‘I Sing of a Maiden’: Anonymous (14 century)

*The Annunciation* by Fra Angelico (1395-1455)

‘I Sing of a Maiden’: Anonymous (14 century)

I sing of a maiden
That is makeless.
King of all Kinges
To her son she ches.

He came all so stille
There his mother was,
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the grass. 8

He came all so stille
To his mother’s bower,
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the flower.

He came also stille
There his mother lay,
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the spray. 16

Mother and maiden
Was never none but she.
Well may such a lady
Goddes mother be.

NOTES:
• ‘makeless’ (2) – matchless, unmarried;
• ‘To her son she ches’ (4) – For her son she chose, or took’;
• ‘Stille’ (5, 9, 13) – still (and pronounced [like ‘Aprille’] with the final /e/ sounded, more or less as ‘stiller’ would be said now);
• ‘There’ (14) – where.

Considering the Poem

The unknown author of this lyric uses every word and phrase, every musical and rhythmic effect, every image and every narrative choice to communicate a sense of the invisibility, silence, inwardness and mystery of the Annunciation.

As the first two words indicate, this poetic investigation of the conception of the ‘King of Kinges’ (3) was composed originally as a song or carol and, indeed, has been set to music many times since the 15th century. When you consider the form and structure of the lyric, it is easy to see why it has attracted musical attention. Though the last verse disturbs the pattern a little (as is fitting for the climax of the piece), each verse is regular in form, and each line has a regular pattern of two strong beats but with a variant number of unstressed syllables between the strong pulses that provide interesting off-beats in the rhythm of the lines.

The overall structure of the lyric is firm and clear: an opening verse announcing the subject, three development verses elaborating that subject, and a concluding verse repeating the paradox of the maiden-mother announced in the first verse, but doing so with a definitive tone of absolute rightness and certainty (‘Well may such a lady/Goddes mother be’ 19-20).

The middle verses use one of the simplest and most effective techniques of song and poetry – repetition. But this is repetition with variation. The first and third lines of each of the three middle verses are identical but the second and fourth introduce new material telling us the same thing about Mary, the mother maiden, but in different ways: she remains quiet and in repose (6, 10, 14).

The repeated first and third lines describe the creation of the child. What is happening is described as both movement, (‘came’) but also, mysteriously, as stillness (‘He came all so stille’) so the conception is presented as if it were the tiniest delicate whisper of movement or even as if it were some kind of movement without activity, each time the beginning of the child being compared to the silent, imperceptible movement of falling morning dew.