scholarly journals Slow Practice as Ethical Aesthetics: The Ecocritical Strategy of Patience

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-127
Author(s):  
Susan Signe Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Geoffrey Chaucer ◽  
Giovanni Boccaccio ◽  
Christine De Pizan ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Canterbury Tales ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Measured Process ◽  
The Middle Ages

      How can cultural works from the distant past –such as the Middle Ages—teach us ethical modes of behavior for today? One form of ecopoetics emerges through slow practice, making the reader collaborate in the measured process of co-creating the emotional impact of an imaginative text. Drawing on rich debates about slow cinema, this essay suggests how Chaucer’s The Clerk’s Tale—from his grand fourteenth-century poem, The Canterbury Tales—evokes a slow eco-aesthetics with ethical impact. The relative slowness of walking shapes how individuals respond to their environment. In turn, a deceleration of perception affects how travel comes to be written about, as seen in the tale of Patient Griselda. Introduced by Giovanni Boccaccio and adapted by such writers as Francesco Petrarch, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Christine de Pizan, she acts dynamically through her apparent silence and notorious patience. The environmental humanities offer paradigms for us to consider the strategies of slowness and patience. This essay shows how medieval pilgrimage literature evokes a slow aesthetic which is at the same time an ecocritical strategy. Slowness results in an enduring impact and heightened sensitivity to the ecological damage for which we all are culpable. Slower somatically inculcates key aspects of environmental awareness. Pilgrimage texts from the Middle Ages teach us slow ethical aesthetics, suggesting that the medieval moment—finally and a long time coming— is now.

scholarly journals IV.—On the Series of Wall Paintings in the Church of St. Mary, Guildford

Archaeologia ◽  
1885 ◽  
Vol 49 (01) ◽  
pp. 199-212
Author(s):  
John Green Waller
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Religious Art ◽  
Wall Paintings ◽  
The North ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Church ◽  
Old Friends ◽  
New Discovery ◽  
The Middle Ages

The Series of Paintings on the vault of the apse to the north aisle of St. Mary's Church, Guildford, unlike so many which have exercised our attention for a long time past, are of no new discovery, but were disclosed as far back as 1825. In 1838, they were described, and a solution proposed by my old friends, Edward John Carlos and John Gough Nichols, in theArchaeologia, vol. XXVII. p. 413. There are no two names which recall to me more reverent associations than those of the friends I have mentioned. Mr. Carlos was my master in archaeology, and Mr. Nichols's services are well known to this Society. But at the time they wrote little or nothing was known of the popular religious art of the Middle Ages. Didron had but begun his researches, and Maury had not written at all; whilst, in this country, whitewash still covered most of the walls of our churches. Therefore it is not a matter of surprise that their attempted solution is inaccurate, nor have those who have followed them been more fortunate. Guesses have been vaguely made, always an unsure process, for there is nothing more likely to deceive than attempts to find out the meaning of a subject without any principle to go upon: it is like a voyage upon an unknown sea, without rudder or compass. In fact, the subjects I am about to explain, are exceedingly obscure until the clue is obtained; and, at one time, I feared I must have confessed my ignorance, though not admitting the accuracy of the solution given by my friends. They are unique to my experience, and especially curious in the manner in which they are associated together.

Chaucer - a medieval writer?

1993 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Martina Ožbolt
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Geoffrey Chaucer ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Major Elements ◽  
Medieval English Literature ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Middle Ages

For literary historians with only few exceptions (e.g . J.W. Mackail, W.P. Ker, A.C. Spearing) Geoffrey Chaucer is unquestionably and exclusively a medieval poet. The belief that his literaryproduction undoubtedly makes part of medieval English literature seems firmly established and any doubt about it futile. In spite ofthis aprioristic attitude towards the problem of the relationship between Chaucer and the Middle Ages there are at least two major elements which may make one doubt how correct it is to take Chaucer's medievalism for grante.

scholarly journals CIRCE PAINTINGS BY JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE IN THE CONTEXT OF FEMINISM

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (73) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Femme Fatale ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Patriarchal System ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Witch ◽  
The Middle Ages

Feminism is a way of thinking that deals with the pressures, obstacles and difficulties women experience due to their being women, and includes the elimination of these separating attitudes and the struggle of women to be equal with men in all areas of life. The fact that women are not equated with men in social life goes back a long time. The Middle Ages can be defined as a dark age in terms of equality between women and men, as in many other aspects. In this context, it was found important that the majority of those killed during the witch age period in the Middle Ages were women and most of these women were healers who benefited from nature. Witches are defined as a concept in which nature and women are together as the enemy of the patriarchal system. In this article, depictions of women witches increasing in the art of painting following witch courts will be mentioned, the concept of femme fatale into which the image of a witch has transformed, and the paintings of Circe, the femme fatale (the woman who caused disaster), one of the important painters of her time, will be examined in the context of feminism. Waterhouse, one of the painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, depicted scenes from different stories, influenced by one of the most common features of the movement, mythological stories and poems. Choosing the most critical scenes of these stories, Waterhouse reinforces the image of a strong, wild woman. Can Circe be a symbol of the Feminine Power in the face of the perceptions and social pressures that are being tried to be destroyed, oppressed, not allowed to be herself, and still continue today? Keywords: Circe, Feminism, Waterhouse, femme fatale

scholarly journals Chaucer's Solar Pageant: an Astrological Reading of the Canterbury Tales

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Garth astrologer Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Canterbury Tales ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
Knight's Tale ◽  
The Canterbury Tales ◽  
The Middle Ages

