Revising Alfred, Lord Tennyson: A Closer Look at Two Color Line Stories “The Wife of His Youth” and “Cecily’s Dream” by Charles W. Chesnutt

This article explores an African American writer’s revision of a famous English poet Tennyson whose versified medieval portrait of the Arthurian legend appears in Idylls of the King as well as other poems. The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line (1899), a story collection by African American author Charles Chesnutt (1858–1932), addresses parameters contextualized in the aftermath of slavery such as esthetic notions of beauty tied to whiteness and intra-racial inequality. The final failure of two protagonists, a man and a woman, to fulfill their romantic aspirations of whiteness connects the collection’s titular story to “Cecily’s Dream.” In addition to the color-line theme, however, Chesnutt is motivated to refer to the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), including moments in which chivalric codes of honor, whiteness and flawed courtly love are idealized. Tennyson’s parabolic poems provide Chesnutt’s intertextual scheme to engage the implied reader by renewing, transforming and also subverting the motif of courtly love in these Arthurian idylls.

Irish song and the idea of tradition

Defining ‘tradition’ as something passed on within a community that provides a matrix for its understanding of past events and present choices, this essay discusses the evolution of Irish poetry and song since 1200. It explores the connections between vernacular poetry and various learned (literary) traditions, including bardic poetry (syllabic verse) and the later ‘poetic courts’ and ‘schools of poetry’, in terms of themes, verse structure, social context, and sung performance. It demonstrates that while some practices were bound to specific social contexts, the strand that most people today identify as ‘the Irish song tradition’ still employs centuries-old themes including panegyric and the Anglo-Norman ‘courtly love’ rhetoric, and displays prosodic features evidenced in Middle Irish bardic sources. Finally, we consider the emergence of ‘tradition’ as a concept, the impact since 1850 of song collecting and technology on repertoire and performance, and the implications of ‘authenticity’ for today’s definition of ‘tradition’.

Consent in Love and Marriage in Songs Associated with Princess Isabel of Castile

In Christian canon law, marriage is considered invalid if consent has not been obtained from both partners. Isabel of Castile understood this: rejecting the suitors selected by Enrique IV, she insisted on her right to marry a husband of her choice. Similarly, in the courtly love tradition to which ladies then subscribed, voluntary commitment was regarded as an essential feature of love, but there was a tacit understanding that marriage should not be mentioned as a solution. By assigning the song ‘Ni me plaze, ni consiento’ to Prince Alfonso, Isabel’s brother, in the poem that he wrote about the prince’s departure from Arévalo c. 1466-1468, Nicolás de Guevara was drawing attention to the need to respect this principle, and also alluding to an understanding between Alfonso and his sister that each would insist upon it. It is within this context that we may interpret a short cycle of poems in the British Library Cancionero (LB1) associated with the courtship of Isabel by King Afonso V of Portugal in the years 1465-1468.

Freedom, Love, Nobility: The Falkenmotiv in Medieval and Modern German Literature, with an Emphasis on Werner Bergengruen’s “Die drei Falken”

Medieval literature has deeply shaped modern literature through many different channels. Sometimes entire works were translated or paraphrased into modern languages, sometimes medieval motifs, themes, figures, or concepts impacted modern texts. This article examines one remarkable example, Werner Bergengruen’s highly popular novella “Die drei Falken” (1928) the source of inspiration of which was loosely Boccaccio’s story told on Day V, no. 9 in his Decameron (ca. 1350). Throughout time, the falcon has regularly symbolized courtly love, nobility, and the desire for individual freedom. After a discussion of Boccaccio’s text and a selection of medieval examples where the same motive appears, this article examines how Bergengruen transformed the symbol of the falcon into an expression of human nobility and deeply felt desire for personal freedom.

Heroine’s journey to love: Spatial rhetoric in romantic subplots in BioWare’s fantasy RPGs

This article explores the potential of digital games to encode references encompassing specific cultural ideas of romantic love within their spatial structures, thus helping guide the player’s interpretation of romance as they interact with and move through those spaces. It undertakes an analysis of romantic subplots in BioWare’s fantasy role-playing games, specifically those which reappropriate the courtly love trope, and discusses elements of that remediation which rely heavily on spatial metaphors and structures, including the shared experience of heroic journey, the role of questing for the development of romance, and spatial positioning of lovers on the game map. Through its analysis, the article explores how digital games can employ spatial rhetoric while approaching topics of love, and how they are equipped to represent the materiality and spatiality of love and love narratives.

The art of interpreting God’s action in the theology of three medieval mystic women

This study presents an approach to the theological minds of three Medieval mystical women: Matilde de Magdeburgo, Margarita Porete and Hadewijch de Amberes. Their theology is for the Church and theological matters, a source of wisdom, for they interpreted their experience of faith as imperative to make the gospel known. They lived in a time marked by significant developments in literature, artistic constructions and experiences of new spiritualities. They were part of an organisation of laywomen called the beguines who taught the art of interpreting God’s action in the being. The medieval writing of courtly love, amorous dialogue and the mystics of nothingness resounded in them. The underlying question of our study was which theological categories did these beguine women rely on to interpret God’s action in beings? As a point of departure, we performed the hermeneutic method to describe some of the theological categories that gave character to their thought, which aimed at enriching a theology that involved women’s contributions, the methods with which they constructed the knowledge and the challenges they proposed. Their theology constituted a critical voice of the androcentric and patriarchal schemes that did not allow women to teach or talk about God.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The interdisciplinary nature of the study is that the problem raised assumes a dialogue with other social science disciplines specifically. The way in which women construct a discourse on God’s action in people implies taking into account anthropological, theological, psychological and literary elements. In their openness to God’s action, human beings put into action their cognitive capacities and the knowledge derived from their cultural interaction in order to be able to speak about the experience of God in their lives. This study offers elements for fundamental theology and mystical theology.

MUA'LLAGAT ZOHAYR IBN ABI SOLMA: ELEGANT PIECE OF ARABIC POETRY (1)

Zohayr ibn Abi Solma is identified as an eminent poet who produced poetry distinguished with preeminence in courtly and virtuous love. The study employs an analytical and critical methodology, attempting to elucidate the influence of virtuous love narrated by the poet in the first verse lines of his great Mua'llagah. It commences with a terse introductory synopsis shedding light on the importance of classical Arabic and its involvement with poetry. The paper attempts to prove, via the poetry of Zohayr ibn Abi Solma, the greatness of the Arabic classical poetry and demonstrate the aptitudes of the poet through his Mua'llagah. It is divided into four main parts. The first part deals with the greatness of the Arabic language then it moves to the second section that focuses on Arabic Poetry: Treasure of Wisdom. The third one sheds light on the poet's 'The Man and the Poet', and the last main part goes with an analytical and critical endeavor of the first ten verse lines of Al-Mua'llagah of Zohayr. It comes to an end with a conclusion. Keywords: Arabic Literature, Arabic Poetry, Courtly Love Poetry, Courteous Arabic Poetry, Umm Awfa, Virtuous Poetry.