Medieval Poetry Research Articles

Portals of Ani churches of the late 10th – early 11th centuries: Springing of a new typology

Portals representing iconic elements of the three-dimensional composition of the medieval churches have particularly expressive forms in the architecture of Ani. The article reveals the features of the portals of two types, successively developed by the architect Trdat for the majestic cathedrals of the Armenian capital of the late 10th – early 11th centuries. Drawing ideas from the samples of different traditions, including the ancient Greco-Roman one, new types were created, such as a perspective portal and a local medieval version of the Hellenistic portal.

Alexander the Macedonian's Image in the Jewish Temple: A Medievaval Tale of Jewish–Non-Jewish Encounter

Abstract: Narratives about Alexander the Macedonian's life were extremely popular throughout the Middle Ages all over Europe and beyond. Crossing cultural boundaries, they were also adopted and adapted for a Jewish readership. In the latter context, the episode about the king's visit to Jerusalem served as a topos of interreligious encounter between the Jews and their non-Jewish rulers. It was first told by Flavius Josephus in the first century as a tale that sets idolatry in contrast with monotheism. Among other episodes, the text reports a dramatic encounter with the Jewish high priest. In medieval versions, Alexander suggests that the high priest erect a golden statue of himself in the sanctuary to honor God. The paper offers an in-depth analysis of this latter motif in different versions of the narrative against the background of medieval Jewish-Christian relations. Abstract: Narratives about Alexander the Macedonian's life were extremely popular throughout the Middle Ages all over Europe and beyond. Crossing cultural boundaries, they were also adopted and adapted for a Jewish readership. In the latter context, the episode about the king's visit to Jerusalem served as a topos of interreligious encounter between the Jews and their non-Jewish rulers. It was first told by Flavius Josephus in the first century as a tale that sets idolatry in contrast with monotheism. Among other episodes, the text reports a dramatic encounter with the Jewish high priest. In medieval versions Alexander suggests that the high priest erect a golden statue of himself in the sanctuary to honor God. The paper offers an in-depth analysis of this latter motif in different versions of the narrative against the background of medieval Jewish-Christian relations.

A Comparison of the Patient Wife in Boccaccio, Petrarch, Chaucer, and Lope

Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Chaucer all told versions of the Patient Wife narrative that could be read both literally and metaphorically. Literally, the narrative served as both a lesson in wifely obedience and as a commentary on the patriarchal social order of the Middle Ages. As an allegory, the tale had biblical implications about the necessity of obedience to one’s heavenly ruler. The popularity of this tale lasted well beyond the Middle Ages, making its way into Renaissance dramatic comedies. Some of these Renaissance versions eliminate the metaphorical possibilities of the narrative and mitigate Griselda’s situation by pairing the patient wife motif with a tamed shrew motif. However, in El ejemplo de casadas (The Wives’ Example), Lope de Vega prevents a dramatic version of the tale that does not abandon the metaphorical possibilities of the medieval versions. This essay examines the political and religious implications of Lope’s dramatic version of Patient Griselda. [Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2024 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]

Michele Cutino (ed.), The Johannine Tradition in Late Antiquity and Medieval Poetry

Michele Cutino (ed.), The Johannine Tradition in Late Antiquity and Medieval Poetry

Homoerotic and Homosexual Perspectives in Medieval Poetry and Verse Narratives: Indirect Evidence of a Hidden Discourse

Abstract Although it proves to be a difficult task, we still can identify more literary texts from the Middle Ages addressing homoerotic love than we might have expected. Even when poets voiced severe criticism and radically condemned homosexuality, their comments serve us well to identify more specifically the actual discourse behind the official scene. Although legal and Church authorities consistently characterized ‘sodomy’ as one of the worst sins a Christian could commit, since late antiquity, and certainly throughout the Middle Ages, the phenomenon, a biological fact, existed, of course, and was also addressed in veiled or open language. This article examines a selection of relevant literary and didactic works that shed more light on this issue.

Neidorf, Leonard. 2022. The Art and Thought of the Beowulf Poet. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 216 pp., $ 36.95.

Abstract This article presents an in-depth analysis of “Against a Wen”, a poetic charm from twelfth-century England that personifies, banishes, and annihilates a skin blemish. The study begins with a brief overview of the text’s linguistic features and then proceeds to discuss the charm in distinct sections. Each of these concentrates on the contextualisation of a specific passage. The article assembles analogues from previous research and also offers several novel parallels from a diverse range of incantations, Scandinavian sources, medieval medical texts, and the Old and New Testament. Combining these parallels not only helps clarify obscure passages in “Against a Wen” but also sheds additional light on the composition’s background. Specifically, unveiling the charm’s intertextual connections allows pointing out that “Against a Wen” incorporates riddling and bilingual wordplay, as well as biblical allusions. These findings challenge the long-held perception of the composition as vernacular and provide insight into the literary devices and healing strategies found in early medieval verse charms.

The Elusive Progress of Prosodical Study: Essays in Honor of Thomas Cable

The Elusive Progress of Prosodical Study: Essays in Honor of Thomas Cable

Allegorical Investigations: Autism, Applied Behavioral Analysis, and Medieval Poetry.

