Reference
- allegory in Renaissance literatureLike a metaphor (life is a fountain) or a simile (“my love is like a red, red rose”), an allegory is a comparison that applies the qualities of one thing to another. Whereas a metaphor is likely to be a brief comparison, however, an allegory is likely to be extended, sometimes over the entire course of a literary work. Moreover, sometimes only one term of the comparison will be stated, and the reader is left to infer the other. In the hands of a master, allegory can become multilayered and deeply laden with meaning, enabling an author to imply—or a reader to infer—several matters simultaneously...
- English literature, medievalIn medieval England (12th–15th century), the ascendancy of Norman-French culture in the post-Conquest era, followed by the re-emergence of native English works – by such authors as Chaucer, Langland, and Malory, and numerous anonymous authors, – marked the Middle English period of English literature. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, more lay people were literate, and the Paston Letters form one of the first records of one family's ordinary lives. These, together with a growing number of financial and legal records, sermons, chronicles, poems, and charters, form the basis of modern historical knowledge of the period...
- Medieval Latin literatureWith the slow dissolution over centuries of the Roman Empire in the West, Latin writing dwindled and changed like the rest of Roman culture. It was formerly conventional to say that in the 6th cent. the De consolatione philosophiae of Boethius was the last great work of classical Latin and that Boethius' younger contemporary Cassiodorus was the first notable figure of medieval literature (though he wrote in classical form). However, the transition was, in fact, so gradual as to be imperceptible...
- odes in Renaissance literatureMeaning simply a “song,” in ancient times the ode developed into a form of high poetic art, often highly ornamental and complex. In ancient drama the form took on regularity as it was composed of a strophe (a unified group of lines on a given subject), an antistrophe (a group of lines identical in form to the strophe but with a different message), and an epode (a verse with a different structure whose content mediates between strophe and antistrophe.)...
- tragedy in Renaissance literatureIn its earliest manifestations in Europe, Egypt, and the Middle East, tragedy seems to have been associated with religious ritual, with the cycle of death and rebirth in the vegetative world, and with such deities as the Egyptian Osiris or such mythic figures as the Greek Adonis or the god Dionysus who were connected with that cycle and with the sacrifice of goats at Dionysian rites. Tragedy means “goat song.”...
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Literary Trends in the Early 13th Century
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Religious tracts and guides provide a crucial window into 13th-century spirituality and behavior. Beyond religion, however, the Norse and Icelandic sagas offer great insight into the myths, events, and stories of a pagan, pre-Christian past, while the Arthurian legend grew in popularity throughout the medieval world. Review this amazing (and sometimes amazingly weird) literature.
Online Resources
- How Much Medieval Literature Has Been Lost Over the Centuries?: Smithsonian MagazineCenturies after their creation, works of medieval literature, including tales of King Arthur’s Camelot, Icelandic sagas filled with accounts of Viking victories and more, continue to fascinate and inspire. In a pop-culture world simultaneously obsessed with familiar characters and constant reinvention, the longevity of these stories speaks to their resonance...
- Medieval Literary Genres and Themes: Harvard UniversityExplore the major genres and themes prevalent in the Medieval Era.
- Medieval literature: BritannicaMedieval, “belonging to the Middle Ages,” is used here to refer to the literature of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean from as early as the establishment of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire about AD 300 for medieval Greek, from the period following upon the fall of Rome in 476 for medieval Latin, and from about the time of Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance he fostered in France (c. 800) to the end of the 15th century for most written vernacular literatures...
- Works of literature: British LibraryExplore some of the greatest works of medieval literature, from Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to The Canterbury Tales and Le Morte Darthur.
Epics, Popular Literature, Catalan
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The first texts in Catalan originate in the twelfth century. "La Novela Picaresca" in Catalan appears in the fifteenth century. Troubadours create the great oral tradition, and popular literature emerges.
Perspectives
Medieval Literature in Translation
Comprehensive anthology contains exquisite cross-section of Western medieval literature, from Boethius and Augustine to Dante, Abelard, Marco Polo, and Villon, masterfully translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Charles Eliot Norton, C. K. Scott Moncrieff, Lord Tennyson, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Carlyle, Matthew Arnold, Lord Byron, others. ""No better anthology exists."" - Commonweal.
The Discarded Image
C. S. Lewis's The Discarded Image paints a lucid picture of the medieval world view, as historical and cultural background to the literature of the middle ages and renaissance. It describes the 'image' discarded by later ages as 'the medieval synthesis itself, the whole organisation of their theology, science and history into a single, complex, harmonious mental model of the universe'. This, Lewis's last book, was hailed as 'the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind'.
Classical Myths and Legends in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Classical mythology had a vigorous life long after the fall of Rome. Medieval commentators interpreted these myths allegorically. Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, poets and playwrights such as Chaucer and Shakespeare drew upon classical myths to convey Christian beliefs allegorically. While readers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance could be expected to understand the allegorical significance of the ancient myths, contemporary readers are often unfamiliar with the veiled moralizations embedded in the mythological allusions of medieval and early modern authors. While numerous classical dictionaries identify the figures and tales of Greek and Roman mythology, this reference book explains the allegorical significance attached to the myths by Medieval and Renaissance authors. Thus the reader who encounters an allusion to Hercules in a sixteenth-century drama can quickly discover that Hercules was often interpreted as a personification of virtue during the Renaissance, and that the labors of Hercules could represent the triumph of morality over vice. Included are several hundred alphabetically arranged entries for the gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, and places of classical myth and legend. Each entry includes a brief account of the classical myth, with reference to the Greek and Latin sources. The entry then discusses how Medieval and Renaissance commentators interpreted the myth allegorically, and how poets, dramatists, and artists employed the allegorization of the myth in their creative works. Each entry includes a bibliography, and the volume concludes with appendices and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
Classics of Western Thought Series
Originally edited by Thomas H. Greer, this series emanates from the Humanities Department at Michigan State University. Today, these books remain outstanding sources for the comprehensive study of most subject areas included under the umbrella of humanities. Most major literary forms are represented: essay, poem, short story, play, novel, memoir, epigram, scientific discourse, philosophical treatise, political manifesto, and religious proclamation. Major subject areas include art, music, education, mathematics, biology, psychiatry, religion, philosophy, politics, economics, and physics.Originally published under the General Editorship of Thomas H. Greer, the series emanated from the Humanities Department of Michigan State University. The books remain today perhaps the best sources available for the comprehensive study in one volume of every subject area which might be included in the umbrella of humanities. Most major literary forms are represented: essay, poem, short story, play, novel, memoir, epigram, scientific discourse, philosophical treatise, political manifesto, and religious proclamation. All major subject areas are explored: art, music, education, mathematics, biology, psychiatry, religion, philosophy, politics, economics, and physics. The informative apparatus, headnotes, and footnotes are all aimed at enhancing the student-reader's comprehension.
Northern Renaissance Literature and Drama
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowMeet the Northern Renaissance authors and playwrights who offered entertainments and edification in the page and on the stage - authors who would become some of the greatest writers in Western history. These geniuses include François Rabelais; Miguel de Cervantes; William Langland; Geoffrey Chaucer; and, of course, William Shakespeare.
Medieval Irish Literature
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowThe early Irish prized literary skill just as much as prowess in warfare, and lords were judged by the quality of poet they could hire. This lecture gives a glimpse into the diverse genres of Irish literature, from epics about mythological heroes to exciting tales designed to warn kings about the dangers of ruling unjustly.