Patience: Part of The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript in Modern English Prose Translation

"Patience" is the third of the four poems of the Pearl manuscript, a fourteenth century work contemporaneous with Chaucer, Langland and Gower, and acknowledged as a minor masterpiece in its own right.

The poet's usage of the word patience reflects two broad senses: that of accepting misfortune and submitting to physical or mental suffering, and that of waiting, holding back, and exercising moderation and self-control. In the opening section of the poem the poet offers a lengthy discussion of...