Adam lay i-bowndyn -- a Pagan Interpretation

[alejandrocerv]

Afternoon, everyone!


I was listening to Faun's album "Eden" while reading Deborah Harkness' book "A Discovery of Witches" (both highly recommended), and one of the songs on the album was "Adam Lay Ybounden," or as it was in the Middle English, "Adam lay i-bowndyn." It's an English text (written during the reign of Henry V, before the Pagan scare) with some Latin thrown in, which in a Classical Christian context, is praising Christ for the opportunity to redeem oneself (the "Fowre thowsand wynter" portion refers to the pre-Christian period in this interpretation). But when I heard a Pagan group singing this text, I was struck by the possibility of a vastly different meaning. Just to generate good conversation, I've set down below the entirety of the text in Middle English, in the Early Modern English conversion [with some of my clarifications written in these here brackets], and then in Faun's lyrics. If you want me to provide links to Christian choral versions as well as Faun's -- if you think that'll help -- I'll do so, but without further ado...:


Middle English
"Adam lay i-bowndyn,
bowndyn in a bond,
Fowre thowsand wynter
thowt he not to long

And al was for an appil,
an appil that he tok.
As clerkes fyndyn wretyn
in here book.

Ne hadde the appil take ben,
the appil taken ben,
Ne hadde never our lady
a ben hevene quen.

Blyssid be the tyme
that appil take was!
Therefore we mown syngyn
Deo gratias!"


Early Modern English
"Adam lay ybounden,
Bounden in a bond;
Four thousand winter,
Thought he not too long.

And all was for an apple,
An apple that he took.
As clerkes [clerics] finden,
Written in their book.

Ne had the apple taken been [Had the apple not been taken],
The apple taken been,
Ne had never our ladie,
Abeen heav'ne queen [Our Lady would have never been a heavenly queen].

Blessed be the time
That apple taken was,
Therefore we moun singen [Therefore we will sing].
Deo gratias [Thank you, God]!"


Faun's Lyrics
"Adam lay ybounden
Bounden in a bond;
Foure thousand winter,
Thought he not too long.

And all was for an apple,
An apple that he tok,
As clerkes finden
Wreten in here book.

Never had the apple,
The apple taken ben,
Ne hadde never our lady,
A ben Hevene Quen.

Blessed be the time
The apple taken was
Therefore we moun singen
Deo gracias."


I'll save my commentary. What do y'all think? Was a Pagan interpretation always there (if at all), or has it been imbued on the text post facto?

Gratias!

[alejandrocerv]

Well hey, if anybody's interested, I found a few interpretations -- one from a highly synchretist Pagan and one from an Episcopalian Druid. Here are the links, in that order:

http://sewayoleme.wordpress.com/2008/06 ... -an-apple/
http://mamadar.wordpress.com/tag/adam-lay-ybounden/

Any other ideas? I still have mine, but want to hear all of yours!

[manofsands]

The story sounds almost Luciferian.

[alejandrocerv]

The story sounds almost Luciferian.

I hadn't thought of that! What implications would that have?

[manofsands]

Just depends on your own personal interpretation.

Its archetypal.

Lucifer is an open topic. Variations of one of the greatest forces.

It talks of bondage for a choice at the beginning, does it not? I know it's talking of Adam... but...



So what was your intepretation? Ya never said.

[Asurendra]

I would suggest you pick up a copy of 'The White Goddess' by Robert Graves. He covers all this extensively. It is a classic work.

Also, thru TEAMS publications you can get nice and not too expensive editions of almost all of the corpus of Middle English Literature. I own about 33 books from them.

http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams

[alejandrocerv]

I would suggest you pick up a copy of 'The White Goddess' by Robert Graves. He covers all this extensively. It is a classic work.

Also, thru TEAMS publications you can get nice and not too expensive editions of almost all of the corpus of Middle English Literature. I own about 33 books from them.

http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams

Thanks, Asurendra! I'll check that out! I'm a big fan of Middle English, particularly as a link to our pre-Christian past.

[alejandrocerv]

Lucifer is an open topic. Variations of one of the greatest forces.

It talks of bondage for a choice at the beginning, does it not? I know it's talking of Adam... but...



So what was your intepretation? Ya never said.

The first link I posted has a good discussion of Adam and Satan/the Serpent if you want to check that out! What other varieties might there be?

I'll try not to bore you with a long-winded response, but here's mine (as now modified by the two articles I read):

Essentially, humankind has been bound for a long time (the 4,000 years being something I sort of ignore, as I don't believe in a young Earth or either a holy or historical Christ) in its conception of Self -- a Self separated from the Other, creating the lowercase self. This separation was twisted by the Powers that Be and used to tell us that we were not just separate, but born evil. Had we not, however, learned of our "wicked ways," we would never have embraced the beauty of the Occult (the Goddess, the Heavené Quen), that told us we weren't evil, and that we weren't even Two (Self and Other), but One (Alive).

This, of course, inverts and reflects the Christian interpretation, which is that "had we not been given free will and become evil, we would never have known the glory of becoming good again by accepting the Heavené Quen, the Virgin Mary and her Son."

[manofsands]

I think its all just narration to the lesson we are all learning.

As long as we are always seeking... knowing One does not really Know... One is always progressing.

[alejandrocerv]

I think its all just narration to the lesson we are all learning.

As long as we are always seeking... knowing One does not really Know... One is always progressing.

I like that! One of my favorite thinkers of today, Garrison Keillor, said "There are no answers, just stories." Which is why I ask for yours.