This essay explores the connections between the modern autism intervention Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and medieval personification allegory to show how literature powerfully enables the work of neurodiversity. Invoking the theory of the language game to investigate the clinical history of ABA, the essay puts the fourteenth-century poet William Langland in dialogue with Ludwig Wittgenstein and Stanley Cavell. I argue that the approach to language emerging from this constellation of voices works as a precise tool for diagnosing the ethical liabilities of ABA. By highlighting the shared interest in a set of animated terms across different historical and disciplinary domains, we can see how allegorical writing becomes an essential resource for exposing how ABA travesties human need and emotion. Working against the ethos of this "therapeutic" intervention, Langland, Wittgenstein, and Cavell join with autistic writers in advancing a model of language development based on mutuality, reciprocity, and shared forms of life.

Transfiguring Medievalism: Poetry, Attention, and the Mysteries of the Body

Transfiguring Medievalism: Poetry, Attention, and the Mysteries of the Body

Songbook of Beram in the Context of the Croatian Medieval Poetry

U ovom se radu analiziraju pjesme, uključujući i nekoliko kratkih zapisa, koje se nalaze u naknadno dodanom zborničkom dijelu glagoljskoga beramskoga kodeksa, poznatom pod nazivom Prvi beramski brevijar, a čiji osnovni sadržaj čini sanktoral s kraja 14. st. Pjesničku dionicu u ovom smo radu prvi put nazvali Beramskom pjesmaricom. Ona se sastoji od nekoliko skupina pjesama između kojih su zapisani drugi naknadno dodani tekstovi (liturgijski, patristički). U svojem smo istraživanju pozornost usmjerili prema dosad neistraženim pjesničkim tekstovima čiji se predlošci ovdje utvrđuju prvi put. Utvrđeno je kako se među njima, uz već proučene popularne pjesme (Va vse vrime godišća, Sudac gnjevan), nalaze i potvrde jedinstvenih (Milost Duha Svetago, Pohvaļujmo današnji dan) i rijetkih glagoljskih tekstova. Na temelju potvrda postupnoga dopisivanja tematski i funkcionalno povezanih tekstova pokazuje se kako ta pjesmarica pridonosi rasvjetljavanju spoznaja o uporabi (čitanju, slušanju i pamćenju) tekstova koji su u glagoljašku sredinu dospjeli iz posve različitih izvora. Krajnji je cilj pokazati kako Beramska pjesmarica zauzima istaknuto mjesto u povijesti ne samo hrvatskoglagoljskoga nego općenito hrvatskoga srednjovjekovnoga pjesništva.

Þrymskviða, Þrymlur, and Tord af Havsgaard—a Case of Early Antiquarianism?

<i>Þrymskviða</i>, <i>Þrymlur</i>, and <i>Tord af Havsgaard</i>—a Case of Early Antiquarianism?

ЛИТЕРАТУРНАЯ ПОЛЕМИКА Т. УОРТОНА И ДЖ. РИТСОНА В КОНТЕКСТЕ ПОИСКА ИСТОРИЧЕСКОЙ ПРАВДЫ В ЭПОХУ ПРОСВЕЩЕНИЯ

The appeal to early and medieval poetry became one of the keys to rethinking the origins of national culture for British historians, antiquarians, textologists and writers of the XVIII century. This article examines the literary debate of English writer and textual critic Joseph Ritson with his colleague Thomas Wharton, author of “The History of English Poetry”, three volumes of which were published in 1774–1781. Since by the middle of the XVIII century, the history of the English language and literature has not yet received the status of a research discipline; in the process of studying ancient manuscripts, antiquarians put forward a variety of hypotheses that could explain the emergence of national art. Being an experienced researcher of antiquity, Ritson was well acquainted with the literary texts, that Wharton wrote about in his “History”, and could not approve his critical revision of AngloSaxon art for the formation of British culture. The debate between Ritson and Wharton can be seen as a dispute between two literary critics, in which each defends his own view on the development of the English language and poetry. On the other hand, in his “Observations” Ritson appears as a textual scholar and a rival of Wharton. In his works, he is intolerant of factual inaccuracies, loose assumptions and incorrect interpretations: Wharton’s irresponsible work is considered misleading and posing a great intellectual danger to the reader.

Gawain-poet, literature of revelation, dream poetry, Pearl, medieval poetry

This paper aims to analyse the spiritual transformation of the Dreamer/Narrator on his way from a sinful nature to divine virtue in medieval dream poem Pearl by the Gawain-poet. At the beginning of the poem, the bereaved dreamer is grieving for the loss of a girl, most probably his daughter and mourns for his lost “pearl”. He cannot comfort himself by any means and fails to surrender to the divine will as a consolation. As a typical aspect of the genre, the dreamer, then, sleeps and finds himself in a vision where he meets the “Pearl Maiden”. The maiden looks like his pearl, yet he notices that she has been transfigured. She marks that she lives blissfully as a queen in the New Jerusalem now as one of the brides of the Lamb. Through a theological argument, the Pearl Maiden intends to teach him divine values and make him abandon his worldly desires to which he is too loyal. After this peculiar experience, the dreamer wakes up and realizes that he is also transformed into a person who can now comfort his intense grieving by submitting himself to heavenly virtues. In this light, the paper examines the way the dreamer in Pearl changes his perspective from a penchant for worldly desires to a total heavenly conduct under the guidance of the Pearl Maiden.

