Pearl (commonly known as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, and Pearl) are often considered to be written by the same author. However, the manuscript containing these poems was transcribed by a copyist and not by the original poet. Although nothing explicitly suggests that all four poems are by the same poet, comparative analysis of dialect, verse form, and diction have pointed towards single-authorship. What is known today about the poet is largely general. As J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, after reviewing the text's allusions, style, and themes, concluded in 1925: The most commonly suggested candidate for authorship is John Massey of Cotton, Cheshire. He is known to have lived in the dialect region of the Pearl Poet and is thought to have written the poem, St. Erkenwald, which some scholars argue bears stylistic similarities to Gawain. St. Erkenwald, however, has been dated by some scholars to a time outside the Gawain poet's era. Thus, ascribing authorship to John Massey is still controversial and most critics consider the Gawain poet an unknown. Technique It uses the homiletic principles of education with entertainment (Horace's utile et dulce) and is primarily rooted in Biblical stories. The reference to the fall of the angels is drawn from pseudepigrapha. The technique of presenting exempla and then explicating them as demonstrations of moral principles is characteristic of many sermons of the medieval period. Here the poet uses three exempla with explication in the transitions between them. References Editions Andrew, Malcolm and Waldron, Ronald. 2002. The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript Berkeley: University of California Press. (4th ed.) . Gustafson, Kevin, ed. 2010. Cleanness. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press. / 1551113996. Vantuono, William, ed. (1984) The Pearl Poems : an omnibus edition New York: Garland Pub. (v. 1) (v. 2) Text in both Middle English and Modern English Translations Finch, Casey. “The Complete Works of the Pearl Poet” 1993. Berkeley: University of California Press. . Commentary and criticism Hamilton, Ruth E. “The Power of Words and the Power of Narratives: Cleanness” Essays in Medieval Studies, 3: 162 - 173, Morse, C.C. “The Pattern of Judgment in the “Queste” and “Cleanness.” ” Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1978. Keiser, E.B. “Desire and Medieval Homophobia: The Legitimation of Sexual Pleasure in Cleanness and Its Contexts” New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997 Keiser, Elizabeth. “The Festive Decorum of “Cleanness.”” In “Chivalric Literature” ed. by Larry