A close reading and historical analysis of Chaucer’s Prioress in the Canterbury Tales, exploring the reality of medieval convent life to reveal the satire hidden beneath her elegant surface. Part One of two.
A combined reading and analysis of the opening eighteen lines of Chaucer’s General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, examining the seasonal imagery, the pilgrimage context, and Chaucer’s use of irony.
A playlist bringing together all videos on medieval poetry, including anonymous lyrics, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and readings from Chaucer and other Middle English texts.
An analysis of a selection of Christmas carols, exploring their medieval origins, religious significance, and the literary and musical traditions that shaped them.
A reading of the opening eighteen lines of Chaucer’s General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, the celebrated seasonal description that sets the scene for the pilgrimage to Canterbury.
Readings from a selection of Middle English texts including the Ormulum, the Agenbite of Inwit, and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, illustrating the diversity of medieval English prose and verse.
A reading of the anonymous medieval lyric Thou Wanderest in this False World, a religious meditation on mortality, vanity, and the transience of earthly life.
A combined reading and analysis of the anonymous medieval riddle lyric I Have a Yong Suster, exploring its playful treatment of courtly love conventions through a series of witty paradoxes.
A combined reading and analysis of the anonymous medieval carol I Syng of a Mayden, examining its Marian devotion, its delicate imagery of the Annunciation, and its carol form.
A combined reading and analysis of the anonymous medieval lyric Wanne Mine Eyhnen Misten, a short contemplation on death and mortality written in Middle English.