Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 2307

DIMEV 2307

IMEV 1384

NIMEV 1384

I was in an summery dale

The Owl and the Nightingale — 1794 lines in couplets

Title(s): The Owl and the Nightingale

Subjects: debates, bird; birds, as speakers/narrators

Versification: — two-line — aa

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Oxford, Jesus College 29, Part II, ff. 156-168v

First Lines:

Ich wes in one sumere dale
In oneswiþe dyele hale…

Last Lines:

…He can iceu namore telle
her nys namore of þisse spelle Explicit

Attributed Title: Incipit altercacio inter filomenam & Bubonem (f. 156)

Facsimiles:

Ker, Neil Ripley, ed. The Owl and the Nightingale: facsimile of Jesus College Oxford MS. 29 and British Museum MS. Cotton Caligula A.ix. EETS o.s. 251 (1963).

Editions:

Wells, John Edwin, ed. The Owl and the Nighingale. Boston, London: Heath, 1907; rev. Atkins, Cambridge, 1922; repr. NY: AMS, 1972.

Gadow, Wilhelm. Das mittelenglische streitgedicht Eule und nachtigall. Palestr 65. Berlin: Mayer & Müller, 1909: crit. text .

Hall, Joseph. Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. 2 parts. Oxford: Clarendon, 1920, 1951: 1.149-75 (lengthy extracts).

Grattan, J. H. G., and G. F. H. Sykes, eds. The Owl and the Nightingale. EETS e.s. 119 (1935), repr. 1973.

Sisam, Celia, and Kenneth Sisam, eds. The Oxford Book of Medieval English Verse. Oxford: Clarendon, 1970: 6-10 (extracts).

2.Source: London, British Library Cotton Caligula A.IX, ff. 233ra-246ra

First Lines:

Ich ƿas in one sumere dale
In one suþe diȝele hale…

Last Lines:

…Ne chan Ich eu namore telle
Her nis namore of þis spelle

Note: Written as prose.

Facsimiles:

Ker, Neil Ripley, ed. The Owl and the Nightingale: facsimile of Jesus College Oxford MS. 29 and British Museum MS. Cotton Caligula A.ix. EETS o.s. 251 (1963).

Digital Facsimile of British Library MS Cotton Caligula A IX. http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Cotton_MS_Caligula_A_IX.

Editions:

Wright, Thomas, ed. The Owl and the Nightingale. Percy Society 11. London: Richard, 1843.

Wells, John Edwin, ed. The Owl and the Nighingale. Boston, London: Heath, 1907; rev. Atkins, Cambridge, 1922; repr. NY: AMS, 1972.

Gadow, Wilhelm. Das mittelenglische streitgedicht Eule und nachtigall. Palestr 65. Berlin: Mayer & Müller, 1909: crit. text .

Hall, Joseph. Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. 2 parts. Oxford: Clarendon, 1920, 1951: 1.149-75 (lengthy extracts).

Grattan, J. H. G., and G. F. H. Sykes, eds. The Owl and the Nightingale. EETS e.s. 119 (1935), repr. 1973.

Stanley, Eric Gerald, ed. The Owl and the Nightingale. London: Nelson, 1960.

Bennett, Jack Arthur Walter, and G. V. Smithers, eds. Early Middle English Verse and Prose. Oxford: Clarendon, 1966: 2-27.

Dunn, Charles W., and Edward T. Byrnes, eds. Middle English Literature. New York, 1973; 2nd ed. New York: Garland, 1990: 55-98.