![]() ![]() I am also co-editor of a special issue of postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies on “Premodern Flesh” 4.4 (2013 with Kathryn Schwarz).įrom 2008-2015 I was forum editor and reviews editor of postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies. My articles have appeared in The Chaucer Review, Exemplaria, The Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies, The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Medieval Feminist Forum, New Medieval Literatures, Shakespeare Quarterly, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, and numerous edited collections. Vance Smith), and editor of Comic Provocations: Exposing the Corpus of Old French Fabliaux (Palgrave, 2006). I am author of Chaucer’s Visions of Manhood (Palgrave, 2007), co-editor of Medieval Literature: Criticism and Debates (Routledge, 2014 with D. SCHC 452J Honors Seminar: Sovereigns, Tyrants, and Shrews in Early English LiteratureĮ NGL 708 Envisioning the Self in Late Medieval Literature Activities ![]() Medieval and Reformation Literatures and CulturesĮNGL 406 Shakespeare's Comedies and Histories.MPhil, University of Wales, 1998 Specialization Direct-Admission PhD in English: Composition & Rhetoric.PhD in English - Emphasis in Composition and Rhetoric.Direct-Admission PhD in English: English & American Literature.PhD in English - English & American Literature.MA in English/MLIS in Library & Information Science (Joint Degree).MA in English - English & American Literature.Department of English Language and Literature.As Mother Nature reminds the lovelorn eagles, “A year is not too long to endure. Not a bad quote if you still need to write that Valentine’s Day card.īut, if you, like the eagles in the poem, don’t have a mate (or date) for Valentine’s Day, better luck next year. Take, for example, the poem’s opening lines: “So short our lives, so hard the lessons, so difficult the tests, so sudden the final victory, so tenuous the hope of joy that so easily evaporates into fear – this is what I mean by Love.” Though “Parliament of Fowls” was written 600 years ago, it still resonates today. Mother Nature honors her wish, and consoles the suitors saying, “A year is not too long to endure.” In the poem, a female eagle refuses to choose from among her suitors and asks Mother Nature to give her another year to decide. “Parliament of Fowls” not only exemplifies an idealized version of love in the Middle Ages, but also represents women’s increasing power over their own love lives. “Sometimes those codes of conduct can lead to disaster - think of any kind of unrequited love - and “Parliament of Fowls” seems to focus more on the joys and miracles associated with love.” “The poem explores ideas about nature and natural conduct as opposed to the artificial codes of conduct adopted by those who consider love something that can be ruled and regulated,” Leinbaugh said. While this royal marriage was more political alliance than love match, the type of love described in the poem is more in line with modern views on romance. “This could possibly mirror the lengthy negotiations that may have been required to form the match between Richard and Anne.” “Three eagles in fact vie for the hand of this single female eagle, and since no conclusion is found the marriage is postponed,” he said. Leinbaugh believes the poem contains a reference to this event. But the poem may have originally been written to honor a grand occasion: the marriage of King Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia after five years of negotiations. “Parliament of Fowls”, a 699-line poem about birds choosing their mates, might seem like an unlikely source for what is now a $20 billion holiday industry. “Chaucer’s “Parliament of Fowls” is one of the earliest known Valentine poems.” “It is generally accepted that the date of February 14 first became associated with romantic love and various celebrations of love within the literary circle of Geoffrey Chaucer,” said Theodore Leinbaugh, associate professor of English and Comparative Literature. While best known for writing “The Canterbury Tales”, Chaucer is also widely credited as the first English writer to associate romantic love with Saint Valentine. If you hate Valentine’s Day, blame 14th century poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
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