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Influence of the romantic literary period
Women in medieval literature and society
Women in medieval literature and society
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The troubadours enjoyed sharing stories about fin’amor, or courtly love. The trobairitz were no different when it came to talking about untouchable love. Many of these poems began as an exchange of letters from one party to the next, finally resulting in a song. Many of these letters were collected in a manuscript and the credits of the songs are given solely to the man who initiated the exchange. It is difficult to distinguish the gender of the author without knowing more about the song because most of the songs were written about women, and they could have been written by a woman speaking as a man or by a man speaking as a woman. Both men and women also wrote songs from their own perspective. Most of the information found on the author
of a troubadour or trobairitz composition can be found in the vidas, a biographical sketch of the author, or the razos, a commentary of the work. These were sometimes paired with portrait-like illustrations, giving recognition to Comtessa de Dia, Castelloza, and Azalais de Porcairagues (Pendle, YEAR). Some sources find the vidas to be rather unreliable due to the fact that many were written as romanticized extrapolations from the poetry.
While Anna Williams views escaping the confines of marriage as a desirable thing, Charlotte Lennox’s greatest lament, as expressed by her poem “A Song,” is merely to have the freedom to love who she pleases. Although Charlotte Lennox has a more romantic view of men and love than Anna Williams, neither woman denies the need for companionship. Charlotte Lennox’s opinion towards love is expressed clearly in her piece “A Song.” The poem’s female speaker is experiencing unrequited love.
The story of The Fantasticks, written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt and also based upon Edmond Rostand's play Les Romanesques, concerns itself with the pairing of two young lovers, appropriately enough, the Boy and the Girl. As their story begins to unfold, as told to us by the Narrator (El Gallo), we quickly come to recognize both the Boy and Girl as specific characters with specific concerns, but at the same time we see them as every boy and girl that have ever fallen in love. We see the Boy's unwavering devotion and the Girl's romantic idealism and even though their fathers have built a wall between them, the zealous young lovers will let nothing stand in the way of their passion. Just as the story might b...
Throughout Bernard's collection of sermons, he justifies the central concerns of the “Song of Songs” within his selected works. He develops a creed of mystical contemplation, meditation, and personal connection with God. Bernard, using an allegorical approach, wrote about the “Song of Songs” and his sermons creating the metaphor of the church, stressing the importance of love in knowing service to God. The “Song of Songs” has many interpretations within the love poem, and Bernard conveys them by discussing what the “Song of Songs” is, dives into what the kisses are that indicate the progression of the soul, describes who the four kinds of spirits are, and identifies the bride and Bridegroom. With Bernard discussing what the “Song of Songs” is, he first starts with his interpretation of the title and then goes into what the book is about.
Cosi fan Tutte shows that anyone can be deceived or be the deceiver, can love for real, for fake, and desire pride or lust, and fall into a crisis. It is interesting (and certainly amusing) how all of these five words connect with each other. Was love between the two men and two women genuine? Who was the deceiver and deceived? Was it because of the men’s failure to trust, or women’s failure to resist desire? Is there always such a crisis in a relationship? All these questions make one wonder. One thing for sure is that there is a positive and a negative side to these words. Gender does not matter, in the four characters’ situation, both perspectives of the words applied. The five words have shown me that there is a double meaning, or a duality in
A fabliau is a short comic tale, chiefly in French, that is written in verse and usually consists of lewd humor. The title comes from the diminutive form of the word “fable”, and the earliest example of such poetry was found during the twelfth century. In the reading, “The Fabliaux” by Nathaniel E. Dubin, there is a collection of short poems that tell amusing stories, such as one of a girl who cannot stand to hear lewd language and a priest who fools a peasant into believing that his own eyes are deceitful.
Very different from traditional writings of the past was the new flourish of troubadour poetry. Troubadour poetry, derived of courtly romances, focused on the idea of unrequited love. “A young man of the knightly class loved a lady”, most often, “the lady was married to the young man’s lord”. The courtly lover would compose highly lyrical and erotic poems in honor of his lady, and the troubadour was filled with rapture even at the slightest kindness that the lady might offer him.3 This new literary artifice provides us clues to the cultural changes that took place in medieval Europe during this time.
