Charles d’Orléans’s “Fowle Langage”

Abstract

Charles d’Orléans uses avian imagery in his French and English verse to figure his personae, literary forms, and poetic practices. Birdsong contributes atmosphere to the emotional landscape. Allegorical birds advance the narrative, represent lyric form, or gesture toward family emblems. Throughout his writing, Charles’s birds relate to literature and literary performance, whether production or consumption. In this way, his bird devices are among his most self-referential and humanizing ones.