“Cuckoo Song”, “Earth”, “Spring Song”, “When the Nightingale Sings” and “Winter Song”

The anonymous Middle English lyric poetry that we have is doubtless only a fraction of what existed. Since the lyrics were part of an oral tradition, it is difficult to know exactly when they were written. In general, the lyric tradition appears to have been most prominent from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, and the similarities to French lyric poetry indicate that they served as an influence for the Middle English writers. Some lyric poems include music, and the form of these poems usually follows a song-like rhyme scheme, often with a refrain. The topics of the lyrics are varied, but they tend to fall into certain categories. Perhaps the most well-known Middle English lyric poem is the “Cuckoo Song,” with its joyful celebration of spring, complete with a farting deer (a typical kind of medieval humor). Many of the lyrics were religious (such as “Ave Maria” or “Lullaby”), mankind’s sinful nature (such as the poem “Earth”), or reflections on death and the afterlife (such as “Life” and “Winter Song”).  

Source:

“Middle English Lyrics” from British Literature: Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century and Neoclassicism by Bonnie J. Robinson, Ph.D., and Laura J. Getty, Ph.D. licensed under CC BY-SA