Abstract

Abstract In the French Renaissance, the term ‘anatomical blason’ (blason anatomique) designated a highly descriptive love poem praising a single part of a woman’s body, while in heraldry, the noun ‘blason’ defined the ensemble of ornamental components constituting the shield. Just as the French verb blasonner meant to describe and to interpret the shield’s material and symbolic parts, so could this verb be used in amatory poetry to signify the act of lauding the details of the beloved’s anatomical parts. This study examines the structural analogies between heraldic shield and the anatomical blason, addressing how the technical terms defining the shield’s components such as partitions, points, charges, tinctures, and the achievement could be given analogous expressions in the anatomical love poetry.

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