Pearl (also known as, Perle) is a Middle English poem written by an unknown author, though rumored to have been John Massey of Cotton, Cheshire. The poem is thought to be written in the late 14th century and is currently held in the British library.
The poem revolves around the narrator mourning the loss of his ‘Pearl’. He then enters a dream state where he is taken to a green garden and comes across a beautiful maiden, known as ‘Pearl’. As she is on the other side of a river, the narrator and her converse apart. He questions whether she is Queen Mary of heaven, but she responds no. She then speaks of Christianity and the aspects of sin and salvation. The narrator is desperate to cross the river to see the city of God and begins to cross the stream but as a result wakes up from his dream.
The poem is regarded as one of the best and most important surviving Middle English literature. Famed author J. R. R. Tolkien stated of the author, ‘He was a man of serious and devout mind, though not without humour; he had an interest in theology, and some knowledge of it, though an amateur knowledge perhaps, rather than a professional.’
