HARROWING OF HELL, an English poem in dialogue, dating from the end of the 13th century. It is written in the East Midland dialect, and is generally cited as the earliest dramatic work in the language, though it was probably intended for recita tion rather than performance. The opening words—"Alle herk neth to me nou A strif wille I tellen ou Of Jesu and of Satan"— seem to indicate that the piece was delivered by a single per former. The subject—the descent of Christ into Hades to succour the souls of the just, as related in the apocryphal gospel of Nico demus,—is introduced in a kind of prologue; then follows the dis pute between "Dominus" and "Satan" at the gate of Hell; the gatekeeper runs away, and the just are set free, while Adam, Eve, Habraham, David, Johannes and Moyses do homage to the deliv erer. The poem ends with a short prayer : "God, for his moder loue Let ous never thider come." Metrically, the poem is charac terized by frequent alliteration imposed upon the rhymed octosyl labic couplet : Welcome, louerd, god of Londe Godes sone and godes sonde (ii. 149-150).
Mss. are: Brit. Mus., Harl. ms. 2,253 ; Edinburgh, AuchinIeck ms., W 41; Oxford, Bodleian, Digby 86. It was privately printed by J. P. Collier and by J. O. Halliwell, but is available in Appendix iii. of A. W. Pollard's English Miracle Plays ... (4th ed., 1904) ; K. Boddeker, Altengl. Dichtungen des MS. Hart. 2,2S3 (1878) ; and E. Mall, The Harrowing of Hell (Breslau, 1871). See also Sir E. K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage (1903).