(15th century)
The memorable but mysterious Corpus Christi Carol is one of the best-known but most difficult of the late medieval English lyrics. Early carols like this one were not necessarily connected with any particular season, but were rather songs of joy, particularly of religious joy. The “Lully, lullay, lully, lullay . . .” refrain is the aspect of this poem that characterizes it technically as a “carol.” Some versions have this burden after each stanza, while others only include it as a prelude to the rest of the poem.
The earliest extant version of the lyric appears in the Balliol College MS 354, the commonplace book of Richard Hill compiled 1503–36. Hill was a London grocer who delighted in lists and riddles; thus the enigmatic carol’s appeal to him is obvious. The Corpus Christi Carol has been interpreted in numerous ways. Some believe it relates to the ancient fertility myth of “The Fisher King,” which was Christianized and modified in Arthurian literature as part of the Holy Grail legend. “The Fisher King” is the story of a man who is constantly dying and never reaches death, and his ultimate redemption by the Grail Knight—a redemption suggested in the final stanza, where the Eucharist, the celebration of Corpus Christi or the body of Christ, is suggestive of the Holy Grail. That the poem is a description of Holy Communion is suggested by the “hall/That was hanged with purpill and pall” (Davies 1964, no. 165, ll. 5–6), which signifies curtains around the altar. “And in that bed ther lythe a knight/ His woundes bleding day and night” (ll. 9–10) could be the communion wafer bleeding from being dipped into the communion wine (Parker 1992, 8).
Another interpretation is that the carol is an analogue of two other lyrics, The Three Ravens and The Twa Corbies. That argument interprets the knight in The Corpus Christi Carol to be Christ himself and a parallel to the knight in The Three Ravens and The Twa Corbies.It also infers that the crying maiden in The Corpus Christi Carol parallels the doe of the other two poems.
Because of the line “The fawcon hath born my mak away” (l. 2), some think the song refers to Anne Boleyn since her ancestral badge was the white falcon. R. L. Greene argues for this interpretation and asserts the narrator is Catherine of Aragon. An interpretation that combines this with the focus on Holy Communion addresses the Act of Supremacy Henry VIII issued to separate the Church of England from the Holy Roman Church in 1534. If the line “By that beddes side ther kneleth a may” (l. 11) is taken to be a female communicant, the church could be the “mak” that the “fawcon [Anne Boleyn] hath born . . . away”—particularly with the emphasis on “Corpus Christi,” the “real presence” of the body of Christ in the Eucharist denied by Protestant reformers (Parker 1992, 9).
Although there may never be an interpretation that satisfies all analysts of the Corpus Christi Carol, it has already proven to be an enduring work that leaves the reader with a sense of solemnity and reverence.
Bibliography
■ Davies, R. T., ed.Middle English Lyrics: A Critical Anthology. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1964.
■ Greene, R. L. “The Meaning of the Corpus Christi Carol,”Medium Aevum 29 (1960): 10–21.
■ Kane, George. Middle English Literature: A Critical Study of the Romances, the Religious Lyrics, Piers Plowman. London:Methuen, 1951.
■ Parker, David A., “The Act of Supremacy and The Corpus Christi Carol,” English Language Notes 30 (December 1992): 5–10.
Malene A. Little