightingale-wise, the traditional morals of the church and the ideals of courtly love.