Corpus Christi Carol (original) (raw)
The Corpus Christi Carol or Falcon Carol is a Middle or Early Modern English hymn (or carol), first written down by an apprentice grocer named Richard Hill between 1504 and 1536. The original writer of the carol remains anonymous. The earliest surviving record of the piece preserves only the lyrics and is untitled. It has survived in altered form in the folk tradition as the Christmas carol "Down In Yon Forest". The structure of the carol is six stanzas, each with rhyming couplets. The tense changes in the fourth stanza from past to present continuous.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| dbo:abstract | The Corpus Christi Carol or Falcon Carol is a Middle or Early Modern English hymn (or carol), first written down by an apprentice grocer named Richard Hill between 1504 and 1536. The original writer of the carol remains anonymous. The earliest surviving record of the piece preserves only the lyrics and is untitled. It has survived in altered form in the folk tradition as the Christmas carol "Down In Yon Forest". The structure of the carol is six stanzas, each with rhyming couplets. The tense changes in the fourth stanza from past to present continuous. While a number of different interpretations have been offered over time, Eamon Duffy writes that "there can be no question whatever" that the carol's "strange cluster of images" are derived "directly from the cult of the Easter sepulchre, with its Crucifix, Host, and embroidered hangings, and the watchers kneeling around it day and night." One theory about the meaning of the carol is that it is concerned with the legend of the Holy Grail. In Arthurian traditions of the Grail story, the Fisher King is the knight who is the Grail's protector, and whose legs are perpetually wounded. When he is wounded his kingdom suffers and becomes a wasteland. This would explain the reference to "an orchard brown". The text may be an allegory in which the crucified is described as a wounded knight. The bleeding knight could be Christ who bleeds for the sins of humanity endlessly. Christ is most probably represented as a knight as he is battling sin and evil by his continual pain. The "orchard brown" to which the knight was conveyed becomes, in this reading, the "orchard" of wooden crosses that covered the hill of Golgotha/Calvary where Christ - along with many others - was crucified, while the "hall... hanged with purpill and pall" could be a representation of the tomb in which Christ was placed after Crucifixion. This allegorical interpretation would tie in with the seven stanzas possibly representing the Seven Deadly Sins. The maiden who is by the knight's side could be Mary. There is religious symbolism throughout the carol. The falcon may have several possible meanings. It may be that, as a bird of prey, it represents those who killed Christ and sent him to heaven. It may also represent a new beginning and freedom, which Christ gained on his death. The colours in the carol are also significant. The purple and gold are signs of wealth, although these were also colours that referred to the Church due to its wealth. The pall (black velvet) probably refers to death. Richard Greene theorized in 1960 that the song refers "to the displacement of Queen Catherine of Aragon by Anne Boleyn in the affections of King Henry VIII", because the falcon was Anne's heraldic badge. (en) |
| dbo:wikiPageID | 3471126 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageLength | 10818 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger) |