<p>This thesis proposes a correlation between the twenty-four Canterbury Tales and an external ordered system, namely the twelve signs of the zodiac, from which one might infer Chaucer's intended ordering of the Tales. While it is generally acknowledged that the Tales contain much astrological material, the radical suggestion here is that Chaucer wrote them as a means of fulfilling his intention, expressed in A Treatise on the Astrolabe, to write a fifth part of that Treatise, in which be would explain to his ten-year old son, Lewys, the principles of astrology. The zodiac comprises twelve signs expressed as six binary oppositions throughout nature. In creating the Canterbury Tales, the thesis claims, Chaucer employed in each Tale two of those binary oppositions, a quadratic structure, to express the interplay of tensions between its main characters. The zodiacal signs symbolise parts of the human body which serve as metaphors of human characteristics according to an astrological medical melothesia that was commonplace in medieval times. The melothesia thus acts as a code, enabling Chaucer to covertly communicate sophisticated astrological knowledge whilst presenting it simplistically to political and royal court contemporaries who would have formed the bulk of his readership. Chaucer makes two rounds of the zodiac, starting with the  Knight's Tale aligned with Aries (the head) replete with pagan astrological practices, completing the sequence with the Parson's Tale, aligned with Pisces (the feet), in which the pilgrims are exhorted to save their souls by repentance. The consistency with which the Tales in sequence give an emphasis to characteristics believed in the Middle Ages to be representative of the zodiacal sequence of signs is claimed to provide substantive evidence in support of one particular ordering of the Tales.</p>

scholarly journals Traditional Belarusian wooden calendar from Sluck County

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-110
Author(s):  
Ilya S. Butov ◽  
Dzmitry V. Skvarcheuski
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Similar Type ◽  
Sign System ◽  
Local Origin ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Draw Conclusion ◽  
The Middle Ages

Carved wooden calendars were known to many peoples from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century. For example, the Scandinavian ones are well enough studied, but about the existence of such calendars among Belarusians wasn’t known for a long time. The Russian Museum of Ethnography has a carved calendar from the Sluck County. Today it is the only such Belarusian artifact. The article presents a description of a carved wooden calendar from the Čudzin Village, Sluck County. A brief overview of other calendars of a similar type is shown. The prerequisites for the formation and distribution of such artifacts on the territory of Belarus were studied. The article discusses the sign system used to designate holidays and working periods, which correlate with the calendar tradition of the region. Based on the data obtained, the authors draw conclusion about the local origin of the calendar.

scholarly journals Chaucer - a medieval writer?

1993 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Martina Ožbolt
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Geoffrey Chaucer ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Major Elements ◽  
Medieval English Literature ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Middle Ages

For literary historians with only few exceptions (e.g . J.W. Mackail, W.P. Ker, A.C. Spearing) Geoffrey Chaucer is unquestionably and exclusively a medieval poet. The belief that his literaryproduction undoubtedly makes part of medieval English literature seems firmly established and any doubt about it futile. In spite ofthis aprioristic attitude towards the problem of the relationship between Chaucer and the Middle Ages there are at least two major elements which may make one doubt how correct it is to take Chaucer's medievalism for grante.

The development of forms for studying Mathematics

2020 ◽  
pp. 289-302
Author(s):  
Gert Schubring
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
General Analysis ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
The Middle Ages

There is a widespread conviction that institutionalised forms for studying mathematics, such that persons studying mathematics would obtain a degree and have access to a professional career, have always existed. A closer look reveals, however, that for Antiquity and for the Middle Ages, studying mathematics was essentially a solitary undertaking by a few individuals dispersed in space and time; and none of them was able to dedicate himself entirely to mathematics – typically, these few scientists were polymaths. Investigating the issue has thus been focussed on Modern Times, and then for a long time on Western Europe. Yet, it was only with the establishment of systems of public education in the wake of the French Revolution that study courses leading to degrees emerged - the long process of their development with its many facets and differences in different cultures and states has not yet been studied comprehensively. There are a number of studies on some aspects of these processes, but these do not relate them to a general analysis. This paper aims at elaborating such a general analysis.

Form

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Cannon
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Geoffrey Chaucer ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Troilus And Criseyde ◽  
Middle English Literature ◽  
Key Aspects

Plato and Aristotle offered contrasting definitions of “form.” According to Plato, a “form” was external to the material world, a notion or idea or thought that can properly exist only in a mind. For Aristotle, “form” was always a part of some material thing. In Troilus and Criseyde, Geoffrey Chaucer offers a description that does not use the word “form,” and yet it implies a process that could be summarized with the word “formation.” This article discusses the advantages of a literary analysis that embraces a uniquely comprehensive definition of form, particularly in the realm of Middle English literature. It argues that each element of a comprehensive theory of literary form encompasses both thinking and writing in the Middle Ages. It also considers key aspects of the form of two representative Middle English texts, Pearl and Robert Mannyng’s Handlyng Synne.

Style

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maura Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Geoffrey Chaucer ◽  
John Lydgate ◽  
Literary Style ◽  
The World ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Historical Periods ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
Poetic Style

Poetic style may be analyzed by starting with the smallest measurable units of poetry. Style has two aspects that are often contradictory: the particular and the general. The notion of style underwent numerous changes over the years between Geoffrey Chaucer and Thomas Wyatt. This article examines the question of style by juxtaposing three poets, three centuries, and two literary-historical periods. It considers the relationship between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as well as embeddedness of Chaucer, Wyatt, and John Lydgate in those periods in stylistic terms and describes an alternative way of thinking about literary style that reveals the secretive manner that history works in art. It discusses the troublesome poetic terrain of stresses, absences of stress, feet, and meter as a way of scrutinizing the “styles” of Chaucer, Lydgate, and Wyatt in “Truth,” “The World is Variable,” and “What Vaileth Trouth,” respectively.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document