The world is very evil

The world is very evil. Bernard of Cluny* (12th century), translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866). In Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1851), Neale translated three parts of the poem by Bernard of Cluny (whom Neale referred to as ‘Bernard of Morlaix’), sometimes entitled De Contemptu Mundi. He took the text from Richard Chenevix Trench’s Sacred Latin Poetry (1849), which printed 96 lines only from the 3000-line poem. Later Neale translated more of the poem, including these lines, publishing a text of 218 lines as The Rhythm of Bernard of Morlaix in 1858. The other hymns from the poem were ‘Brief life is here our portion’*, ‘For thee, O dear, dear country’*, and ‘Jerusalem the...