The Relationship of Richard the Redeless and Mum and the Sothsegger: Some New Evidence.

Comparison of Richard and Mum (with each other and against a control group of texts) indicates an almost identical profile of syllabic distribution of the aa/ax line in these two poems; a number of shared distinctive formulas; and a similarity in formulaic temper closer to PPl than either is to PPCreed. Richard and Mum differ in their employment of enjambment, in the lexical profiles of frequently used words, and in some matters of lexis and grammar. Mum shows a greater density of formulaic repetition and a greater reliance on more general expression, as well as more Latinate vocabulary. Richard shows a higher concentration of distinctive formulas, many more of which are idiosyncratic when compared with Mum, PPCreed, and PPl. Richard and Mum “may be connected, not as continuous text, but by continuous authorship.”