"Unde Dicitur": Observations on the Poetic "Distinctiones" of the Pearl-Poet

DeVries explores the way that the Middle English poem "Pearl" happens, and what it does to the language in which it happens. The Middle English poet was able to wrench out of the recalcitrant facts of grief and the limitations of language a difficult and marvelous "vineyard" of a poem whose power continues to resonate down the centuries.