| dbo:wikiPageRevisionID | 1110121207 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbr:Modern_English dbr:Benjamin_Britten dbr:Archie_Fisher dbr:Judith_Bingham dbr:Voces8 dbr:Early_Modern_English dbr:Easter_Sepulchre dbr:Libera:_The_Christmas_Album dbr:Corpus_Christi_College,_Cambridge dbr:Corpus_Christi_College,_Oxford dbr:Emotion_&_Commotion dbr:Grace_(Jeff_Buckley_album) dbc:Jeff_Buckley_songs dbr:Crucifix dbr:The_Tudors dbr:Anne_Boleyn dbr:Anonymity dbr:Libera_(choir) dbr:Showtime_(TV_network) dbr:Catherine_of_Aragon dbr:John_Gerrish dbr:Liner_notes dbr:A_Boy_was_Born dbr:Eamon_Duffy dbr:Fire_+_Ice dbr:Edition_Peters dbr:Down_In_Yon_Forest dbr:The_Choirboys_(boyband) dbr:Harrison_Birtwistle dbr:Hayley_Westenra dbr:Henry_VIII dbr:Janet_Baker dbr:Jeff_Beck dbr:Jeff_Buckley dbr:Hymn dbc:Compositions_by_Benjamin_Britten dbc:English_Christian_hymns dbc:Middle_English_poems dbr:Ian_Read_(musician) dbr:In_the_Bleak_Midwinter dbr:Carol_(music) dbr:Ramiro_Cortés dbr:Middle_English dbr:Peter_Warlock dbr:Fisher_King dbr:Sacramental_bread dbr:Mediaeval_Baebes dbr:Richard_Hill's_Commonplace_Book dbr:Trond_Kverno dbr:Winter_Magic_(Hayley_Westenra_album) dbr:Neo-folk dbr:James,_John_and_Robert_Wedderburn dbr:Gilded_by_the_Sun dbr:Monody_for_Corpus_Christi |
| dbp:date | January 2021 (en) |
| dbp:reason | whose setting? (en) |
| dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate | dbt:Authority_control dbt:Clarify dbt:EngvarB dbt:Reflist dbt:Use_dmy_dates |
| dcterms:subject | dbc:Jeff_Buckley_songs dbc:Compositions_by_Benjamin_Britten dbc:English_Christian_hymns dbc:Middle_English_poems |
| gold:hypernym | dbr:Middle |
| rdf:type | owl:Thing dbo:Castle yago:WikicatChristianHymns yago:WikicatChristmasCarols yago:WikicatMiddleEnglishPoems yago:Abstraction100002137 yago:AuditoryCommunication107109019 yago:Carol107035747 yago:Communication100033020 yago:ExpressiveStyle107066659 yago:Hymn107035870 yago:LiteraryComposition106364329 yago:Music107020895 yago:MusicGenre107071942 yago:MusicalComposition107037465 yago:Poem106377442 yago:ReligiousMusic107033007 yago:ReligiousSong107035420 yago:WikicatJeffBuckleySongs yago:Writing106362953 yago:WrittenCommunication106349220 yago:Song107048000 |
| rdfs:comment | The Corpus Christi Carol or Falcon Carol is a Middle or Early Modern English hymn (or carol), first written down by an apprentice grocer named Richard Hill between 1504 and 1536. The original writer of the carol remains anonymous. The earliest surviving record of the piece preserves only the lyrics and is untitled. It has survived in altered form in the folk tradition as the Christmas carol "Down In Yon Forest". The structure of the carol is six stanzas, each with rhyming couplets. The tense changes in the fourth stanza from past to present continuous. (en) |
| rdfs:label | Corpus Christi Carol (en) |
| owl:sameAs | freebase:Corpus Christi Carol yago-res:Corpus Christi Carol http://musicbrainz.org/work/8c8559e1-20b9-342a-ab79-9f98a1095060 http://viaf.org/viaf/186165615 wikidata:Corpus Christi Carol https://global.dbpedia.org/id/4iKLM |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Corpus_Christi_Carol?oldid=1110121207&ns=0 |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Corpus_Christi_Carol |
| is dbo:wikiPageDisambiguates of | dbr:Corpus_Christi |
| is dbo:wikiPageRedirects of | dbr:Falcon_Carol |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink of | dbr:Down_in_Yon_Forest dbr:Emotion_&_Commotion dbr:Grace_(Jeff_Buckley_album) dbr:Maiden_in_the_mor_lay dbr:Corpus_Christi dbr:John_Elwes_(tenor) dbr:John_Gerrish dbr:A_Boy_Was_Born dbr:Falcon_Carol dbr:Hammerhead_(Jeff_Beck_song) dbr:Ivy_Frances_Klein dbr:Jeff_Buckley dbr:Winter_Magic_(album) dbr:In_the_Bleak_Midwinter dbr:Live_and_Exclusive_from_the_Grammy_Museum dbr:Richard_Hill's_Commonplace_Book |
| is dbp:title of | dbr:Emotion_&_Commotion dbr:Grace_(Jeff_Buckley_album) |
| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Corpus_Christi_Carol |