Gender Matters is a collection of various essays on feminist linguistic texts analysis, by Sara Mills. Mills develops methods of analyzing literary and non-literary texts, in addition to conversational analysis based on a feminist approach. The author draws on data from her collection of essays gathered over the last two decades on feminism during the 1990s. The essays focus on gender issues, the representation of gender in reading, writing, and in public speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of feminists’ analysis of sexism in literature and the relation between gender and politeness. The article is informative for my research paper, as my topic is going to cover language analysis of the text and who women reading and writing differs according to the discourse analysis within linguistic, psychology, case studies audiences and surveys. The book would be helpful, particularly the last three essays that discusses gender, public speaking, the question of politeness and impoliteness in public speaking. Mills’ analysis is not complete without including the idea of global notions of both women and men, to see whether women and men write and read in the same way globally. Therefore, an update would enrich the book’s discussion section. Although, Mills addresses the class and race theme in language and public speaking, I will only look into the role of language that plays a part in doing or reducing gender in literary, non-literary texts and in conversation.
The poets integrated ?metaphysical conceits? as focal parts of these poems. Along with these, they used effective language as a basis for their convincing arguments, they included subjects of periodical importance (e.g. ?courtship? and ?religion?), and use very clever structures that are manipulated in order to make the poem read in the desired way. The very clear indication of the theme in question was strongly aided by the way in which the personas portrayed the emotions they felt and the way they showed their attitudes towards the subject. Considering all these factors, the poets made critical arguments to the mistresses in order to alter their views, thus changing their minds, on denying the poets the sex that they desired so strongly.
Misogyny is not the result of the physical state of womanhood; it is the product of the conventions that a society has established for how a woman should compose herself (Rey). These societal rules were created with the intent of perpetuating a patriarchal system in which women cannot express themselves freely. Misogyny is an attempt at enforcing these rules, and misogynistic behaviors can be performed by anyone. While The Gender Knot discusses how the limitation of female sexual expression and the enforcement of gender roles are forms of misogyny, “Girl” and “Mona Lisa Smile” indicate how these practices affect women.
a.) What is the definition of each one according to the book? Define each concept.
In life we sometimes experience cultural differences. In The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan shows how mother daughter relationships are affected by these cultural differences. Therefore each of the mothers and daughters has a different view on their Chinese culture.
Men and women are really different in general, but particularly in their behavior towards sexuality and courtship. Men are often scrutinized for being too belligerent, violent and only wanting sex. Women, on the other hand, are often criticized for being too bossy, fussy and only wanting commitment in a relationship. Thus, men are more attracted to the physical appearance while women look more for protection. In the video, “War of the Sexes: Sexuality and Seduction”, a survey was done regarding sexual fantasies and men chose group sex where women chose having an encounter with a celebrity. The things that are important to men are completely different to the things that are important to women. In regards to behavior, men and women are expected
Following the history of the era in literature, many authors were fascinated by the courtly tradition, chivalry and a higher love. Therefore, we have today musical compositions that speak of many of the same ideas. French composers wrote songs in the vernacular called chansons de geste . These songs spoke of the heroic acts performed by knights for their ladies in the name of love. The French have a national epic called the Chanson de Roland which related the life and death of Charlemagne’s nephew and his endeavor to rid France of the Basques.
Gender roles and identity are constantly shifting throughout different societal generations. Men and woman both have notable similarities and differences in genders and they each contribute to their personalities and actions. In the past men have been viewed as a more dominant sex in society over women, both in careers, home life, and sexually, however, today women have bridged many of the gaps and society is accepting a more equal view of genders. The following examines the similarities and differences between men and woman by looking at biological characteristics, gender roles, and sexual responses.
Today’s society has stretched the definitions of one’s gender. Today Facebook has over fifty genders to choice while creating an account. Apparently male, female and other is simply not enough in today’s standards. Other in itself seems like an unnecessary option, except for the rare cases when a person really is medically neither at birth, not what they think they can choose to suddenly be today. Being in a relationship with a person who is not capable of identifying with the way God made them would be difficult for many reasons. Men and women are different and both bring different dynamics to a relationship that are important for a good and healthy relationship.