Wiersz "Do przyjaciółki" ze zbioru "Carmina Rivipullensia" – głos w dyskusji o przekładach średniowiecznej poezji łacińskiej

The article is a voice in the discussion on contemporary translations of medieval Latin poetry: accepted and possible ways of translating Latin poetry for todayʼs readers, situated within the field of translation studies and poetics – it is part of the research on the reception of the ancient tradition, of which translations are a particular manifestation. The subject of interest is a poem from the medieval collection Carmina Rivipullensia: the only existing collection of Latin love lyric of the Middle Ages from Spain. It testifies to the very lively presence of the Latin poetic tradition in the Iberian Peninsula at that time. This article presents a translatorʼs proposal, accompanied by a commentary, in which arguments for the chosen solutions are indicated. The aim of the article is to present the translatorʼs ideas, mainly concerning the chosen strategy for the translation of the rhymes in Latin medieval poetry, which are an important feature of the Songs.

Billedtepper fra Gudbrandsdalen og sagnet om Heknesøstrene

An intriguing combination of tapestry weave, legend and myth arose in Gudbrandsdalen in the 17th century. The legend about the conjoined twin master weavers is still living as a local story, and is now being conveyed to an international audience through novels written by Lars Mytting. The legend is tightly connected to a distinct form of tapestry weave, depicting biblical stories and narratives rooted in medieval poetry. The traditional interaction between visual and oral storytelling might be an important key to understanding the textiles. Visual stories told through tapestries have a long tradition in Norway, traceable from the 9th century tapestries from the Oseberg Viking ship grave onto the tapestries from Gudbrandsdalen. The legends about the extraordinary weavers that created tapestries in Gudbrandsdalen provide an extra dimension, linking the idea of conjoined twins as creatures of paradox with the pre-Christian tradition of natural signs that had to be de-coded.

„Så poetisk smukt, så naivt, så simpelt“

Abstract This article examines Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg’s depiction of contemporary eighteenth-century Danish literature based on his writings on the notion of genius and on medieval poetry. Gerstenberg fuses his antiquarian interest in older Scandinavian literature with his critical writings on the new and modern poetry that he came across in Copenhagen in the middle of the eighteenth century. Thereby, he identified a specific Danish style of simpleness. Gerstenberg’s concept of ‘Danish simplicity’ was a central part of the Sturm und Drang and the Romantic movement, and it might even to this day affect the Germans’ ideas about the culture of their northern neighbor country.

When a King of Norway Became a King of Russia

When a King of Norway Became a King of Russia

Calvinist Versions of God: A Revolution in Medieval Tradition

This essay argues that Calvinist versions of God and human redemption cannot be adequately grasped without studying the medieval traditions from which they emerged. Beginning with a close reading of Calvin's extremely violent understanding of the atonement, the essay moves through examinations of medieval versions of human redemption (literary, theological, and devotional) before turning to the political and ethical consequences of Calvin's reformation of these versions of God as played out in the Cromwellian regime of the mid-seventeenth century. Finally, the essay explores the reemergence of a version of God and charity recognizable to medieval readers in the writings of the “Ranter” Abiezer Coppe. Throughout, the essay demonstrates how models of redemption with their attendant versions of God have clear consequences for ethics and politics.

Music &amp; Poetry

The following conversations with contemporary classical composers demonstrate how music and poetry speak much the same language, and even understand themselves in each other's terms regarding rhythm and sound, time and structure, address and listeners, recitals and recitation. Kate Soper, Matthew Aucoin, and Seth Parker Woods are three very different American composers working today. Soper also writes her own libretti—syncretic texts that engage classical and medieval verse and contemporary literature. An excerpt of her recent work, Romance of the Rose, is included here. Aucoin, an erstwhile poet, whose Eurydice was performed this season at the Metropolitan Opera, has set to music poems and other writings by Walt Whitman, Paul Celan, and Jorie Graham. Woods, a cellist and performance artist, often interweaves archival recordings and live poetry recitation on stage, while also engaging visual arts. The work of all three composers is set to be featured this year at the 76th Ojai Music Festival in Ojai, California. (American Modern Opera Company, or AMOC, co-founded by Aucoin, is the first collective to be chosen as the festival's music director.) These discussions consider the spoken word, voice types, and silence; lecture-performance, the academy, canons, and avant-gardes; the interplay between history, material texts, and graphic notation; in addition to the creative cycle of dreaming, composition, and decay.Geoffrey Lokke

Icelandic Folklore and the Cultural Memory of Religious Change

Icelandic Folklore and the Cultural Memory of Religious Change