ABSTRACT
Both the Latin song, Furibundi, and the English, Somer is comen ond winter gon, survive in unique manuscripts. Both present textual problems which, unless another manuscript were to be found, may never be fully soluble. The first impression of Furibundi is one of breathless verve: the echoing rhymes follow one another so swiftly, there seems to be a headlong motion from start to finish. At the same time there is a complementary impression of complexity: the intelligence is caught back by the difficult syntax. As in Furibundi, the components include an allusion to the serpent-bites of the Exodus, to Christ as healer, to crucifixion, communion and celestial marriage. The religious content is conveyed through images of liquid, first baneful then blessed. The differences lie in the poetic texture: in Walter’s song the form is compact and compressed, in Furibundi it has a flowing movement.
