WHY I CAN'T BE A NUN: FOOTNOTES
1 And were fully in control of their lives
2 Otherwise your dress is no true sign (token) of your character
WHY I CAN'T BE A NUN: NOTES
19 There appears to be a line missing here as the b-rhyme continues. The stanza thus has seven rather than eight lines.
21 The persona's oath on womanhode is the first indication that she is female.
24-25 MS and Furnivall indent these lines. MS has ut at head of line 24; Furnivall supplies B. This stanza marks a narrative division, since the ``I'' of previous stanzas becomes identified as a woman. Similar narrative divisions occur at lines 120-21 and 159-60.
30-31 The implication is that the nuns are worldly and eager to please visitors.
32-33 The father is grateful for the report, since now he can make an informed decision to keep his daughter from joining a convent.
49 MS and Furnivall: my will[e] my.
53 So Furnivall; MS: woo.
56 Than hyt befell in . . . May. The chanson d'aventure formula provides the shift in scene to the garden in May, where medieval dream visions so often occur. Here the scene defines the girl's domestic security, her place apart where she can relax and meditate. The merry innocence of the singing birds inspires her prayer for purity even though she feels she is in opposition to her father's wishes.
63 Katerine is so modest that she will not reveal her innermost thoughts to the reader: see also lines 211-14.
99 So MS; Furnivall: are.
102 her love. The Virgin Mary's love, she the fruit of whose womb was ``swete Ihesu.''
105 So Furnivall; MS: an wyt.
108 handmayde. In her obedience, Katerine would be like the Virgin Mary, the handmaiden of the Lord (ancilla domini - Luke 1.38).
120-21 MS and Furnivall indent these lines (as at 24-25). The scribe, anticipating a rubricated A, left a space before nd. The scribe indented here because this point marks the beginning of the narrator's dream.
137 So MS; Furnivall omits this line.
144-51 The rhyme scheme of this stanza - abbbbcbc - is faulty; and the identical ``rhyme'' of lines 145-46 (not rime riche) is especially corrupt.
158 MS and Furnivall sche for schew (to rhyme with rew and trew).
160-61 These lines are indented in the MS and Furnivall. Line 160 perhaps should read I thanke yow lady quod I than.
173 MS and Furnivall: And howse.
wommen reguler. Women who have taken vows to follow the rules of their conventual order. Their opposite would be ``women secular.'' Katerine will conclude in the more Wycliffite vein of prescribing her own personal rules for living.
176 MS: thow3t; Furnivall: thou3t.
193 So MS; Furnivall: old.
197 So MS; Furnivall: dyscord.
215 and se inserted above the line in the MS.
258 Envy. MS: enevy.
274 Priores. The Prioress, or Mother Superior, is head of the convent or priory.
301 sche inserted above the line in the MS.
329 MS and Furnivall: thow3.
how I may governed be. Having rejected the convent, Katerine is still concerned to understand what rule she will follow. Her instruction to ladies at the end serves a dramatic function in the poem's plot: it offers rules within the household as guides to life.
336 sum man. Katerine seems particularly concerned that some male in her audience, perhaps a church official, might challenge the authority of her vision and her resistence to the convent on grounds that she is simply following her fantasy. Compare line 63, where she likewise seems uncomfortable with the opinions of men.
346-49 The Vulgate simply says that Dinah ``went out to see the women of that country'' (Gen. 34.1), without implying that she has done anything wrong. Katerine's suggestion that she ``went owte to see thynges in veyne'' is an unusual interpretation, reflecting her modesty against appearing forward in public.
350 Here Katerine appears to be addressing the nuns themselves, or would-be nuns. But her remarks apply as well to all women, who should avoid provocative dress, or dress that is inappropriate to their spiritual welfare.
377 endlesly. MS and Furnivall: enlesly.
378-88 The narrator adduces exempla of holy nuns including St. Clare of Assisi (d. 1253), who founded the Order of Poor Clares (feasts Sept. 23, Oct. 3); St. Edith of Wilton (d. 984), who refused the English throne (feast Sept. 16); St. Scholastica (sixth century), sister of St. Benedict and principal female saint of the Benedictine Order (feast Feb. 10); St. Bridget (sixth century), ``Mary of the Gael,'' patron of Ireland with Columbia and Patrick and abbess of the first Irish convent (feast Feb. 1); St. Radegund (sixth century), who founded the double monastery of the Holy Cross at Poitiers, an influential center of learning (feast Aug. 13); St. Etheldreda or Audrey (d. 679), who maintained her virginity despite two marriages and who founded a double monastery at Ely (feast June 23); St. Frideswide (eighth century), patron saint of Oxford, who founded a priory that was said to have healing powers (feast Oct. 19); St. Withburga (eighth century), who founded a convent at Dereham and whose death inspired a fresh spring to flow (feast July 8); St. Mildred (eighth century), who was known for her piety and aid to the poor (feast July 13); St. Sexburga (late seventh century), who founded Minster Monastery on Sheppey Island and who retired to Ely (feast July 6); and St. Ermengild (d. 703), who helped spread Christianity in England and who joined St. Sexburga at Ely (feast Feb. 13). I am uncertain of the identity of Emerelde (line 385).
381 weren. MS: werenen.
388 The poem ends at the bottom of folio 190b. Another work
begins on folio 191, suggesting that the poem is incomplete.