TR3.1429 “Ŏ blákĕ nýght, ăs fólk ĭn bókĕs rédĕ, TR3.1430 Thăt shápĕn árt by̆ Gód thĭs wórld tŏ hídĕ TR3.1431 Ăt cértĕyn týmĕs wýth thĭ dérkĕ wédĕ, TR3.1432 Thăt úndĕr thát mĕn mýghte ĭn réste ăbídĕ, TR3.1433 Wĕl óughtĕn béstĕs pléyne ănd fólk thĕ chídĕ, TR3.1434 Thăt thére ăs dáy wy̆th lábŏur wólde ŭs bréstĕ, TR3.1435 Thăt thów thŭs fléest, ănd déynĕst ús nŏught réstĕ.
Line Information
- Differences among the manuscripts and editions:
- English translation (Windeatt: 1998): O black night, that was created by God, as people read in books, to hide this world at certain times under your dark cloak, so that beneath it people could remain at rest, well may beasts complain and people chide you that, when day is to break us with toil, you flee away like this, and do not grant us rest.
- Japanese translation (Sasamoto: 2012): ああ暗黒の夜よ、本を読めば分かる通り、おまえは神によってこの世をある一定の時間おまえの黒い外套で隠すために創造されたのです。人はその下でじっと静かにすることができるけれど、獣たちは嘆き、人びとがおまえを叱責するのも当然です。昼は労働でわたしたちを悩ますのに、おまえはこのように逃げ、わたしたちを休ませてくれないもの。
- Chinese translation (Fang: 1956): 黑夜呀，书上载明你是上帝所创的，以便有时用你的黑衣掩蔽世界，好让人们休息。怪不得兽畜要怨诉，人们要咒骂道，请看天明又来催促我们辛劳，而黑夜却躲避起来，不让我们安息！
Word Information
- Etymology: OE
- Addresser: Criseyde
- Addressee: Troilus
- Adjectives with which juxtaposed: N/A
- Counterpart in its source (Fil): N/A (but see 3.43)
- Noun(s) (NPs) modified: day and night (night)
- Attributive/ Predicative: attributive
Information in Previous Studies
- OED: Not quoted
- MED: Not quoted
- Commented in other previous works:
- Windeatt (2003): N/A
- Fisher (1989): N/A
- Benson (1987): N/A
- Davis et al. (1979): Not quoted
- Donaldson (1975): N/A
- Baugh (1963): N/A
Possible Definitions
without light, dark, dim, gloomy, murky;
Comments from the Editor
The two protagonists spend their first night together. In the quotation above, just before daybreak, Criseyde curses the night, and from line 3.1450, Troilus curses the coming day. As Fisher (1989: 470) notes about lines 3.1427–42, ‘[t]his address to night is part of the tradition of the dawn-song (also called aubade, aude, or alba), a lyric form that derived from Ovid’s Amores 1.13 and was made popular in courtly tradition. …’