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Caedmon’s Hymn
The Wife’s Lament
The Dream of the Rood
Marie de France "Lanval"
Ywain and Gawain
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Chaucer’s The Miller’s Prologue and Tale
John Gower
The York Play of the Crucification
The Second Shepherd’s Play
William Shakespeare Twelfth Night
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
William Shakespeare The Tempest
William Shakespeare Selection of Sonnets
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Edmund Spenser From Amoretti
Sir Philip Sidney Sonnets
John Donne Songs and Sonnets
John Donne Holy Sonnets
Mary Wroth
Robert Herrick
Richard Lovelace
Andrew Marvell
John Gay
Jonathan Swift
Alexander Pope
COLL – The leader and oldest of the three shepherds
GIB – The second shepherd
DAW – The youngest of the shepherds
MAK – A thief
GILL – Mak’s Wife
ANGEL
MARY
CHILD
A Moor: The shepherd’s field
Mak and Gill’s Home: A bed, cradle and a door
The Crooked Thorn: The side of a road pub
Stable: The place where Jesus is born
(COLL enters alone)
(GIB enters)
(Daw enters, not seeing the others)
(Tries to turn and run away, but the other two catch him. He recognizes them)
(They sing, not very well. Mak enters with a cloak on)
(crosses himself and lies down away from them, when the others are asleep he gets up)
(takes sheep and exits)
(she opens the door, sees the sheep)
(someone twists his neck)
Ah, Coll, good morning. What is that sad look?
Some rascal. I have looked with my dogs through all the thickets
Will you hear how they bellow. Our lordship thinks he can croon.
Go to another place, I am not breathing well. Every step you take hurts
(They begin to search)
If you know how she had fared, your hearts would be sore. You do
All this work is in vain: we may as well go. Except for a little clothing
and who empty plates I don’t see anything. But of all the livestock I have worked
with none has smelled as badly as he (approaches the cradle)
We?! I’ll remain apart, because I have gotten no apology. Farewell you
(The shepherds leave)
I will go back quickly, you stay here.
(Returns to house)
(The others enter)
(They toss him around in a canvas and Mak and Gill return home)
(Shepherd’s fall asleep, and are woken by angels)
(Angels exit)
Reproduced with permission from “The Second Shepherd’s Play.” Edited by Caleb Palmer. Web. 5 Dec. 2016. <http://abs.kafkas.edu.tr/upload/225/2ndsheperds_play_1_.pdf>
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Anthology of Medieval Literature Copyright © 2021 by Christian Beck is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.